Highgate, Birmingham
Encyclopedia
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Following the Big City Plan of February 2008, Highgate is now a district of Birmingham City Centre
Birmingham City Centre
Birmingham city centre is the business, retail and leisure hub of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is newly defined as being the area within the Middle Ring Road. Birmingham city centre is undergoing massive redevelopment with the Big City Plan...
. This area is regarded as the site of the original Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
settlement which gave the city of Birmingham its name.
Highgate’s most distinctive building is probably Birmingham Central Mosque
Birmingham Central Mosque
Birmingham Central Mosque, is a mosque in the Highgate area of Birmingham, England, run by the Birmingham Mosque Trust. It is one of the largest Muslim centres in Europe....
. The area mainly consists of commercial premises and modern council-owned residential properties. There are some older buildings such as Stratford House and the Church of St. Alban the Martyr, both of which are detailed below. There are also some large Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses opposite Highgate Park
Highgate Park
Highgate Park is a public park in Highgate, Birmingham, England.Highgate Park stands on land that was originally owned by Elizabeth Hollier, who used it for grazing. When Elizabeth died her will stated that the land was to be used for charity...
.
Highgate is also home to the Birmingham Sports Centre and Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain was an influential British politician and statesman. Unlike most major politicians of the time, he was a self-made businessman and had not attended Oxford or Cambridge University....
Sixth Form College, both of which are being redeveloped. Birmingham Sports Centre is to be demolished and a new Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College is being constructed at Haden Circus.
Local amenities include an array of small shops, around Gooch Street.
Nearby areas include Lee Bank
Lee Bank
Lee Bank is an inner city area of Birmingham, England. It is part of the Edgbaston and Ladywood wards, inside the Middle Ring Road, near to the centre of Birmingham...
, Balsall Heath
Balsall Heath
Balsall Heath is a working class, inner-city area of Birmingham, England. It is home to a diverse cultural mix of people and the location of the Balti Triangle.-History:...
, Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
and Sparkbrook
Sparkbrook
Sparkbrook is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, England. It is one of the four wards forming the Hall Green formal district within Birmingham City Council.-Etymology:...
.
Population
Most of Highgate was built after 1850, by 1900 it had a population of about 15,000. The local community is now very mixed due to successive waves of immigrationImmigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
. It includes Afro-Caribbeans
British African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
, Pakistanis, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
is, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
is, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, and newer arrivals such as Somalis
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
.
Highgate had a large Bangladeshi population prior to its redevelopment in the 1970s. Many were from the rural area of Sylhet
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
and had arrived in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They settled in Highgate because its property, being of a very poor standard, was cheap. However, in 1971, a survey for the Race Relations Institute found that few of them wanted to move. One account of the time says:
Because of the overcrowding, my uncle and Abdul Jabbar bought the next door house. Soon the situation returned with a population of twenty or so in the two houses. Admittedly our houses were not always up to standard. We were all men, all working in heavy industry and all working overtime. When we came home we were already tired but had to do our cooking and cleaning. It was still "Home, Sweet Home" to us.
Streets
Some of Highgate's streets were named after the local Vaughton family. Dymoke Street was named after Mary Ann Dymoke, wife of Robert Vaughton. Emily Street was named after their daughter-in-law.Vaughton Street was built in the 1860s, nearly 1600 people lived there by 1881. It originally consisted of back-to-back houses
Back-to-back houses
Usually of low quality and high density, they were built for working class people and because three of the four walls of the house were shared with other buildings and therefore contained no doors or windows, back-to-back houses were notoriously ill-lit and poorly ventilated and sanitation was of...
, with outside toilets and water taps. In 1938 the Council demolished these houses and built St. Martin's Flats. They were built using concrete because it was cheap, however it made them inherently damp. The flats quickly deteriorated and they were eventually knocked down in 1980. Private houses were built on the site in 1987.
Stanhope Street was called Ryland Street up to 1881. Louisa Ryland
Louisa Ryland
Louisa Ann Ryland was a major benefactor to the town of Birmingham, England. Her donations included several large areas of land that were used to create public parks. The largest of these, donated in 1873, was some and became Cannon Hill Park. She also contributed to the building of Birmingham...
was a member of one of the wealthiest families of Birmingham, and owned a lot of land in Birmingham, including parts of Highgate.
Highgate Park
King Edward VII Memorial
The King Edward VII Memorial is a sculpture in memory of King Edward VII, located in Centenary Square, Birmingham, England.In 1910, the Birmingham Mail launched an appeal to erect a statue to Edward VII, in order to commemorate his reign...
.
Alongside the park, is the 'Paragon Hotel'. This was originally a Rowton House
Rowton Houses
Rowton Houses were a chain of hostels built in London, England by the Victorian philanthropist Lord Rowton to provide decent accommodation for working men in place of the squalid lodging houses of the time....
for single working men. It is now attracting business people attending the many conventions in Birmingham and tourists visiting the city.
Stratford House
Stratford House, a Grade II* listed building dating from 1601, is located near Camp Hill traffic island. It was built by Ambrose and Bridget Rotton whose initials are carved over the porch. There is also an insurance plateFire insurance marks
Fire insurance marks were lead or copper plaques embossed with the sign of the insurance company, and placed on the front of the insured building as a guide to the insurance company's fire brigade. They are common in the older areas of Britain's and America's cities and larger towns...
on the front. The house was originally located on a 20 acres (8.1 ha) farm owned by Ambrose, who kept sheep, oxen, cows and pigs.
In 1840, the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
opened a goods yard at nearby Camp Hill. In 1926, they purchased the house with a view to demolishing it. There was a public outcry and the house was saved. There were further plans to demolish the house in 1950 as it was in a dilapidated state. However, it was bought in 1954 by Ivon Adams who restored it.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s Stratford House provided office accommodation for Network Records
Network Records
Network Records was a rave music independent record label, based in Birmingham, England, during the late 1980s and mid 1990s.The label concentrated on bringing Garage music to Britain & taking UK House music to a new level as well as playing a massive role in the development of Early Hardcore and...
, one of the leading UK exponents of techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
music.
The Turnpike Road
Until 1851 there was a toll gate across Stratford Road, known as the Balsall Heath Gate. It was owned by the Alcester Turnpike Trust which had been founded in 1767 to maintain the road.
St Alban’s Church and School
James Samuel Pollock and his brother Thomas Benson Pollock were Anglo-Catholics who built a combined church and school in Leopold Street, in 1865. The original church building was used as a boys' school after it was replaced by a larger one in 1881, designed by John Loughborough PearsonJohn Loughborough Pearson
John Loughborough Pearson was a Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficiency unrivalled in his generation.-Early life and education:Pearson was born in Brussels, Belgium on 5...
, the architect of Truro Cathedral. A girls' school was also set up in Dymoke Street.
Notable people from Highgate
- Edward White BensonEdward White BensonEdward White Benson was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death.-Life:Edward White Benson was born in Highgate, Birmingham, the son of a Birmingham chemical manufacturer. He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated BA in 1852...
, an Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group... - William Mosedale, George CrossGeorge CrossThe George Cross is the highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom, and also holds, or has held, that status in many of the other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations...
recipient