Bournville Family, by Bill Brandt
Black and white photographic print by Bill Brandt depicting family sat in garden of a house on the Weoley Castle Estate.
Boy with hoop at Calthorpe Park
In the 19th century public parks were introduced to provide the poor and working classes with healthier ways to spend their leisure hours. The land was often given by social reformers – Lord Calthorpe ...
Cannon Hill Park Open-Air Swimming Pool
There were open-air swimming pools at Cannon Hill Park, and at Victoria Park, Small Heath. The pool at Cannon Hill Park was opened at the same time as the park, in September 1873, while the pool at Victoria ...
Children Playing at the Botanical Gardens
Holidays were mainly the preserve of the middle classes in the late nineteenth century – the poor had very little time off and very little spare money to spend. A public park therefore provided a unique ...
Girl in fancy dress presenting a bouquet to Elizabeth Cadbury at Bournville Children’s Festival
Highbury Park Sketch Plan
This sketch plan of the grounds and gardens of Highbury Hall was drawn by Hilda Chamberlain in 1894. It accompanied a letter written to her brother, Neville, who was managing the short-lived and ultimately ...
Ice skating at Cannon Hill Park
Lawford Street recreation ground
Letter from Eliezer Edwards to Hugh Nettlefold
In November 1884, a lengthy article about the Botanical Gardens appeared in Edgbastonia magazine. This letter illuminates the background to the publication of that article.
Correspondence about the ...
Letter from Hilda Chamberlain to Neville Chamberlain
This letter was written by Hilda Chamberlain to her brother, Neville, while he was living on Andros, in the Bahamas, managing the family's sisal plantation. It describes the proposed layout of newly acquired ...
Letter from Mr Bloxham to George Edwards
Mr Bloxham, an Edgbaston resident, writes to the Estate Office of his landlord Lord Calthorpe objecting to plans to convert the Edgbaston reservoir on Hagley Road into a public park.
Locomotive and Tender built for the Pitmaston Moor Green Model Railway
Just outside the boundaries of the Edgbaston Calthorpe Estate lay Sir John Holder’s estate at Pitmaston, close to Joseph Chamberlain’s home at Highbury. The Holders were brewers – a magnificent tiled ...
Minutes of Edgbaston Archery Association AGM
The Edgbaston Archery Association (later the Edgbaston Archery and Lawn Tennis Association) was formed in 1860. Membership was carefully controlled: ‘applicants for admission to be proposed by a Member, ...
Mount Street recreation ground
News Article on a 'Garden for the Blind'
This article documents the initial reactions of some of the first users of a garden for blind and visually impaired people that opened at Queen’s Park, Harborne on 31 July 1953.1 The Parks Committee minutes ...
Playing Tennis at Birmingham Botanical Gardens
'The lovers of lawn-tennis will perhaps be surprised to learn that Major Gem was the first to bring that game before the public, but it is an unquestionable fact'.
An obituary for Major ‘Harry’ Gem ...
Policeman with children, Warley Park
Postcard of Calthorpe Park
This birthday greetings postcard of Calthorpe Park was sent from D.S. to L. Payne of Solihull. Calthorpe Park was one of Birmingham’s first public parks, laid out in 1856.