William Dargue  A History of BIRMINGHAM Places & Placenames from A to Y

Birmingham City Council official website  A thoroughly informative website about all sorts of Birmingham issues, including:

Archaeology

Conservation

Leisure

Libraries

Birmingham Archives & Heritage: The Iron Roomkyno

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery BM&AG

The City of Birmingham - Victoria County History - Warwickshire Volume 7 1964 - Essential authoritative detailed background with full references.

Official websites of the other metropolitan borough councils in West Midlands County -

Coventry       Dudley       Sandwell       Solihull       Walsall       Wolverhampton

A

Archaeology, Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeological Society Founded in 1870, BWAS promotes the study of archaeology and history in Birmingham, Warwickshire and West Midlands County by the investigation, preservation and restoration of local antiquities and historic buildings and by the publication of these activities in its Transactions.

Art, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists The RBSA is one of the oldest art societies in the UK.

Autobiography, All the Days of my Life Brian David Williams turned 72 on the last day of July 2007. Born in Bordesley Green, all his life he was a diarist, penning some 3-4 million words. He later lived in Acocks Green. After "retiring" from the ministry in March 2001 he decided to type out the complete diary of his school years; later adding a few entries from each of the years before and since.

B 

Back-to-Backs Birmingham - The National Trust Birmingham's last surviving court of back to back housing whose story is told through the experiences of the people who lived and worked here. The houses are set out in four periods from 1840 to 1977.

Bank, Birmingham Municipal A history of the BMB by David Parkes 

Beer - Campaign for Real Ale, Birmingham This website has been created to provide information on the activities of the Birmingham Branch of the Campaign For Real Ale, a voluntary organisation. CAMRA Birmingham holds regular Branch meetings, trips to pubs and breweries and other social events. It is part of a national organisation which aims to promote real ale and cider, as well as preserve the traditional British Pub.

Bell Ringing - St Martin’s Guild of Change Bell Ringers for the Diocese of Birmingham

Bell Ringing - Worcestershire & District Change Ringing Association

Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance Association 

Birmingham & Midland Institute BMI Founded in 1854, for ’the Diffusion and Advancement of Science, Literature and Art amongst all Classes of Persons resident in Birmingham and the Midland Counties. Located in an attractive Grade II listed building in the centre of Birmingham, the BMI pursues its own cultural and educational activities, including a wide-ranging programme of Arts and Science Lectures, exhibitions and concerts for its members and others. The BMI also includes The Birmingham Library, founded in 1779.

Several independent societies are affiliated to the BMI including the Birmingham Philatelic Society, Moseley United Nations Association, Institute Ramblers, Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeological Society, Alliance of Literary Societies, Birmingham Art Circle, Birmingham Water Colour Society, Midland Painting Group, Midland Spaceflight Society, Workers Educational Association, Dickens Fellowship, Olton Recorded Music Society, British Russian Society and the Birmingham and Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry. The Royal Institute of British Architects, Birmingham Film and Television Festival and Midland Co-operative Society are among its long-term tenants.

Birmingham City Centre walk - A walk round the Bournville on the Discovering Britain website delivered by the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers. 

Birmingham Civic Society The main objectives of the Birmingham Civic Society are to ensure that Birmingham is an attractive city by working to stimulate interest and pride in the history and well being of the city, ensure high standards in planning, building and preservation, including the provision and use of public spaces, encourage developments designed to enhance the amenities of the city and its general prosperity.

Birmingham History Forum A valuable and very well-used forum to which users can contribute items or ask for information. There is lots of historical information here, but you sometimes have to trawl to find it. It's a great place to request information from other users.

Birmingham Roundabout Andy Doherty (of Rail Around Birmingham fame) has set up a site intended for those who have a keen interest in the history, culture and development of Ciy of Birmingham and its surrounding regions. Whilst the primary focus of the website will be on industrialised Birmingham from the Victorian era to the present-day, it is also intended to cover places of interest from the full history of the City along with the author's contemporary observations, musings and recollections. 

Birmingham, World Guides A commercial travel guide packed with information about the city.

C 

Cadbury World Discover the history, the making and the magic of Cadbury World. Opened in 1990 it remains the only purpose built visitor centre in the UK devoted entirely to chocolate. Over 5 million people have visited since 1990.

