History of The Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham is a national treasure. It is Europe’s best and most comprehensive surviving set of Victorian and twentieth-century buildings devoted to the creation of jewellery and related small goods, and it is a location with a distinct personality. But it is more than just industrial archaeology. The Quarter is still a dynamic manufacturing community, with many individuals operating from historic premises and utilising original machines and tools. The Quarter’s structures are under threat from two directions: degradation and deterioration, particularly on its outskirts, and booming economic demand for extension and change of use, particularly in its core.
Birmingham has been producing jewellery and metalwares since the Middle Ages. By the mid-eighteenth century, the town was well-known for producing tiny personal items such as boxes, trinkets, and inexpensive jewellery, generally known as ‘toys.’ Buckles and buttons were also produced in increasing quantities. During the 18th century, the fast rise of these professions and allied activities, such as brassworking, earned the town titles such as “the toy store of Europe” and “the workshop of the globe.” The town’s spectacular expansion was fueled by the abilities and innovation of Birmingham masters and craftsmen, the convenient supply of iron ore and coal from South Staffordshire and Worcestershire, and the strong consumer demand for ‘toys’ and metal items in general.
The local canal network has offered a solid transportation system and contributed to increase trade and the development of an export market since the late eighteenth century. Birmingham’s population was between 5,000 and 7,000 in 1700, and by 1801, it had risen to 73,670, a rate of growth much higher than the national average for the period. Birmingham was the country’s leading industrial city by the end of the eighteenth century. It was regarded as “the first manufacturing town in the world” by Arthur Young in his Travels in England and Wales, published in 1791.
This huge economic expansion was not accomplished by major technological breakthroughs or the establishment of multiple large plants. Rather, it was brought about by a slew of tiny family businesses working out of workshops built in people’s attics or out of structures erected in back gardens in what is now the town centre. These ‘garret masters’ or ‘little masters,’ as the heads of these small businesses were known, were able to produce massive quantities of ‘toys’ and other things using mostly hand-powered devices or no technology at all. During the 18th century, Birmingham saw the construction of a few significant big enterprises.
The local canal network has offered a solid transportation system and contributed to increase trade and the development of an export market since the late eighteenth century. Birmingham’s population was between 5,000 and 7,000 in 1700, and by 1801, it had risen to 73,670, a rate of growth much higher than the national average for the period. Birmingham was the country’s leading industrial city by the end of the eighteenth century. It was regarded as “the first manufacturing town in the world” by Arthur Young in his Travels in England and Wales, published in 1791.
This huge economic expansion was not accomplished by major technological breakthroughs or the establishment of multiple large plants. Rather, it was brought about by a slew of tiny family businesses working out of workshops built in people’s attics or out of structures erected in back gardens in what is now the town centre. These ‘garret masters’ or ‘little masters,’ as the heads of these small businesses were known, were able to produce massive quantities of ‘toys’ and other things using mostly hand-powered devices or no technology at all. During the 18th century, Birmingham saw the construction of a few significant big enterprises.
