Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple, Tividale (Wikimedia Commons) I submitted my thesis on Wolverhampton and its diasporic Irish space at the beginning of December, and my brain is slowly starting to unclog so that I can think about things outside the four walls of my home office again. With a bit of luck I might have … Continue reading Farm to Vaccination Centre: geographies of industry, politics and religion in Tividale
Category: Maps
After Carribee Island: the persistent Irish quarter?
My PhD research on the Stafford Street area of Wolverhampton finishes, pretty much, in 1877: the date that Parliament approved the Wolverhampton Improvement Scheme which led to the demolition of Carribee Island, the laying out of Princess Square and the new bit of Lichfield Street, and so on. I'm focusing at the moment on how … Continue reading After Carribee Island: the persistent Irish quarter?
Maps for the National Plan
Over December I was the very fortunate recipient of a book advent calendar from my lovely wife. I could rhapsodise about some of the books but to avoid losing the reader, I'll concentrate on just one. It wasn't a hint when I retweeted Otto Saumaurez-Smith, but also it wasn't subtle: WANT https://t.co/KMKWgGPu2q — Simon Briercliffe … Continue reading Maps for the National Plan
Distance and Strangeness: the murder of Anne Spencer
I sometimes feel like I've spent the last three years trying to figure out my place within history. I still feel like there's probably a huge mountain of scholarship that I've completely missed, but in general I'm starting to work out what historiography is (I'm not a historian by background - everyone else just calls it 'the literature' … Continue reading Distance and Strangeness: the murder of Anne Spencer
Telling family stories
As part of my research I will inevitably have to tell you some family histories. I say have to - it's a vital, fascinating and relevant part of my research. But have you ever had someone try to tell you their family history? I'm guilty of this, because my own family history is really interesting - to … Continue reading Telling family stories
Maps and legends
This week's big adventure was a trip to the fabled meadows of Cambridge or, at least, the brutalist Robinson College (see Otto Saumarez-Smith's paper on it here) and an ugly Travelodge overlooking some flats. The Urban History Group conference was the first academic conference I ever attended, this time last year, and this year was … Continue reading Maps and legends
“Slums” of the Black Country: Waste Bank, Lye
The South Staffordshire coalfield defines the Black Country for many purposes, but as a culturally-defined region, its borders are highly porous. Wolverhampton is in or out, depending on who you ask; Walsall preferred to be out, at least in 1866. The coalfield knows no political boundaries either, stretching well into Worcestershire in the South (see this map Bob … Continue reading “Slums” of the Black Country: Waste Bank, Lye
“Slums” of the Black Country: Town End Bank, Walsall
Class distinction, democracy and proper drains. John Betjeman, In Westminster Abbey The protagonist of Betjeman's satirical poem unwittingly summarised the approach of mid-Victorian society to many issues. As we've seen, poor drainage is one of the emblematic signifiers of a unsanitary area, and was the consistent complaint of the Post's correspondent. It almost goes without saying that the areas poorly drained … Continue reading “Slums” of the Black Country: Town End Bank, Walsall
“Slums” of the Black Country: Gold’s Hill, West Bromwich
The Black Country is constructed not just upon topography but upon geology. Mines can only be built where there's something to mine; other sorts of works require proximity to those materials; infrastructure is built around, and to meet the demands of, the geology. The communities that build up around such environments therefore tend to be ad hoc, at the … Continue reading “Slums” of the Black Country: Gold’s Hill, West Bromwich
“Slums” of the Black Country: Darlaston
I've ummed and aahed a bit about what to write about the Post's report on Darlaston. It's really the same old story: surface drainage, evils, abomination, bubbling and seething, stagnant, over-flowing, the cholera, back courts, and so on; there's not a lot to add compared to previous outrages at Oldbury or Bilston. Despite the fact that the journalist's … Continue reading “Slums” of the Black Country: Darlaston