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National Trust Back to Back houses Inge Street & Hurst Street

mw0njm. said:
was at a castle open day a few years ago in chirk, when a woman guide said to me have you been to the back to backs in brum? "been! i said i was born in one and remember the bed bugs" she was stuck for words
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Yes,bed bugs and mice.Thank God for Dinky,our cat.Great mouser. The thought of mice running around, when I was a kid, used to frighten me to death.BUT,we survived.
 
I watched BBC local news last month and noted that the back to backs are to play a big part in a collaboration between the National Trust and BCU. The current exhibition seems to use the space in a way that it hasn't been utilised before (see first two links below) and this and an earlier exhibition (link three) pointed out that "you don’t need to book a tour of the Back to Backs to go into the exhibition space", which doesn't seem to encourage visitors to look at what the site was intended to be all about in my opinion.

The back to backs should be the primary attraction and the National Trust should be pushing the tours, rather than the exhibitions. Exhibitions should be seen as something that can be held alongside the tour, not as the primary reason to visit the site and something to do with a tour, rather than instead of doing a tour.

www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Exhibitions at Birmingham Back to Backs

Beyond Glitter and Feathers in collaboration with Garry Jones, an artist and passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk

www.bcu.ac.uk

New art collaboration spotlights Birmingham’s drag and theatre roots

Birmingham City University and National Trust spotlight Birmingham’s bold Drag and Theatre roots in creative project
www.bcu.ac.uk www.bcu.ac.uk

 
I would think that the idea is that people will come to the exhibitions who have not been to the main attraction before , and they, then being on the site, go on a tour.
 
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This is the Historic England listing for the Inge Street & Hurst Street Back-to-Backs.

The following shall be included in the list: INGE STREET SP 08 NE (South side) 7/97 Nos 50, 52, and 54 and Nos 1, 2 & 3 attached to rear II Includes Nos 55-63 (odd) Hurst Street and attached wall and outhouses. Shops, offices and flats, originally forming court of houses, 1789 with C19 and C20 alterations. Red brick, part painted and in small part rendered with Welsh slate roof, hipped to corner, and brick ridge stacks. 3 storeys. Front to Inge Street a 4-window range of, from left, a C19 canted bay, 16-pane sash, 6-pane sash, and 16 pane sash. On 2nd floor, blank to left, then three 8-pane sashes and a small 2-light casement. C20 shop fronts to ground floor with C20 window and door to far right. In centre an arched alley entrance with cast-iron plaque above inscribed 'Court 15'. Brick dentilled eaves. To rear a 3-window range of 6-pane sash, 16-pane sash, and 4-pane sash. C20 window , 8-pane sash and 6-pane sash to 2nd floor. Ground floor has doorways, a blocked window (formerly bay) and 2 canted bay windows on wooden brackets, with sashes, the upper lights of which have glazing bars forming diamonds. Front to Hurst Street a 5-window range of, from left, a C20 wood cross window, 16-pane sash 16 pane sash 4-pane sash, 16-pane sash, these last under cambered moulded stucco arches, the others under brick cambered arches. On 2nd floor are 2-light casement, two 8-pane sashes and 2-light casements. C20, shop fronts to ground floor. Brick dentilled eaves. Rear is blank but for small window and archway. Extending from rear of Hurst Street range a high brick wall with lean-to outhouses/privies. Interiors: No 1 (rear) has staircase with small section of Chinese fretwork balustrade (rest not visible) and fireplace (blocked) with dentilled cornice above. No 61/63 Hurst Street has 2 winder stairs and original room divisions and doorways though rooms now interconnecting. No 55 Hurst Street has winder stair. Other lst floor interiors not inspected. Known as Court No 15 and reputed to be the last remaining example of back-to-back housing in the city. Information from Birmingham City Council referring to 1789 lease 198A between air Thomas Gooch and John Willmore,Rate Levy Book (1823-7) Court 15, Inge St., and C W Chalklin: The Provincial Towns of Georgian England: 1974: plate 7).
 
Would this have been the original and only entrance to Court 15 ? This is on Inge Street. Or was there another point of access to the rear Court (such as from Hurst Street)?

I'm attaching a Geoff Dowling photo from 2001 - would that have been another entrance to the Court left of the pink painted building ?



Screenshot_20251202_192053_Maps.jpg
Screenshot_20251201_202458_Chrome.jpg
 
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Vivienne14 said:
Would this have been the original and only entrance to Court 15 ? This is on Inge Street. Or was there another point of access to the rear Court (such as from Hurst Street)?

I'm attaching a Geoff Dowling photo from 2001 - would that have been another entrance to the Court left of the pink painted building ?



View attachment 215227
View attachment 215231
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pretty certain viv that the only entrance to court 15 was on inge st map below to confirm


lyn
 
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Thanks Lyn. It shows how enclosed this and similar courts were. I know some courts were 'opened up' and modified to improve living conditions and to address the health of its residents, but this one doesn't seem to ever have been. It's hard to believe today that literally everything had to pass through that gate/passageway for the various families living there.
 
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Vivienne14 said:
Thanks Lyn. It shows how enclosed this and similar courts were. I know some courts were 'opened up' and modified to improve living conditions and to address the health of its residents, but this one doesn't seem to have been. It's hard to believe today that literally everything had to pass through that gate/passageway for the various families living there.
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yes viv just the one entry unlike the back to back i lived in...i lived at 4/12 paddington st but as you can see from this map apart from there being an entry between numbers 10 and 12 there was also an entry between numbers 6 and 8 both of which led into the same court and also the back houses had garden which was larger than the little gardens the front houses had have to say my memories of living there were only happy ones...the house was always kept spick and span and as i have said many times before it was the houses that were sub standard not the people who lived in them who had much pride in the little they had..paddington st back to backs were built before the hurst st ones..if you take a look at the photos on post 270 i am not exactly dressed in rags nor do i look unhappy

 
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charging people to go and see and get enjoyment on how we struggled and suffered living in squalor is not right,also they should have been left as they were disgusting,damp and falling appart not all smart. or demolished the lot of them lots of folks like me do not want to remember them


sorry i am a being a groach but we really suffered when we was children due to living in them conditions :mad:

end of moan
 
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