History of Birmingham
This article is about the history of Birmingham in England. For the history of Birmingham in Alabama, see Birmingham, Alabama.
Small farming settlements existed in the Birmingham area since the Bronze Age.
In Roman times, the Ryknild Street Roman road passed through what is now the Birmingham area, and a large military fort and marching camp existed in what is now southern Birmingham (see external links, below). Remains have also been found of a Roman setllement named Vicus in the Birmingham area alongside the Roman fort.
Until the Middle Ages, the Birmingham area was a sparsely populated backwater, due to poor quality soil which made agriculture unproductive. Much of the area was covered by the once- vast Forest of Arden.
Birmingham probably came into being as a small Anglo-Saxon village.
The name 'Birmingham' is derived from the Saxon name Beormaham, Ham meaning hamlet or village of Beorma's people. Beorma probably being a local Saxon tribal leader.
After the Norman conquest of Britain the area passed into the hands of the De Birmingham family (sometimes spelt De Bermingham) who established a small farming estate. Birmingham was recorded as a minor village in the Domesday Book which stated:
In the year 1154, lord of the estate Peter de Birmingham obtained a charter to hold a market. The market transformed Birmingham from a tiny, undistinguished farming village into a thriving centre of trade.
The market came to be called the Bull Ring. Located at a crossing point on the River Rea, Birmingham was at a focal point for trackways in the area, and for this reason attracted much trade, which in turn attracted skilled craftsmen to set up business there.
By the 1300s, Birmingham had become the third largest settlement in Warwickshire, with only Coventry and Warwick being larger.
The De Birminghams retained control of the area until 1527, when John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland gained control of the town.
From the 16th century onwards, Birmingham became a centre of many metalworking industries, with a skilled population of ironmongers. Birmingham also became a centre of arms manufacturing, with guns and swords being produced in the town.
Birmingham's inland location, away from any major transport links, meant that its manufacturers had to produce goods of high quality and value to compensate the high cost of transport. This gave Birmingham made goods a reputation for quality.
The armarments trade was greatly helped by the English Civil War: In 1642, Birmingham was sacked by the royalist forces lead by Prince Rupert. Following this, Birmingham allied itself with the Parliamentarian cause and Birmingham manufacturers supplied the Roundheads with much of their weaponry. Reputedly, 15,000 swords were produced in Birmingham for Oliver Cromwell's forces.
Birmingham's skilled workforce, and the fact that Birmingham was located near the coalfields of northern Warwickshire and Staffordshire, meant that the town grew rapidly during the Industrial revolution. By the mid 18th century, Birmingham had become the largest town in Warwickshire.
In the late 18th and early 19th century, Birmingham became a centre of the canal system, which greatly aided its industrial growth.
During this time, Birmingham was home to Matthew Boulton, James Watt, William Murdoch, Joseph Priestley who, with others, formed the Lunar Society.
In the 1830s the Grand Junction Railway (linking onwards to Liverpool and Manchester) and the London and Birmingham Railway were built and shortly aftwerwards, Birmingham New Street station became the hub of the national railway network.
Due to its growing size, in the 1830s Birmingham was incorporated as a borough and gained Parliamentary representation, following abolition of the rotten boroughs.
During the 19th century, Birmingham's population grew rapidly and by the middle of that century Birmingham had become the second-largest population centre in Britain. Birmingham became known as the "city of a thousand trades" because of the wide variety of goods manufactured there. It was also during the 19th century that Birmingham gained its reputation (which is perpetuated to this day by those ignorant of recent changes) as a grim industrial city.
In 1873 Joseph Chamberlain became mayor of the city. Under his leadership, the council introduced many innovative civic improvements. The town council purchased the city's gas and water works which improved the lighting and provided clean drinking water to the city, and also provided a healthy income for the council. He was instrumental in building of the Council House and the Victoria Law Courts in Corporation Street. Numerous public parks were also opened. The improvements introduced by Chamberlain were to prove the blueprint for municipal government, and were soon copied by other cities.
Birmingham became a county borough in 1889, and a city in 1896.
Between 1889 and 1911 the boundaries of Birmingham were expanded to include the formerly separate towns of Aston, Edgbaston, Erdington, Handsworth, King's Norton, Northfield and Yardley, some of which had been part of Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The city boundaries were further expanded in 1974 to include Sutton Coldfield.
During the 20th century, Birmingham's population continued to increase.
In the First and Second World Wars, the Longbridge car plant built everything imaginable from ammunition to tank suspensions, steel helmets, Jerricans, Hawker Hurricanes, Fairey Battle fighters, Horsa Gliders, mines and depth charges, with the mamoth Avro Lancaster bomber coming into production towards the end of WWII. The Spitfire fighter aircraft was mass produced for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, at Castle Bromwich.
The city was heavily bombed by the German Luftwaffe during World War II, in a failed attempt to break the morale of the city's workers and reduce its vital industrial capacity. By the war's end over 5,000 citizens were killed or seriously injured, over 6,000 homes were destroyed, and many of Birmingham's fine buildings were also destroyed in the air raids. It has been argued that Britain may have lost the war had it not been for Birmingham's industrial might.
In 1974, two city-centre pubs were bombed by the IRA.
In the same year as part of a local government reorganisation, Birmingham expanded again, this time taking over the borough of Sutton Coldfield to the north. Birmingham lost its county borough status and instead became a metropolitan borough under the new West Midlands County Council.
Since the early 1980s, Birmingham has seen a new wave of migration, this time from communities which do not have Commonwealth roots, including people from Kosovo and Somalia.
Tension between ethnic groups and the authorities led to the Handsworth riots in 1985.
The International Convention Centre (ICC) opened in central Birmingham in the early 1990s.
The area around Broad Street, including Centenary Square, the ICC and Brindleyplace, was extensively renovated at the turn of the Millennium.
In 1998 a G8 summit was held in Birmingham, and US president Bill Clinton was clearly impressed by the city. He famously had a drink in a canalside pub - though he never paid for his beer!
In September 2003, after a year long redevelopment project, the new BullRing shopping complex was opened. In 2003, the city failed in its bid to become the 2008 European Capital of Culture, under the banner "Be in Birmingham 2008".
Development continues, not least in the city's "Eastside" district.
Ancient history
Saxon Birmingham
Medieval Birmingham
There was land for six ploughs, but only three plough teams were used, there were the families of five villiens and four borders; woodland half a league by two furlongs, no mill, no meadow and a total value of only 20 shillings.
Beginnings of industrialisation
The industrial revolution
Expansion
20th century
Diversity
In the years following World War II a major influx of immigrants from the British Commonwealth changed the face of Birmingham, with large communities from Southern Asia and the Caribbean settling in the city, turning Birmingham into one of the UK's leading multicultural cities. As of 2001, 29.7% of the city's population was made up of ethnic minority communities. Amongst the largest minority communities, 10.6% of Birmingham residents are Pakistani, 5.7% are Indian, 6.1% are Black Caribbean or African, and 2.9% are of mixed race.Regeneration
In the 1970s, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) was built, 10 miles southeast of the centre, close to Birmingham International Airport. Although it is actually just inside neighbouring Solihull, it was instigated, and largely owned by, Birmingham Council, and is thought by most people to be in the city. It has been expanded several times since then.Historic population
See Also
External links