Canals - Birmingham Canal Navigations Society The Birmingham Canal Navigations Society was originally formed as a registered charity in 1968. The Society aims continue to conserve, improve and encourage a wide range of interests in the 100 mile network of Birmingham and Black Country waterways known as the BCN. See also Walking the BCN.

Canals From the Discovering Britain website delivered by the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers - also Click here.

Cars - Austin Memories The purpose of the site is to keep the Austin name alive. It will be dedicated to products which had the Austin name or were made at the Longbridge factory. Seems to be the personal site of John Baker.

Children's Lives - A Birmingham Archives & Heritage Project blog - funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this will be the first major project in Birmingham and the West Midlands to consider children’s lived experiences from the 18th century to the present day. The project will draw on the designated and nationally acclaimed collections of archives, artefacts, oral histories and film material relating to the lives of children in the past held by Birmingham Archives & Heritage, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Media Archive of Central England.

Church of England, Diocese of Birmingham The Church of England in Birmingham - everything about the Anglican Church in Birmingham.

Conservation Areas - Useful City Council documents with background and details of all the City's Conservation areas - Anchorage Road, Aston Hall, Austin Village, Barrnsley Road, Bournville Tenants, Bournville, Colmore Row, Digbeth, Edgbaston, Four Oaks, Harborne, High Street Sutton, Ideal Village, Jewellery Quarter, Kings Norton, Lee Crescent, Lozells, Moor Pool, Moseley, Northfield, Yardley, Ryland Road, St Agnes', St Augustine's, Scholl Road Hall Green, Steelhouse and Warwick Bar.

Conservation - Victorian Society, Birmingham & West Midlands The aims of the Victorian Society are threefold: to save and prevent needless destruction and alteration of buildings of architectural and historic interest, built between 1837 and 1914. to learn about Victorian and Edwardian architecture, to enjoy more about this fascinating and vital part of our past. Besides architecture, the Victorian Society covers all aspects of the culture, the decorative arts and history of the period. Members of the Victorian Society enjoy a wide range of talks and lectures, site visits, tours and walks.

Conservation Trust, Birmingham, a charity which exists 'to preserve and enhance Birmingham's threatened architectural heritage and to promote an enjoyment and understanding of the city's historic buildings'. Our projects secure the long-term future of buildings at risk, especially those that developers or larger charities and public bodies might ignore. We do this through combining imaginative new uses for the buildings with sensitive repairs. By working in partnership with others, the Trust creates attractive places to live, work and play. Current projects include Brandwood Cemetery and Newman Brothers coffin furniture factory; completed projects include the Birmingham Back-to-Backs and Station Road Cottages, Erdington. 

D

Dunlop Tyres From the world of racing to the everyday road, Dunlop are committed to providing high-performance tyres. Dunlop engineers were the first to apply race tyre performance standards to tyres designed for everyday motoring. Whatever your tyre knowledge, this site offers straightforward information, interactive tyre search tools and a wealth of facts and advice.

G

Genealogy - Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry BMSGH, the principal family history society for the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire. This includes the areas of the old counties as they existed before the major boundary changes of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the areas brought into them by those changes. The modern metropolitan boroughs of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton (collectively known as the West Midlands) are within the area. The Society promotes, maintains, and encourages good practice, research, preservation of records, including transcription and publication), publication and dissemination of good practice, collaboration with other interested bodies in connection with genealogy and heraldry. The Society has now set up a new website, Midlands Ancestors.

Geology - Lapworth Museum The Lapworth Museum of Geology has the finest and most extensive collections of fossils, minerals and rocks in the Midland Region. The Museum dates back to 1880, and is one of the oldest specialist geological museums in the UK. Throughout its long history the Lapworth Museum has provided a valuable resource for students, schools and colleges, research workers, enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in, or desire to learn, about geology. The museum supports teaching and research in the Earth Sciences and natural history within the University and the West Midlands region.

Georgian - Mapping Birmingham, a blog offering a virtual tour of Georgian & Regency Birmingham, an industrial town that grew and prospered over this period, but was so successful that the Georgian landscape soon outlived its usefulness and was slowly replaced. A fascinating website by Jenni Dixon.

Gun Barrel Proofhouse Established in 1813, by Act of Parliament, the Proof House was requested and obtained by the Birmingham gun trade at its own expense to ensure an independent compulsory proof test for their gun barrels. The purpose of the Proof House remains essentially unchanged and is able to offer many additional services to that of proof. Inside this historical & unique institute are assembled a store of documents and artefacts of real interest.

