A brief history of the Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter is a unique area of Birmingham, and although over the years, it has been through significant changes and challenges, it is still holding onto its rich cultural heritage.
English Heritage has produced and published a book entitled The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter: An introduction and guide. (You can access the ebook, by clicking here. Link opens in a new window.) It describes the development of the Jewellery Quarter over the centuries, as well as the characteristics that give the Quarter its unique atmosphere of an urban village.
I found the Quarter's history is fascinating and truly informative, so I decided to create a little summary of the key points highlighted in the English Heritage book mentioned above. Let's dive into it!
The history of the Jewellery Quarter
Birmingham has been producing jewellery and metalwares since the Middle Ages. By the mid-18th century, the town has been known for producing what at that time was known as “toys”: small personal items such as boxes, trinkets or cheap jewellery, as well as buckles and buttons.
During the 18th century, Birmingham went through such a significant stage of industrial and economic development, that by the end of the century, it became “the first manufacturing town in the world”, as Arthur Young has described it in his book Travels in England and Wales (1791).
The skills of the Birmingham masters, as well as the ready availability of iron ore and coal from South Staffordshire and Worcestershire, were two main reasons for the growth of the city in this period. From the late 18th century, the local canal network has been built, facilitating easier transport, which contributed to satisfying the growing consumer demand for “toys” and metal objects. Birmingham’s economic growth is a factor that encouraged immigration, which led to the sudden growth of Birmingham’s population from 5,000-7,000 in 1700, to 73,670 in 1801.
It is important to note that behind this phenomenal growth of Birmingham were a significant number of small family firms led by so-called “small masters”, who ran their businesses from attic workshops or small buildings erected in the back gardens of individual houses. Most of these family firms employed hand-powered machines, or no machinery at all in producing “toys” and other metal products.
During the 18th century, there were also a number of larger factories built in Birmingham, one of the most prominent ones being Matthew Boulton’s Soho Manufactory.
The growing number of “small masters” has led to the expansion of the town to the north-west, into the southern part of a recently subdivided estate belonging to the Colmore family, which consisted of the isolated homes of affluent residents, the houses of prosperous masters or professionals, as well as small gardens, which were then rented to workmen. This is the area that later developed into the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham.
Consequently, new homes were built along arterial routes to the north-west. The small masters’ homes tended to be modest terraced or semi-detached houses, which hosted their workshops as well. Gradually, many of them decided to extend out into their back gardens in order to increase the workshop spaces.
From the 1920-1930s, they started building courts of workers’ houses, which were usually fronted by houses that backed onto each other (also called back-to-backs), while the homes at the rear were usually built as terraces against a blank “blind” wall at the back. These were called “blind-backs”. Also, the more successful small masters started building houses that hosted their workshops at the back, which enabled them to supervise their workers, as well as be closer to their own families.
In the late 19th century, two large factories were founded in the Jewellery Quarter, seeking to take advantage of the recent industrial innovations: Elkington, Mason and Company, in Newhall Street, and Joseph Gillott’s Victoria Works, in Graham Street. Elkington, Mason and Company had developed the electroplating process, while Joseph Gillott invented a method of mass-producing steel pen nibs.
The 19th century brought another wave of development for the jewellery trade. With the Californian and Australian gold rushes, as well as the introduction of three inexpensive lower standards of gold alloy, followed by growing mechanization, there has been a growing demand for jewellery. Many “toy” makers switched to jewellery making, while many artisans would leave their masters and set up their own workshops. This led to an explosion of new building, shaping the Jewellery Quarter into what we see today. This continued up until the 20th century when the jewellery trade reached its zenith in the years just before the First World War.
In the early 1850s, the first small- to medium-sized purpose-built jewellery workshops without on-site accommodation started being built, which enabled hosting in a single place a number of processes that were formerly spread in numerous small workshops. Many of them resembled converted houses, although their façades were normally given more architectural distinction. They were designed in a number of different styles. The Regency style was used up until the 1850s, followed by the Gothic and Italianate styles, and from the 1890s, by the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements.
The characteristics of a standard jewellery works building
The characteristics of a medium- to large-sized works building were:
A carriage entrance placed to one side of the façade, which led to a rear courtyard.
The frontage was built parallel to the street and contained administration offices on the ground and first floor, and one or two warehouses on the first or second floors. These were used to store orders before being shipped off, or raw materials to be used in production. Small wooden hoists, or later lifts were used to move goods from the ground floor production workshops up to the second-floor storage.
Many medium and large works also had a showroom, where a range of products was displayed for prospective clients. This was usually located on the first floor for security reasons and was accessed via an ornate staircase from the ground floor.
The productions workshops were located at the rear of the front building blocks, arranged to one side of the property, and they were often longer than the width of the front block. The usually consisted of two or three levels. The courtyard offered access to the workshops and consisted a convenient exterior working area. Many larger factories had two parallel multi-storey workshop wings, often connected at the rear and enclosing the courtyard.
Good lighting is essential in jewellery making, as it involves hand processes and working with small and fine objects. As a result, the workshop spaces were usually relatively narrow, allowing light to flood in and penetrate to the rear blind wall through large windows facing the courtyard. Windows were normally of cast iron frames divided into panes. Two or four of the central ones would be opened to provide ventilation.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many new factories and workshops were built, their design being developed to provide better lighting and ventilation. After the Second World War, plans were made to demolish many of the converted houses and old factories, and replace them with integrated high-rise workshops. However, due to the resistance from the local jewellery firms and a growing appreciation of the workshops’ architecture, only a small area bounded by Warstone Lane, Vyse Street, Augusta Street and Northampton Street was demolished. A single eight-storey factory was then built on the plot, which today is known as the “Big Peg”.
Cattell J. and Hawkins, B. (2000) The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter: An introduction and guide. London: English Heritage, Sterling Press.
