DOWN TO EARTH in The City

Boer War Memorial Sculpture Cannon Hill Park The 'memorial statue' has become the subject of contention over the past few years, as the rewriting of history, providing us with alternative details of a particular event, gathers pace.  Edward Colston in Bristol Robert Milligan at West India Dock Quay Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford To name a few- Most, if not all statues of this kind represent either an occasion or an individual for actions deemed celebratory in their day, yet as successive generations awaken to  further revelations, the discussions can take a turn in another direction, and we begin to question other aspects and related facts. A broader section of our previously unvoiced society is able to voice opinions according to a different perspective. https://www.historyandpolicy.org/opinion-articles/articles/the-fall-of-slavery-statues-symbols-and-social-contention   The article - ' The fall of slavery: statues, symbols and social contention' - ...

A pleasant walk, fine weather, lots of park activity, good company, jolly banter, shared knowledge and light humour were the ingredients for a fine health and well-being walk recipe. Veteran Willow at Cannon Hill  As is often the case during 'Down To Earth in The City' meetings the themes veered this way and that, but were largely kept on course by the landscape features at Cannon Hill Park and beyond. Added to the headliner features of hedgerow, meadow, ancient oaks and veteran willow was the Organic Growers Alliance conference at the MAC and a friendly rivalry encounter between the Hay Mills and Billesley Fire Crews. Birmingham's Premier Park can be a bustling hive of activity on occasion but most times provides a comfortable encounter for families, dog walkers, runners and casual visitors. If the need to escape suddenly becomes overwhelming, then a short walk across the main grass-covered arena to the woods will often suffice. In need of a greater escape? then venture fu...

H ow we love to celebrate the British hedgerow, citing the great benefits to the natural world and the enhancement to the wider countryside, together with the annual 'National Hedgerow Week' and hedging competitions taking place around the country; mostly carried out by volunteers and amateurs it should be said, but also employing a few professionals in the process. A longside these annual events, there are written works aplenty and photographs combining to make a very interesting historical account, but with ramifications beyond the 'green and pleasant land' epithets.  ' E nclosures' with its sinister and oppressive connotations is cited in virtually all works on the subject, and on occasions in social history accounts too. S ylvia Federici makes many references in the Preface, Introduction to, and text in her book on capitalism, 'Caliban and the Witch', noting early on "...a new round of "enclosures" that have expropriated millions of ag...

  A series of leisurely wayside walks -  along the streets, asides the rivers and through the parks accessible to all October 18th -  Riverside Walk Cannon Hill Park 12.00 start, meet at MAC courtyard November 1st- Trees of Highbury Park Highbury Park 11.00am meet at the car park off Shutlock Road November 15th -  Urban Walking Pacha House to Highgate Park 12.00 meet at Pacha House, Friends Hall and Institute, Old Moseley Road, Highgate November 29th -  Between The Oaks Kings Heath Park to Cannon Hill Park via Highbury Park 12.00 meet at the White House in the centre of the park

All compass point details are approximate Three cornered garlic or similar Library Terrace (Roof) garden To the west - Broad Street towards Five Ways West side looking south Baskerville House looking south east North east looking North north east East South

Meadows and pastures traditionally served the same purpose for feeding cattle and sheep throughout the year, pastures for all-year grazing and meadows providing hay for winter feeding, and these grassland features would have been an integral part of the city structure and development of the marketplace well into the 20th century. Many of our meadows are now managed for their wildlife value, maintained and enhanced on a single 'cut and collect' regime each year. By removing the nutrient-rich cuttings, the practice ensures a nutrient-poor soil layer, thus enabling a variety of flowering plants to thrive, rather than a coarse grass-dominated grassland.  Cannon Hill Meadow 2022 Highgate Park was Birmingham's first purchased municipal park, bought by the city council from a Trust set up at the request of the previous landowner Elizabeth Hollier in 1790, with an official acknowledgement by Mayor Joseph Chamberlain in 1876, three years after the opening of Cannon Hill Park. Up unt...

 Mediaeval Birmingham is one of 20 walks featured in this handy pocket booklet compiled by Archaeologist Dr Mike Hodder and Sue Whitehouse from Birmingham Museums Trust. It's an intriguing walk, and helps to establish a vision of Birmingham's mediaeval past with clarity and ease, combined with a few surprises. The ever changing nature of modern cities can soon render these descriptive walks obsolete, but in this case, the 1000+ year history maintains an existing and  centralised focus around St Martin's Church, with reference to nearby archaeological excavations. Mediaeval features mentioned - 1. Pinfold Street - part of the mediaeval road between Birmingham and Dudley 2. New Street - Temple Street crossroads, broadened at this point to form a market place in mediaeval times. 3. New Street - the site of the Guild Hall of The Holy Cross 4. Nelson monument - looking over the mediaeval market place next to St Martin's Church and the nearby  manor house  5. Mediaeval wal...

 Second walk 'In Search of Old Birmingham' with Down To Earth in The City Heritage Week 2022 - September 13th - Spiceal Street - The Bull Ring - High Street - Dale End Although the city centre we have in front of us today forms part of an ever-changing landscape with few features of old, we can still navigate the streets (mostly pedestrianised) with some familiarity of the early 19th and 20th Centuries.  2022 Looking south from Spiceal Street towards former  Jamaica Row (St Martin's on left) Some street names of old are still in use, and although the original wayside buildings may have changed beyond recognition, we can still visualise, with the aid of maps and images, the old Birmingham.  St Martin's Church, the Mother Church of Birmingham, becomes ever more fascinating the more we delve, the more we look, the more we see. A history dating back to mediaeval Birmingham, overlooking and perhaps overseeing everything and all the changes for many hundreds of years. From...

A series of short walks starting from St Martin's Church, aided by maps,  images and brief historical accounts, together with memories and anecdotes. The aim is to provide visualisation, via 'down-to-earth means', involving walking, talking and a few old images of the city centre before the great 1960s destruction and also from our memories of the marketplace following the 1960s rebuild.  We're not making a timeline, so the dates will jump around a bit (but you can make one) Photo article from Birmingham History Forum The double rebuild, occurring within 40 years (loosely between the early 1960s and early 2000s), is quite dramatic, creating many anecdotes and conversations about the previous layouts, with buildings, roads and other landmarks disappearing during this period. However, two landmark features remain to provide a geographical reference from which we can locate many long-lost buildings and changing road layouts, the church and the Nelson statue. Walk 1 -  Moa...

A Welsh Black (a statue) on the road between Rhayader and Llandiloes The famous Black Ox, also known as the Welsh Black was herded overland from Wales to England for a thousand years. This perhaps should be the model for Birmingham's iconic Bull. Its stature is impressive, its pedigree renowned and its contribution to industrial heritage should be highlighted in any discourse related to Birmingham's historic meat markets. Bulls Head pub, Kings Norton The image of the fabled black bull or the black ox can be found throughout Wales and England. Bulls Head pub, Moseley Likewise in Birmingham, it's the Welsh Black that is often depicted, as seen on pub signs in Kings Norton and Moseley. It is claimed that the Welsh black is one of the oldest breeds in the UK, bred for its resilience to the climate of the Welsh hillsides, as much as for its milk or meat. On a recent visit to Llanidloes in mid Wales, and following a few drinks with the locals at the Crown and Anchor, the topic of...