Guns - Webley & Scott, probably the oldest name in the British gun industry – able to trace its origins back to 1790 when William Davies started making bullet moulds in his factory in Birmingham. The company gained a worldwide reputation for high quality guns of all types.

H

Heritage - Birmingham Heritage Website for Birmingham Heritage Forum, a voluntary association of public and private groups and individuals interested in the heritage of Birmingham. Gives details of sites in and around Birmingham.

Home Guard - The 32nd Staffordshire (Aldridge) Battalion of the Home Guard  - Chris Myer's site also has specific information on the Birmingham Home Guard units - http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/DotherReminiscencesWarkssstaffshg.htm. 

His site also hosts a history of Kynoch's at Witton - http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/KOtherInformationKynoch.htm.

and lots of pictures and information about King Edward VI Grammar School when it stood in New Street - http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/L4OtherReminiscencesstaffshg.shtml.

Housing, UK Housing Wiki The UK Housing Wiki is a collaborative encyclopedia, aiming to provide a detailed account on council housing in the United Kingdom in the interwar period, post-World War II period and present day. This includes council estates, private estates, tower blocks, tower block construction methods and pioneers in residential property construction - Birmingham Index.

J

Jewish Birmingham This is the website for the Representative Council of Birmingham and Midland Jewry. It contains all the information about Jewish life in Birmingham, UK. It should be a valuable source of information for everyone, members of the community, students studying in Birmingham, and visitors! Information is available here on every aspect of our community- the synagogues, welfare organisations, educational bodies, kosher outlets, communal security, youth organisations, charitable groups, and all other societies and trusts.

L

Lucas Memories Jackie Hill's tribute to the Lucas family and the impact they made on Birmingham industry and people.

M

Money - A Ramble 'Round Old Birmingham This is a "missing chapter" from an early draft of Professor Selgin's book, ‘Good Money', the true and remarkable story of private coinage and banking in Britain in the early years of the Industrial Revolution 1775-1850. The chapter takes the form of a walk round Birmingham on a day in 1829.

Muslim Birmingham  A website with a wide variety of information about Muslim Birmingham. The owner of the website is not identified.

O

Open Spaces Forum, Birmingham BOSF Birmingham Open Spaces Forum is a network organisation that aims to bring together all the people in Birmingham with an interest in open spaces. An Open Space is any space that a community regards as a green area, accessible to the local community. This includes: parks, allotments, nature reserves, country parks, cemetries, wildlife corridors, playing fields. BOSF is for any group in Birmingham working to promote and develop an open space. This includes: friend's groups community groups residents' associations neighbourhood forums environmental projects and groups professionals working in open spaces.

P 

Pens - Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association Birmingham was the centre of the world pen trade for more than a century, employing thousands of people, and pioneering craftsmanship, manufacturing processes and employment opportunities for women. The availability of cheap pens enabled the development of education and literacy throughout the world. The Birmingham Pen Trade Heritage Association is working to ensure that this important part of Birmingham's history receives the recognition it deserves. Andy Doherty’s personal website.

Photographs - Alton Douglas  is best known as the author of a host of best-selling books using local photographs of Birmingham: The War Years: Birmingham at War, Birmingham: Back to the Forties, Birmingham: Back to the Fifties, Birmingham: Back to the Sixties, Birmingham: Back to the Seventies, The Birmingham Scrapbooks, Birmingham in the Thirties, Birmingham in the Forties, Birmingham in the Fifties, Birmingham in the Sixties, Birmingham in the Seventies, Memories of Birmingham: 100 Hundred Years of Photographs, Birmingham: A Look Back, Birmingham at Play, Birmingham at Work, Birmingham Remembered: A Centenary Celebration.

Photographs and architectural drawings - Royal Institute of British Architects The British Architectural Library was founded in 1834 as the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects. It is the largest and most comprehensive resource in Britain for research and information on all aspects of architecture and probably the finest collection of its kind in the world. A search for Birmingham comes up with over 200 images. 

Photographs - Birmingham's Buildings and Urban Topography Images The photographs of of Birmingham University lecturer, the late Phyllis Nicklinon the University of Birmingham's ePapers Repository, a wonderful collection from the late 1950s and 1960s. 

Photographs - Davids Oram's Brumpic

Photographs - Flickr Birmingham group Modern photographs of the City contributed by members. Includes separate groups for certain districts eg. Bournville, Kings Norton, Sutton Park.

