An introduction to Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. It is the most populous British city outside London. Birmingham was the powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution in England, a fact which led to it being known as the workshop of the world or the city of a thousand trades.

Although Birmingham's industrial importance has declined, it has developed into a national commercial centre, being named as the second-best place in the United Kingdom to locate a business. Birmingham is a national hub for conferences, retail and events along with an established high tech, research and development sector, supported by its three Universities. It is also the fourth-most visited city by foreign visitors in the UK, has the second-largest city economy in the UK and is often referred to as the Second City.

Activities of interest in Birmingham

Birmingham is an ethnically and culturally diverse city. The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is the main art gallery and museum in Birmingham. It has renowned displays of artwork that include a leading collection of work by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the world's largest collection of works by Edward Burne-Jones. The council also owns other museums in the city such as Aston Hall, Blakesley Hall, the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Soho House, and Sarehole Mill, a popular attraction for fans of J. R. R. Tolkien. The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, housed in one of Birmingham's finest Art Deco buildings, is an art gallery and classical music venue and is often termed “one of the finest small art galleries in Europe”

Thinktank in the Eastside is one of the newest museums in the city, replacing the former Science & Industry Museum in Newhall Street. The Birmingham Back to Backs are the last surviving court of back-to-back houses in the city.

There are over 8,000 acres of parkland open spaces in Birmingham. The largest of the parks is Sutton Park covering 2,400 acres making it the largest urban nature reserve in Europe. Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a Victorian creation, with a conservatory and bandstand, close to the city centre.Winterbourne Botanic Garden, maintained by the University of Birmingham, is also located close to the city centre. Woodgate Valley Country Park is in Bartley Green and Quinton.

The city centre consists of numerous public squares including Centenary Square, Chamberlain Square and Victoria Square. The historic Old Square is located on Corporation Street. Rotunda Square and St Martin's Square are two of the newest squares in Birmingham, being located within the Bullring Shopping Centre. Brindley Place also consists of three squares and the National Sea Life Centre.

Birmingham's diverse population uses a wide variety of religious buildings in the city. St Philip's was upgraded from church to cathedral status in 1905. There are two other cathedrals, St Chad's, seat of the Roman Catholic Province of Birmingham, and the Greek Orthodox Dormition of the Mother of God and St Andrew. The original parish church of Birmingham, St Martin in the Bull Ring, is Grade II listed.

Getting to Birmingham

By Road
Birmingham has direct links to the UK motorways M6, M5, M1, and M40. Birmingham is the centre of the National Coach Network connecting with 500 destinations.

By Rail

Birmingham is linked to Central London by frequent rail services. Regular InterCity services leave New Street station for London Euston and from Snow Hill station to London Marylebone. There are rail links running East and West, North and South making Birmingham easy to reach from all parts of the country. www.nationalrail.co.uk

By Coach
Birmingham is accessible by coach from most cities in the UK. www.nationalexpress.com

By Air
Birmingham International Airport has two terminals flying to over 40 scheduled destinations in the UK, mainland Europe, Scandinavia and the Indian sub-continent. There are also daily non-stop flights to New York and Chicago. The airport is situated eight miles south-east of Birmingham, just off the M42 motorway. With its own mainline railway station right next door, access to the city centre and London couldn't be easier. www.birminghamairport.co.uk

Some of the earliest evidence of settlement in Birmingham is artefacts dating back 10,400 years discovered near Curzon Street in the city centre.

In the early 7th century, Birmingham was an Anglo-Saxon farming hamlet on the banks of the River Rea. Birmingham was first recorded in written documents by the Domesday Book of 1086 as a small village, worth only 20 shillings.

As early as the 16th century, Birmingham's access to supplies of iron ore and coal meant that metalworking industries became established. By the time of the English Civil War in the 17th century, Birmingham had become an important manufacturing town with a reputation for producing small arms. Arms manufacture in Birmingham became a staple trade and was concentrated in the area known as the Gun Quarter.

By the 1820s, an extensive canal system had been constructed, giving greater access to natural resources to fuel to industries. Railways arrived in Birmingham in 1837 with the arrival of the Grand Junction Railway, and a year later, the London and Birmingham Railway. During the Victorian era, the population of Birmingham grew rapidly to well over half a million and Birmingham became the second largest population centre in England. Birmingham was granted city status in 1889 by Queen Victoria.The city established its own university in 1900.

Birmingham suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II's Birmingham Blitz, and the city was extensively redeveloped during the 1950s and 1960s. In recent years, Birmingham has been transformed, with the construction of new areas like Centenary Square and Millennium Place. Old streets, buildings and canals have been restored, the pedestrian subways have been removed, and the Bull Ring shopping centre has been completely redeveloped. These were the first steps in the ambitious plans of Birmingham City Council for the redevelopment of Birmingham.

The University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick civic university located in the city of Birmingham, England. Founded in Edgbaston in 1900 as a successor to Mason Science College, and with origins dating back to the 1825 Birmingham Medical School, it was the first British university to gain official royal charter in the 20th century.

It is a member of the Russell Group of research universities and a founding member of Universitas 21. The student population includes around 16,500 undergraduate and 8,000 postgraduate students, making it the largest university in the West Midlands region.

Famous Alumni

Birmingham's alumni include the former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, the politicians Baroness Amos, MP Ann Widdecombe, General Sir Mike Jackson, formerly the most senior officer in the British Army, TV personalities Chris Tarrant and Ben Sheppard, actors Tamsin Greig, Norman Painting, Victoria Wood, Matthew Goode and Jane Wymark, the actor and musician Tim Curry, musician and lead singer of Duran Duran Simon Le Bon, sailor Lisa Clayton, zoologist Desmond Morris and theologian Robert Beckford.