The Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Click
on the link below to view an old History
Tourist Guide for the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, United Kingdom. (circa
1987)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p-JIT3WoJF5Z3xiaTvDvFNjuw0sQg6IH/view?usp=sharing
I
have always been an enthusiast for the locally created history tourist guide
especially when its A5 (148 x 210mm) size and less than 50 printed pages
preferably folded and stapled. A fast read and a concise summary of a historic
location ideally with adverts included relevant to the time of publication.
Yes, it is 37 years old published in 1987, but in those days, before the web
and social media destroyed historic narrative, a lot of effort and research
went into creating these type of guides.
For
example no social media post is going to dedicate this much narrative to John
Baskerville (Page 20/21) the famous 18th Century printer and
typographer best known for designing the Baskerville Typeface in 1757.
Here is a bit of his Baskerville typeface.
JOHN
BASKERVILLE -
(The
Birmingham Printer)
We
tend to take the print in booklets like this for granted and forget that
somewhere, sometime, someone needed to design the letters we read. One of the
most famous men to design letters is buried here in the Jewellery Quarter. That
man is John Baskerville, the Birmingham Printer, he was born at Sion House,
Wolverley, Nr Kidderminster in 1706. Little is known of his early life except
that he worked as a footman for the Rectory at Kings Norton where he developed
his interest in Calligraphy and taught writing. This love for writing led him
to set up a writing school near the Bull Ring, where at the same time he
engraved tombstones to earn a little extra money.
Japanning
items made from hard black gloss, was becoming fashionable in England at that
time, where they were introduced from France. Baskerville saw his chance and
set up a factory in Moor Street. The trinkets and knick-knacks he produced made
him a fortune which enabled him in 1747 to lease a piece of land, which he gave
the name 'Easy Hill'. Baskerville House now stands on this land in Broad
Street.
While
his wife managed the Japanning business, he devoted his time to designing a
type for printing, which took years to draw and cut by hand. The first book in
this type was the poems of Virgil in 1757. The next year, the University of
Cambridge made John their printer, where he produced some of the finest bibles.
On
January 8th 1775, John Baskerville died, and in keeping with his wishes, he was
buried in the grounds of his house in a conical shaped building which had
formerly been a windmill. This had been repaired by Baskerville in his
lifetime, so that he could be placed in the vault beneath it on his death. The
old windmill was demolished and the body beneath forgotten, until discovered in
December 1820.
In
May 1821, because of the need to extend the wharf, the coffin was removed to
Gibsons Warehouse in Cambridge Street, where it was opened and the body brought
to view. It was reported to be in a 'singular state of preservation'
considering it had been underground for about 46 years! The remains were later
removed to the shop of Job Marston, a plumber and glazier whose shop stood
where the present day entrance to Snow Hill Station is, in 1829, and again
exposed where Marston is reported to have charged one shilling a time to view.
It
became obvious that the coffin and remains were becoming an embarrassment but
here the story takes on an air of mystery and it was another fifty years before
the truth of his re-internment came to light and that his remains were in Vault
No. 521 in Christchurch Catacombs. Once again he was brought to view in 1893
when the coffin was again opened.
In
view of John Baskerville's flamboyancy while living, one would think that he
would find all this controversy highly entertaining and it was not to end
there, because when the church was demolished, he was again on the move. This
time to his present resting place in the Catacombs in Warstone Lane Cemetery
where he was placed on 26th February 1868, but his real epitaph is in the
letters that he designed so long ago and which are still used in many books
today.
The End
WhatsApp: Instant,energetic, reactive,
message orientated
Blogspot: Topical, educational, long
narratives, story like, takes time to read the
content, not so rushed, thought provoking content
Changing track like you can do in a blog. The Jewellery Quarter holds a special place in that both myself and girlfriend (appreciate it sounds dated but that was the terminology of the 1960’s) made a special trip there for me to purchase our Engagement Ring for our engagement on my 21st Birthday in April 1969 leading to our marriage on Battle of Britain day, a Monday, on the 15th September 1969. It cost £20 with a tiny sapphire stone surrounded by even smaller diamonds. I was a student. The Jewellery Quarter at the time, the 1960’s, was not a tourist attraction but a busy industrial network manufacturing and selling jewellery in what looked like a domestic setting of normal housing but undergoing a major transformation. If you lived in the Birmingham or the Midlands it was where you went to buy jewellery at wholesale rather than retail prices but knowing it was a very legislated environment administered by the Birmingham Assay Office with its local hallmarking services. But always carry a powerful magnifying glass when buying jewellery or a smartphone does the same these days.
Photo
of our Engagement Ring
Afterword.
It would be interesting to see a photo taken now (2024) of the Hairdressers assembled in their 1987 photo on page 36. I bet their hair remains perfectly styled and in excellent condition being a members of “The Ultimate Hair Design Team.”
