Smithfield was an inner-city area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England, southeast of the Bull Ring markets.

Smithfield Market

The area was originally the site of the

Birmingham Manor House The Birmingham Manor House or Birmingham Moat was a moated building that formed the seat of the Lord of the Manor of Birmingham, England during the Middle Ages, remaining the property of the de Birmingham family until 1536. The buildings were demo ...

in which the

De Birmingham family The de Birmingham family (or de Bermingham) held the lordship of the manor of Birmingham in England for four hundred years and managed its growth from a small village into a thriving market town. They also assisted in the invasion of Ireland a ...

had lived for centuries. The house had fallen into decay, a situation it had been in many times since the 16th century. The manor house was purchased by the

Birmingham Street Commissioners The Birmingham Street Commissioners were a local government body, created in Birmingham, England in 1769, with powers to manage matters such as streets, markets, and policing. Subsequent Improvement Acts of 1773, 1801, and 1812 gave increased power ...

from Sir Thomas Gooch. The house was demolished and the moat filled in in 1816. Twelve feet of silt was removed from the moat. The establishment of a market in the area was made possible by the lack of density of the buildings and was described in 1848 as "a spacious area." It was built on the site of the ancient manor house moat. The Smithfield Market was opened on Whitsun Fair Thursday, 29 May 1817 by the

. The total cost of the development was £3,223 with the cost of construction being £2,449. A result of the opening of the market was the removal of farm animals from the streets and the increase in amount of space for retail trading. Due to the proximity to the markets, Smithfield also developed into a trading centre, establishing its own cattle and horse market which occasionally sold hay and straw on

Michaelmas Day Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christianity, Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical year, liturgica ...

in 1817. An

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

passed in the same year forced the sheep and pig market, which had been held on New Street. The market was further extended in 1883 when a wholesale vegetable market opened on part of the Smithfield site. The pig market in Smithfield was moved to a new site on Montague Street in 1897 and the cattle market followed in 1898. The vegetable market took over the market by 1900, however, a weekly and bi-weekly second-hand market, known as the Rag Fair, was also held there from before 1912 until 1957. Smithfield market declined due to the increasing popularity in the dead meat market. The market closed in the 1960s after being purchased by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

for the construction for the Inner Ring Road and the construction of new wholesale markets. The whole site was cleared in 1975. During the clearance work, several large sandstone blocks were removed which could have possibly formed the inner wall of the moat. In addition, other stonework was discovered but for reasons of time and money, no detailed excavations took place leading to the production of a floorplan. All recovered rocks were moved to

Weoley Castle Weoley Castle is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The area is part of the Weoley local authority electoral ward, and also comes under the Northfield local council constituency. The suburb of Weoley Castle is ...

though nothing has been done to them since. Smithfield Market had also been a popular public meeting area with a notable event being the assembly of 5,000 black children for the Birmingham Street Robins' winter treat. They proceeded to march to the Drill Hall in Thorpe Street, where they drank tea, eat cakes and received Christmas gifts of fruit, clothing, books and toys, provided by numerous charitable organisations and individuals.

Transport

Smithfield was also a tram terminus for the city. As congestion developed in Smithfield, it was decided that it should be moved to Station Street and in June 1885, work to do this commenced.

The area at present

Today, the area has completely disappeared. Smithfield Markets expanded to become the Bull Ring Indoor Market was rebuilt and opened before the redevelopment of the Bullring Shopping Centre. Outdoor markets are held outside the entrance. The Bull Ring Rag Market was demolished as part of the development and a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a build ...

was constructed. The markets adopted the name of the Bull Ring and lost the Smithfield name. The original site of the Smithfield market is now Moat Lane car park. Smithfield Street, which connected Bradford Street (then Moat Row) to Digbeth High Street was renamed Mill Lane. There are very few reminders of the existence of Smithfield. Smithfield House, an office building with ground floor retail, once occupied by Reddingtons Rare Records, bounded by Upper Mill Lane, Moat Lane and

Digbeth Digbeth is an area of Central Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment ...

High Street is directly opposite the site of the old market. Inside the new multi-storey car park on Pershore Street is a walkway called Smithfield Passage. The name of Moat Lane is a reference to the moat that once encircled the manor house on the site.

2022 Commonwealth Games

For the

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...

, Smithfield hosted the

3X3 Basketball 3x3 basketball (pronounced ''three-ex-three'') is a variation of basketball played three-a-side, with one backboard and in a half-court setup. According to an ESSEC Business School study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee, 3x3 ...

Wheelchair Basketball Wheelchair basketball is basketball played by people with varying physical disabilities that disqualify them from playing a non-disabled sport. These include spina bifida, birth defects, cerebral palsy, paralysis due to accident, amputations (of ...

and

Beach Volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

competitions, held within 2 bespoke arenas on the land.

References

* {{coord, 52.4759, -1.8909, region:GB-BIR, display=title Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands 2022 Commonwealth Games venues Beach volleyball at the 2022 Commonwealth Games 3x3 basketball at the 2022 Commonwealth Games