This week we have been on a trip back in time visiting two of Birmingham's fabulous heritage sites.....The Birmingham back to backs and the Museum of Jewellery in the famous Jewellery Quarter.
The Museum of Jewellery is mainly housed in an old jewellery manufacturers Smith and Pepper that closed in 1981 and was left untouched in its entirety until Birmingham council opened it as a museum. The family firm had run it in a traditional labour intensive way untouched by modern production methods and technology so what you see is pretty well how it would have been during the Victorian era........Fascinating!
The Back to Backs are an amazing survival of a courtyard of working class terrace houses that were built in 1840. They tell a personal story of the people and families that lived and worked there through the decades from when they were built until 1974.....Wonderful atmospheric, accessible social history.
I love reading about social history but it is so much more interesting and easier to connect with when you can see and hear how people lived their day to day lives.....We really enjoyed visiting both of these heritage sites and thought that they managed to give you a real insight to the past.
