Jewellery Quarter

The Jewellery Quarter is a special area in central Birmingham, England. It is located in the north-western part of the city and is home to about 19,000 people. This area covers just over one square kilometre, which is about 264 acres.

The Jewellery Quarter is very important because it has the most jewellery businesses in Europe. In fact, it makes about 40% of all the jewellery created in the United Kingdom. The area also has the world's largest Assay Office, where around 12 million items are checked and marked each year to make sure they are real and of good quality.

Over time, the jewellery industry in this area faced many challenges. Things like changes in what people wanted to buy, new ways of making things, the effects of the World Wars, and competition from other countries made it harder for some businesses. But in recent years, the Jewellery Quarter has changed again. It now includes many new homes for people to live in, mixing modern life with old factories and workshops. Even with these changes, the jewellery trade is still a big part of what makes this area special.

History

Origins

Birmingham grew during the 18th and 19th centuries, becoming a busy industrial town. It made many products from metals. Many workers came from all over Britain. Small factories and glassworks made buttons, badges, pins, and other tiny metal items.

By 1780, there were 26 places that worked with jewellery. By the early 1800s, about 12 jewellery companies employed around 400 people. In 1747, a family named Colmore got permission to use land that is now the Jewellery Quarter. This land had been a rabbit area and later had a big house on it.

The area had three main roads. One road came from Wednesbury and Wolverhampton. Another went to Dudley. The third connected these two roads. In 1769, a canal was built, making travel easier. More streets were added in the 1760s and 1770s. In 1777, a beautiful church named St Paul's Church was built, and houses were built around it.

Growth

The Jewellery Quarter made more jewellery than nearby Derby. By the end of the 1800s, London got many of its jewellery pieces from Birmingham. Half of the gold and silver items sold in London shops in 1850 were made in Birmingham.

Most jewellers worked in small workshops with 5 to 50 workers. Boys started working as apprentices at age 14 and learned the trade. Families often did not work in jewellery making because it needed very clean and careful work, but they helped by making boxes to protect the finished pieces.

By 1861, 7,500 people worked in jewellery. By 1880, there were nearly 700 workshops. New ways to make jewellery were invented, like a method to cover metal with a thin layer of other metals.

Recovery

After hard times, jewellers created groups to help each other. In 1890, a school for jewellery and silver making opened. By 1914, more than 20,000 people worked in the jewellery trade.

The Jewellery Quarter grew with small workshops and bigger factories. During World War I, the area made buttons and badges for the military. After the war, fashion changed quickly, and jewellers had to adapt.

Downturn and redevelopment

The demand for jewellery peaked in 1920 and then started to fall. The Great Depression made things harder. In World War II, the area made parts for weapons, and some buildings were damaged.

After the war, some big factories moved away. The city made plans to rebuild, but these plans were not successful. New roads were built, which limited where businesses could grow. By the 1980s, fewer people worked in jewellery, and many businesses closed.

Efforts to help the area started in the 1980s. New housing and shops opened. In 1998, a plan was made to turn the area into a place for creative businesses and residents. In 2022, a new plan was published to help the Jewellery Quarter grow again.

Conservation

The Jewellery Quarter is very important historically. In the 1970s, Birmingham City Council and English Heritage started protecting parts of this area. They created special zones to keep its old buildings safe.

In 1998, a big study showed just how special the Jewellery Quarter is. Because of this, the protected areas were joined into one big zone in 2000. Many buildings were also given special protection to keep them safe for the future.

Future

Birmingham City Council wants to make the Jewellery Quarter a place for creative businesses. This has brought in a lot of private money for new projects. Many plans were approved for building homes, shops, and offices in the area. Because the Jewellery Quarter is a special historic area, some old buildings were fixed up instead of torn down, but new buildings were also built.

One big plan was to change the A. E. Harris building on Northwood Street. This building was going to become homes, shops, a medical centre, and an art gallery. The plan also included new workspace for making jewellery. The company wanted to do this because they were facing tough competition from the Far East. The plan was changed a few times before it was finally approved in 2008.

Another big plan was for Newhall Square. This area was going to have homes, shops, offices, and a Travelodge hotel. It was built where the old Museum of Science and Industry used to be. Work started in late 2007 after the old buildings were torn down, including the James Watt building which had the oldest working steam engine in the world.

St Paul's Square was also a key spot for new developments. One big project there was St Paul's Place, which would have homes and office space. The building kept parts of an old factory and added new sections made of red brick. There were also smaller projects like JQ One with more homes and the Chamberlain Building, which was fixed up for shops and offices.

Near the edge of the Jewellery Quarter was the St Georges development. This was a very large project with many homes, offices, shops, and hotels. Work started in summer 2008 and was expected to finish in 2012.

