History West Midlands On Air

Well known Birmingham author and historian, Carl Chinn tells the story.

Aston Hall is a magnificent example of Jacobean architecture on the periphery of central Birmingham built between 1618 and 1635.  The house was damaged in the English Civil War during an attack by the Parliamentary army in 1643.  Subsequently, Aston Hall and the surrounding park were rented by James Watt Jnr, son of the pioneer of steam power, James Watt Snr. As Birmingham's population grew massively in the early nineteenth century, much of the parkland was built upon and there was a real danger that this architectural gem might be knocked down and lost forever, whilst the remainder of its park would be developed.  But the working people of Birmingham were not prepared to lose their treasured asset.  This is the story of how the 'Peoples Park Company' saved Aston Hall and its grounds.

Keywords: Aston Hall, Parks, Open Spaces, Victorian, Civil War, James Watt

Many of the billions of letters flowing backwards and forwards across the Channel between the trenches and the Home Front reveal hopes and dreams of life after the war's end.

​These are the voices of ordinary men and women from Worcestershire and the surrounding counties.

​In the last of her series of three programmes University of Worcester historian, Hayley Carter reveals their aspirations.

Acknowledgements:

Extracts from Dispatches Worcestershire Archive and Archaeological Society.

Imperial War Museum Archive.

The Dillen. Memories of a man of Stratford Upon Avon. Oxford University Press.

The Trustees of the Mercian Regimental Museum (Worcestershire).

British Newspaper archive. 

Evesham Journal Archive. 

Keywords: World War 1, Worcestershire, Women

The First World War turned many marriages upside down.  Couples were separated for extended periods for months or even years.

​Letters and cards provided the only way of maintaining relationships.

​Historian Hayley Carter of the University of Worcester follows correspondence between two married couples as they work to maintain their relationships.

Acknowledgements:

Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service.

Full of hope and Fear. The Great war letters of an Oxford family. Oxford University Press.

Keywords: Worcestershire, Women, World War I

During the First World War about 2 billion letters were delivered by the British army postal service and in 1917 alone 19,000 mailbags crossed the Channel every day.

​This correspondence was a vital means of reassuring sweethearts, wives and mothers of continuing love and care.

​Historian, Hayley Louise, of the University of Worcester, has studied archives of letters and cards between men at the Front to women from Worcestershire and the surrounding counties.

​In the first of a series of three audio podcasts she explores how mothers, wives and soldiers at the Front sought and gained reassurance from this intimate exchange of news and feelings.

Acknowledgements:

The private collection of Sean Brown.

Monica Parker daughter of Arthur Chaytor Pepper. Letters archived within the RAF Museum, Cosford. 

Keywords: Women, World War I, Worcestershire

Well-known Birmingham historian and author Carl Chinn takes a walk in the Broad Street area of the city where the notorious back-to-back communities once stood.

He describes how these impoverished communities lived on the edge of starvation in some of the poorest housing in Britain.

Carl also discovers how faced with riots because of the price of bread some of the town's leaders including Matthew Boulton created a cooperative to provide cheap flour.  He visits the new Union Mill in Grosvenor Street West off Sheepcote Street which was powered by a Boulton and Watt steam engine and stood in farmland which was swallowed up in the back-to-back houses and factories of 19th century Birmingham.

Join Carl Chinn on his exploration of the hard lives of many Brummies.

Well-known Birmingham historian and author Carl Chinn takes a walk in the Broad Street area of the city where the notorious back-to-back communities once stood.

He describes how these impoverished communities lived on the edge of starvation in some of the poorest housing in Britain.

Carl also discovers how faced with riots because of the price of bread some of the town's leaders including Matthew Boulton created a cooperative to provide cheap flour.  He visits the new Union Mill in Grosvenor Street West off Sheepcote Street which was powered by a Boulton and Watt steam engine and stood in farmland which was swallowed up in the back-to-back houses and factories of 19th century Birmingham.

Join Carl Chinn on his exploration of the hard lives of many Brummies.

This beautifully preserved enameled bronze pan is probably a souvenir of Hadrian’s Wall possibly made for a soldier who served there or a visitor.

The Staffordshire Moorlands pan found in Ilam in 2003.

Its engraved description names forts on the wall – Bowness, Drumburgh, Stanwick and Castlesteads as well as the name Aelius Draco.

Was he the man presented with the dish as a memento of his time on the wall? We will never know but this is a very rare artefact which is now in the collection of the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-On-Trent.

KEYWORDS: Roman, Hadrian's Wall, Staffordshire, Potteries Museum and Art Gallery

Unless you are very old (and I mean really, really old) you probably didn’t get to the 1851 Exhibition.

But you can change that, by joining David de Haan (formally of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust) & Malcolm Dick (Birmingham University), when they talk to Mike Gibbs from History West Midlands.

‘The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851’ - to give it its full title - was held in Hyde Park that year and over 6 million people visited. That’s about 1 in 3 of the entire population. When the design for the building was first published in June 1850, Punch dubbed the architectural style ‘Early English Shed’, but by 2nd November had been won over as the light and airy building grew, and changed the description to ‘Crystal Palace’. The name stuck.

It was a temporary exhibition which ran six days a week from Thursday 1st May until Wednesday 15th October 1851. With days lost for Sundays, private views for exhibitors, plus the Opening and Closing ceremonies, the public had access on 141 days between 9am and 6pm. Queen Victoria visited 41 times!

From plans, catalogues and prints, the layout and content of the 1851 Exhibition has been reconstructed, making it possible to visit stand after stand in the order the Victorians would have seen them. Individual exhibits have been identified, foreign products marvelled at, and the whole atmosphere of the original Crystal Palace will be brought to life.

KEYWORDS: Great Exhibition, Crystal Palace, Glass, Chances, Chance Brothers, Iron, Joseph Paxton, Victorian, Prince Albert

The Iron Bridge in Shropshire, UK was the world’s first iron bridge in the world.

Constructed in 1779 its single span has become one of the worlds best known industrial monuments. It symbolises one of the earliest developments in the Industrial Revolution.

In this podcast, David de Haan, Director of the Ironbridge Trust 1998-2012 tells the story of the birth of the bridge.

KEYWORDS: Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, Iron, Abraham Darby, UNESCO, World Heritage, River Severn, Shropshire Industry, Engineering

The Iron Bridge in Shropshire, UK was the world’s first iron bridge in the world.

Constructed in 1779 its single span has become one of the worlds best known industrial monuments.

It symbolises one of the earliest developments in the Industrial Revolution. In this podcast, David de Haan, Director of the Ironbridge Trust 1998-2012 tells the story of the birth of the bridge.

KEYWORDS: Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, Iron, Abraham Darby, UNESCO, World Heritage, River Severn, Shropshire Industry, Engineering