so you know about birmingham but did you know this

[roy one]

 The city of Birmingham was more involved in the slave trade than widely believed according to compelling evidence recently uncovered.
 
Unearthed documents show details of the business links between the city's manufacturing sector and slave traders, along with a pro-slavery petition signed by industrial workers.
 
The findings, which will be unveiled tonight on BBC One's Inside Out programme for the West Midlands, challenge the assumption that it was primarily ports like Bristol, Liverpool and London which played a significant role in slavery.
 
It appears Birmingham's industrial sector also made huge profits from the slave trade.
 
Professor David Dabydeen of Warwick University says: "Birmingham was the main supplier of iron and ironware to Africa... padlocks, irons, chains and muzzles - all the instruments to police the slave trade. Of course that made an enormous amount of money."
 
From the 1760s onwards, there was also a large trade in weapons, with 150,000 guns made in Birmingham and believed to have been sold to West African rulers.
 
Guns were exchanged for enslaved Africans and it was a common saying that the price of a slave was one Birmingham gun.
 
"Birmingham armed the slave trade," adds Professor Dabydeen.
 
This year, on 25 March, marks the 200th anniversary of the day Parliament voted to abolish the slave trade throughout the British Empire and events are being planned throughout the year to mark the occasion
 
 DO YOU KNOW ANY MORE DARK FACTS ABOUT BRUM

[roy one]

did you know that the B.S.A made carsScout 1203 cc 1938 exampleBSA cars were manufactured between 1907 and 1912 in Birmingham then until 1939 in Coventry as well as Birmingham, England. BSA had established a motor-car department in an unsuccessful effort to make use of the Sparkbrook Birmingham factory. An independent part of the same site was occupied by The Lanchester Motor Company Limited. Sales were handled by BSA Cycles Limited. After 1912, manufacture was carried out by group subsidiary Daimler in Coventry or BSA Cycles in Birmingham.

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[Gee Gee]

Do you know anymore dark facts about Brum.?
"There are three generations of Sampson Lloyd in the Lloyd family of Birmingham."
The second of which was the co-founder of Taylors and Lloyds,located at Dale End.
Creating Birmingham's first bank.This is the same bank which later became Lloyds then Lloyds TSB.
1742 Sampson 11 bought an Elizabethan house called "The Farm", in rural Sparkbrook it cost £1,290 Now a grade 2 listed building. The building still stands there today (albiet a little depleted)
I know this to be true for I seen it last month. (you can see a delightful photo of this building on the Sparkbrook thread)
It follows therefore,not only did my football career commence in Farm Park,it may well be considered to be the birth place of the bank crisis.
        (Info  from wikki)

[roy one]

Birmingham is a Victorian prison, built in 1849.
Numerous judicial executions by hanging took place at the prison until the abolition of capital punishment in the UK. A total of 35 executions took place at Birmingham prison during the 20th century.[2] The last person ever to be hanged at the prison was a 20 year old Jamaican named Oswald Augustus Grey. He was executed on 20 November 1962 after being convicted of the shooting death of newsagent Thomas Bates during the course of a robbery in Lee Bank Road on 3 June 1962.[3][4][5] Christopher Simcox, a double-murderer, was scheduled for execution at Birmingham prison on Tuesday, 17 March 1964, but was reprieved.

[Phil]

Roy
 
Bates Newsagents on Lee Bank, about the time of the murder.

[roy one]

     the romans
 
In Roman times a large military fort and marching camp, Metchley Fort, existed on the site of the present Queen Elizabeth Hospital near what is now Edgbaston in southern Birmingham. The fort was constructed soon after the Roman invasion of Britain in AD 43. In AD 70, the fort was abandoned only to be reoccupied a few years later before being abandoned again in AD 120. Remains have also been found of a civilian settlement, or vicus, alongside the Roman fort.[12] Excavations at Parson's Hill in Kings Norton and at Mere Green have revealed a Roman kiln site.
Although no archeological evidence has been found, the presence of the Old English prefix wīc- in Witton (wīc-tūn) suggests that it may have been the site of a significant Romano-British vicus or settlement, which would have been adjacent to the crossing of the River Tame by Icknield Street at Perry Barr.[13]
 

[Paulina]

No I did not know any of those, never did hear of any of it, should have been taught at school I would think.

[roy one]

 and birmingham had its own coal mines
 

The coal mines in Birmingham and other parts of the central West Midlands area had a crucial role to play in the development of iron and other industries and were a major factor in Birmingham being closely involved in the Industrial Revolution.

  .

A Birmingham factory which became known throughout the world was set up by Matthew Boulton at Soho in Handsworth to manufacture metal goods such as buckles, buttons, plate, and silverware. Boulton later went into partnership with James Watt, who produced the coal-powered steam-engines which played a vital part in the Industrial Revolution. A foundry was built at Smethwick in the 1790s to help make parts for these engines.
 
This steam-power was also used for coin and mint-making and the machinery used in the making of money was exported world-wide. Boulton and Watt were part of a group known as the Lunar Society, which also included other industrialists such as Josiah Wedgwood. Another person of note who worked for Boulton & Watt was William Murdoch, the inventor of gas lighting.
 
Coal fed the furnaces which powered the factories and these industries in turn then manufactured equipment and machinery for the mining industry, such as steam pumps and railway locomotives

[Gee Gee]

Hamstead Colliery was operated by the Hamstead Colliery Companyand produced coal between 1878-1965.
The Hamstead Colliery Company bought the land at Hamstead from G C Calthorpe of Perry Hall.
The first coal was only produced after unexpected geological and water ingress problems.The coal had to be mined at a very deep level 2,000 ft At one point in history the Worlds deepest colliery.
The experienced gained by the mining engineers was put to good use in the British mining industry and  as such became World renoun.The American Government requested assistance to establish deep coal mining in America.This enhancing the growing co-operation in science technology between the two Country's
The disaster of 4 March 1908 was a national tragedy with 26 men killed in one day. When the fire broke out there were 31 miners in the pit.only 6 escaped before poisonous fumes built up in the roadways. It took a week after the fire for the mine to clear of fumes.
On 11th March,14 bodies were recovered and a further 6 the following day.
A memorial was created at Hamstead Village in 2008 and there is a small museum displayed at the local library.
My Grandfather-Father -uncles (3) and cousins (2) all worked at Hamstead Colliery.
 
Info from wikkie.

[trapio]

Cannon Hill Park is located in the south of the city and is its most popular park, covering 250 acres (101 ha) consisting of formal, conservation, woodland and sports areas, most of which was donated in 18th & 19th Centuries. Recreational activities at the park include boating, fishing, bowls, tennis, putting and picnic areas.

It wasn't always peaceful - its name comes from a brief engagement in the English Civil War between guerilla irregulars and Royalist troops camped there on the way to the Battle of Naseby in June 1645
....you can guess where the King's cannons fired from

[blane]

I was taught that Cannon Hill got it's name after the English Civil War,Royalist's were esconced in Aston Hall and the Parlimentarian's at the now Cannon Hill.They sent for a Bombardier from the London Arsenal to fire a large cannon at Aston Hall.Apparently he hit the hall with his fist shot,and they quickly surrendered.The cannon ball is still embedded in the main staircase to this day.When you look at the distance,that was some shot.