Also nearby was the Birmingham Mint redevelopment. After the Mint closed in 2003, plans were made to turn it into homes and offices. Construction started in September 2007, keeping some old parts of the building like the front and a tall chimney.

Geography

The Jewellery Quarter is built on special sandstone from long ago, which was great for making moulds used in metalwork. The land is mostly flat but drops off sharply to the west and southeast. Before the 1800s, there were two small lakes in the area, but they were later filled in.

In 2008, an expert said the area might be at risk of flooding because of rising groundwater, partly due to less heavy industry removing water today.

Tourism

The Jewellery Quarter is not just a place for making jewellery, but it has also become a popular spot for visitors. Many of the old workshops still look like they did in the 1800s, which makes the area very interesting to see.

The city of Birmingham started to encourage tourism there in the 1980s. They made plans to improve the area, such as fixing parking and adding new designs to shop fronts. They also made guides and maps to help people find their way around. Some jewellery makers even let visitors watch them make jewellery.

There is a special museum called the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, which opened when an old jewellery shop closed. It shows how people used to work and live there. There are also art galleries and two fun trails to explore, with designs inspired by jewellery.

Industry

Today, about 700 businesses in the Jewellery Quarter work with jewellery. Around 400 of these make jewellery, creating 40% of all jewellery made in the UK. The area has many shops and factories where people design and sell jewellery. Vittoria Street is home to a special school for jewellery design run by the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design. Old factories have been turned into spaces for advertising, media, software, and architecture companies.

In the past, the Jewellery Quarter made very high-quality silver and gold jewellery, marked with a special symbol called a hallmark. During the 1800s, workers also made chains for watches and for industrial uses. Some of these chains were made from silver or even gold. In the same area, many pens were made, with one company making almost 1.5 billion pen nibs each year. The area also made famous sports trophies, like the one for the Wimbledon Ladies Singles tournament. Whistles were invented here, including the first football referee whistle and police whistle.

Places of interest

As more people have started visiting the area since the 1990s, many buildings have been fixed up and are now important spots in the local community. St Paul's Square is the only remaining Georgian square in Birmingham. It was once a place where new business leaders went to church. Over time, it filled with workshops and stopped being a quiet home area by the late 1800s. Now it has been restored and many buildings there are protected. It is one of the few open spaces left in the Jewellery Quarter. Two other spots are Warstone Lane and the Key Hill Cemeteries. Both of these areas are closed to new burials and are protected. The cemetery at Key Hill became officially protected in 1996, and the church cemetery on Warstone Lane joined it in 2001. However, they need repairs and are on a list of places that need care.

The Chamberlain Clock is at the corner where Vyse and Frederick Street meet Warstone Lane. It was built in 1903 to honor Joseph Chamberlain's trip to South Africa and was shown to the public in January 1904 by Chamberlain's wife.

Newhall Street used to hold the Museum of Science and Industry, which included the Elkington Silver Electroplating Works. The museum shut down in 1997, and most of the buildings were torn down. Only the buildings facing Newhall Street and a central hall stayed. The area will become a mixed-use space called Newhall Square, keeping the remaining buildings. Many of the museum’s displays moved to Thinktank at Millennium Point.

Another famous spot is the Big Peg, previously known as the Hockley Centre. Built in 1971 as a tall factory, it was redesigned into office space for artists, media, and creative work. The Big Peg Gallery shows art from local artists, and the huge building can hold up to 500 people. It is run by the SPACE Organisation. Inside the Big Peg is Concrete, a large club that opened on 1 February 2008 with a performance by Utah Saints.

Transport

The Jewellery Quarter has a special train station called the Jewellery Quarter station. This station is part of two ways to travel: the West Midlands Metro and the train line to Birmingham Snow Hill station. It opened for passengers in 1995 and later got more train services in 1999. You can also find trains here that go toward Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line.

There used to be another station nearby called Hockley railway station, but it closed long ago. A big road passes over the area, and there is a newer entrance to another station that makes it easier to get to the Jewellery Quarter.

The area also has canals, like the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, which was built a long time ago. These canals are now mostly used for fun, not work. The streets in the Jewellery Quarter are narrow, but the area is surrounded by bigger roads. Many buses drive through here, making it easy to get around.

Education

The oldest school in the Jewellery Quarter is the Municipal School for Jewellers and Silversmiths, now part of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, run by Birmingham City University. It was founded in 1888 and moved to its current location in 1890. Over the years, the school has had many changes and extensions.

There are other schools and colleges in the area too. The Birmingham campus of The College of Law is located in industrial buildings. Abbey College Birmingham, an independent school for students aged 14 to 19, opened in 1994. University College Birmingham plans to build a new campus but has not yet started construction. There is also a private children's day nursery and a music school in the area.