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 Birmingham
is the Britain's second largest city, and is generally considered its
"second city", after London. The city itself has a population of around
990,000 but the Birmingham metropolitan area, including Wolverhampton,
Coventry and the Black Country, has a population of over 2,500,000.
It is a culturally diverse city, almost a
third of the population non-white - with large communities from the
Caribbean and Indian sub-continent.
There is also a large Irish community in
Birmingham, and the city hosts one of the largest St. Patrick's Day parade
in the world.
Birmingham started life in the 6th century as
an Anglo-Saxon farming hamlet on the banks of the River Rea. The name
'Birmingham' comes from "Beorma ingas ham", meaning "home of the people of
Beorma. Birmingham was first recorded in written documents by the Doomsday
Book of 1086 as a small village, worth only 20 shillings. There were many
variations on this name. Bermingeham is another version.
In the 12th century, Birmingham was granted a
royal charter to hold a market, which in time became known as the Bull Ring,
transforming Birmingham from a village to a market town. As early as the
16th century, Birmingham's access to supplies of iron ore and coal meant
that metalworking industries became established.
By the time of the English Civil War in the
17th century Birmingham had become an important manufacturing town with a
reputation for producing small arms. Arms manufacture in Birmingham became a
staple trade and was concentrated in the area known as the Gun Quarter.
During the Industrial Revolution (from the mid-18th century onwards),
Birmingham grew rapidly into a major industrial centre and the town
prospered. During the 18th century, Birmingham was home to the Lunar
Society, an important gathering of local thinkers and industrialists.
The BCN Main Line canal of the Birmingham
Canal Navigations between the International Convention Centre and
Brindleyplace in central Birmingham, (which has more canals than in Venice).
By the 1820s an extensive canal system had been constructed, giving greater
access to natural resources to fuel to industries. Railways arrived in
Birmingham in 1837 with the arrival of the Grand Junction Railway, and a
year later, the London and Birmingham Railway. During the Victorian era, the
population of Birmingham grew rapidly to well over half a million and
Birmingham became the second largest population centre in England.
Birmingham was granted city status in 1889 by Queen Victoria. The city
established its own university in 1900.
The Victorian New Street Station Birmingham
was originally part of Warwickshire, but expanded in the late 19th and early
20th centuries, absorbing parts of Worcestershire to the south and
Staffordshire to the north and west. The city absorbed Sutton Coldfield in
1974. The people of Sutton Coldfield still consider themselves separate from
Birmingham. At the same time Birmingham became a metropolitan borough in the
new West Midlands county. Up until 1986, the West Midlands County Council
was based in Birmingham City Centre.
The city was extensively redeveloped during
the 1950s and 1960s. This included the construction of large tower block
estates, such as Castle Vale in Erdington. The Bull Ring reconstructed and
New Street station was redeveloped. In recent years, Birmingham has been
transformed, with the construction of new squares like Centenary Square and
Millennium Place. Old streets, buildings and canals have been restored, the
pedestrian subways have been removed, and the Bull Ring shopping centre has
been redeveloped further.
Birmingham Website:
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Set
on the doorstep of the beautiful Yorkshire Dales, Harrogate is popular with
visitors wanting to see a traditional and middle-class area of the county.