Photographs - Photo by D J Norton The personal site of Mark Norton, son of D J Norton, an amateur photographer of the 1950s and -60s. Many photographs are railway- and tram-related and many were taken during the development of the Inner Ring Road. The author is developing the site with his own photographs especially of the changing City Centre. Also here is a collection of photographs by Leonard Stace and the Geoff Thompson Archive.

Photographs - Birmingham Daily Photo This is a photographic blog by an author named Shutterspy, an interesting collections of places with B postcodes. Seems not to have been updated after 2008.

Photographs - Geograph British Isles This project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The photographs may be searched by inputting a postcode (the first part is sufficient), grid reference or placename. Sponsored by The Ordnance Survey and linked to their maps and to Google Earth. See the Birmingham photographs.

Photographs - Photoaddiction A website of interesting photographs of derelict places by Michael Scott.

Photographs - Urban 75 Photographs of Birmingham and other places.

Postcards of the Past - Birmingham A collection of postcards over 50 years old - other towns available. The personal site of Dave Gregory.

Postcard World The commercial site of Deryk and Brenda ? for the sale of postcards - includes a good viewable selection of Birmingham postcards to buy.

Joseph Priestley and the Birmingham Riots Article by Jason Reuter of Portland University, Oregon

Publishers - The History Press Founded by Alan Sutton in 1993, Tempus’ first years were spent producing Local History titles, principally books of old photographs on towns and villages. During the 1990s, the list diversified. We produced our first books in our acclaimed Archaeology list, as well as books on more general history subjects. Other highly successful areas of publishing now include Transport, Military, Industrial Heritage and Sports History. Local History remains the bedrock of publishing output with 1500 titles now published.

R

Rail Around Birmingham This site is intended for those who have a keen interest in local history and the region's railway history. Although the site is 'Rail Around Birmingham' the author has chosen his boundary to suit areas that interest him. His aim is to visit the site of every disused station and operational station in the area as a snapshot of the current state of the railways in the West Midlands. Website by Andy Doherty.

Railways - Warwickshire Railways by Mike Musson - This site is created for the railway enthusiast, local historian and railway modeller by fellow enthusiasts. It is dedicated to the research, study and recording of the history of Warwickshire's railways from 1837 to circa 1970 and to publish and disseminate all such information through this website. 

S

St Paul's Church, Jewellery Quarter - The earlier version of this site was dedicated to Victorian lantern slides. The theme has now changed to my research on the history of Birmingham, mainly St Paul’s Church in the 1770s. A gallery of images has been retained. John Sawkill. 

See also the church's own website.

Skyscraper City Seems to be the personal website of Jan Klerks in Rotterdam. Lots of information on tall buildings with members contributions. Search for Birmingham.

T

Television - ATV A tribute website to ATV, a fondly-remembered and popular broadcaster, operating from 1955 until 1981, at which time, as a condition of keeping their franchise, they had to more reflect the Midlands in their programmes and name, and became Central on 1st January 1982.

Theatres and Music Halls, Birmingham Pictures of Birmingham's theatres on Matthew Lloyd's website devoted to his great grandfather, music hall artist Arthur Lloyd 1839-1904.

Transport Museum, Wythall - Birmingham & Midlands Motor Omnibus Trust The website of the Transport Museum, Wythall, situated in north Worcestershire, just south of Birmingham. The Museum has extensive collections of buses, battery electric vehicles and a miniature steam railway which operates on our special operating days. Amongst the collection there are over 80 buses and coaches including the biggest collection of Midland Red vehicles, plus vehicles from former Birmingham, West Bromwich, Walsall and Wolverhampton Corporations and WMPTE. The web site is designed to tell you about the museum, our collections and operating days.

U

University of Aston in Birmingham

University of Birmingham 

University, Birmingham City University

University, Newman University Birmingham

Urban Country Lanes Stephen Battey’s personal website. Urban country lanes are the original rural roads that have survived urbanisation. As developers advance a city piece-by-piece, estate-by-estate, sometimes the roads on the edges of each new development are overlooked and so fragments of the countryside can be found deep within the heart of a city. This web-site aims to track down urban country lanes in cities across the UK. With the help of people across the country I hope to develop a database of all urban lanes, their locations and where-ever possible, photos of the throughfares. The author started the project by discovering the country lanes of South Birmingham.

W

Women in Brum: Brimmin - a site by Jaki Booth containing a list of women who have made a significant contribution to Birmingham.