Highgate, Birmingham
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Highgate is an area of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. Following the Big City Plan of February 2008, Highgate has become a district of
Birmingham City Centre Birmingham city centre, also known as Central Birmingham, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. The area was historically in Warwickshire. Following the removal of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, the city cent ...
. The area is regarded as the site of the original
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
settlement which gave the city of Birmingham its name. Birmingham Central Mosque is one of Highgate's most distinctive buildings. The area mainly consists of commercial premises and modern council-owned residential properties. Older buildings include Stratford House, the Church of St. Alban the Martyr and large
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
houses opposite Highgate Park. Highgate is also home to the Birmingham Sports Centre and
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
Sixth Form College. 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,
Balsall Heath Balsall Heath is an inner-city area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has a diverse cultural mix of people and is the location of the Balti Triangle. History The name is first found as Bordeshale in 1275, which is derived from the ...
,
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...
and Sparkbrook.


History

Most of the area that came to be known as Highgate was built after 1850 and by 1900 had a population of about 15,000. The local community is now very mixed due to successive waves of
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...
, primarily from the
Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...
. The area had a large Bangladeshi population prior to its redevelopment in the 1970s. Many were from the rural area of
Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...
and had arrived in the late 1950s and early 1960s. They settled in the area 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.''From Bangladesh to Birmingham'', Yousef Choudry and Peter Drake, 2001, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery ()
Highgate was one of five areas surrounding Birmingham city centre earmarked in the 1950s for comprehensive redevelopment as "new towns"; the others were Newtown, Lee Bank, Ladywood and Nechells Green.


Geography

Elevation Western parts of Highgate are on the
River Rea The River Rea (pronounced "ray") is a small river which passes through Birmingham, England. It is the river on which Birmingham was founded by the Beorma tribe in the 7th century. Name The name of the Rea derives from a root found in many I ...
plain at about above sea level. The land rises to the east, reaching at the Highgate Middleway south of Leopold Street.


Transport

Highgate Middleway ( A4540) links Camp Hill Circus and Haden Circus. Until 1851 there was a
toll gate Toll Gate or Tollgate may refer to: * Toll gate, a barrier across a toll road or toll bridge that is lifted when the toll is paid Entertainment * Tollgate (Hale single), "Tollgate" (Hale single) * ''The Toll-Gate'', a 1954 novel by Georgette Heye ...
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. 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-backs are a form of terraced houses in the United Kingdom, built from the late 18th century through to the early 20th century in various forms. Many thousands of these dwellings were built during the Industrial Revolution for the rapidly ...
, 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 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

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 charitable purposes. The four fields were to be rented out, and twelve poor people of Aston Parish and twelve poor people of Birmingham Parish were to be clothed with the money each year. In 1875, the Trustees of Elizabeth Hollier's Charity wanted to develop the land for industry. The pasture had fine views over the town and Birmingham Corporation bought the land and laid out lawns, ornamental flower beds and shrubs for a public park. Mayor of Birmingham,
Joseph Chamberlain Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal Party (UK), Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually was a leading New Imperialism, imperial ...
formally declared the park open on 2 June 1876. A bronze fountain was relocated to the park from the Market Hall in 1880. The part of the park near Alcester Street was later asphalted to serve as a playground. Highgate Park was home to Birmingham's King Edward VII Memorial from 1951 until its relocation to Centenary Square in 2010.


Listed buildings

Alongside Highgate Park is the red brick facade of the Rowton House Hotel. It was built in 1903–4 as a Rowton House hostel for single working men and was converted to a hotel in the 1990s. Listed as Parkview House, the building features octagonal corner towers topped with copper-sheafed conical roofs; terracota figures of dragons holding shields are set around the top floor. The Alcester Street entrance porch is terracota-faced and has
spandrels A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...
featuring
relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...
figures of boys representing industry and rural poverty or farming. A similar figure tops the central
finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...
. On Moseley Street, next to the Rowton House Hotel is a former police barracks built circa 1880, in use as a hostel. Stratford House, is a Grade II*
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
dating from 1601, near to Camp Hill traffic island. Samuel Heath & Sons began as a brass founder and have been based at the Cobden Works on Leopold Street since the business was established in 1820. The office building dates from 1888 and has been listed for architectural and historical interest. Next to St Albans Church on Conybere Street are Lench's Trust
almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable organization, charitable public housing, housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the povert ...
and warden's house built in 1879 and designed by J A Chatwin.


Schools in the area

* Ark St Alban's Academy *Calthorpe Special School *Chandos Primary School *Percy Shurmer Academy *St Anne's Primary School


St Alban’s Church and School

James Samuel Pollock and his brother Thomas Benson Pollock were
Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...
s 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 the existing St Alban the Martyr church in 1881. A girls' school was also set up in Dymoke Street.


Notable people from Highgate

*
Edward White Benson Edward White Benson (14 July 1829 – 11 October 1896) was archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Before this, he was the first Bishop of Truro, serving from 1877 to 1883, and began construction of Truro Cathedral. He was previousl ...
, an
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
* William Mosedale,
George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational Courage, gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, ...
recipient


References


External links


Highgate
{{Authority control Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands