undiscovered hidden forgotten ignored
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THE TEAM Amber Hanlon Photographer I am the photographer for Ink Wire. I am from Oxfordshire and love to explore new places. I am studying Visual Communication (Photography) at BIAD (Birmingham Institute of Art & Design) and take a literal approach to photography. 4
Oliver Cox Designer I a m the co-designer f o r Ink Wire working c l o s ely with the other team members t o b ring the magazine t o g e ther. I give my t e c h nical knowledge a n d ideas to the team a n d will never settle f o r second best. I a m a lways looking to t r y out new ideas, a n d hope to do this w i t h Ink Wire.
Will De Val Designer & Illustrator I am the co-d esigner and illustra tor for Ink Wire. Also from Oxfordshire, although Amber would argue oth erwise. I like bold, clear & direct design and hope to progress into advertising soon.
what are we on about? Whilst this issue of Ink Wire may be the first and last to see the light of day, I think what we have tried to put together here could have real potential for cities dwellers everywhere. An investigation into what has been undiscovered, hidden, forgotten and ignored in your city. We want to show the diversity of places out of the spotlight and encourage people to do some exploring to really get to know where they live. What these themes mean are so different yet they can really find relevance to so many places in Birmingham and other cities. The connotations of the words totally change how you look at the places. An undiscovered space may have huge potential and have an exciting future. Hidden areas may be shameful or have reasons for an intentional exclusion. The forgotten places could have lost importance or relevance to modern living. Ignored areas may be struggling for attention and have fallen into disrepair. This variety could give birth to a whole series on urban living, but we’ll focus on Birmingham for now. In the meantime, we hope you all start doing your own exploring and thanks for reading. 5
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undiscovered
DIGBETH Digbeth is known as ‘the birth place’ of Birmingham. Believed to be where Birmingham was founded, it was the first centre of the Black Country industry and became one of the most heavily industrialised areas. The city of Birmingham became very important due to this industrialisation which soon made it nationally recognisable. Over the past few years Digbeth has been left to neglect and destruction. Many of the buildings have either been demolished or are left as empty shells of what they once were. Now populated with car washes and corner shops, Digbeth has lost much of what made this part of town special. Digbeth is a part of Birmingham which needs to be re-discovered and much of it re-built. In some parts this has started to happen with places such as the Custard Factory.
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The Custard Factory, once home to Birds Custard for many years is now home to art galleries, shops and office space. Much of the building has been redeveloped to accent the original factory building.
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hidden urban Garden 13
CURZON STREET RAILWAY By amber hanlon
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Curzon Street Station for me is a very intriguing place. Sitting on the corner of Curzon Street and New Canal Street it was formally the main station terminal for London to Birmingham passenger trains. Built in 1838, this rail line was used for passenger transport until 1854 when it was then used for goods trafficking. In 1966 the station closed and has since been turned in to a car park although the main entrance building still stands unused except for the occasional art gallery or exhibition. The main entrance building mirrors the old Euston Station building which formally sat at the other end of the line. This building in London has since been demolished but there are plans to restore the old arches when renovations of the station take place. The Curzon Street grade 1 listed building goes unnoticed by many locals and visitors alike whilst they are in the city. Impossible to see from the main shopping area in the centre of town, it stands surrounded by tall tower blocks and bustling city life. Plans for a new High Speed rail line have been proposed which would be partly built on this existing site. The plans do include keeping the old entrance building although many surrounding buildings would need to be demolished, one of which is the existing Curzon Gate student halls of residence. On the other end of the track in Euston the plans to renovate the existing station for this High Speed line which would include the demolition of 220 Camden Council flats. Hopefully the new station plans will give new life to this part of the city which for so long has been left and deserted and hidden from the main cities view. Many people are unhappy about the future plans for this site but personally I see them as a re-awakening for the city and this beautiful building. 16
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The Gun Quarter in Birmingham was a really important part of the Black Country. It was an area to the north of the city centre that was famous internationally for the manufacture of all types of firearms. The first evidence of the gun quarter’s existence dates back to 1689 when Sir Richard Newdigate suggested that Birmingham should be supplying the British Government with small arms instead of the foreign manufacturers. After a trial order, this led to the British Government placing their first contract in 1692. Once Birmingham’s gun makers had proven themselves by being the governments chosen supplier other orders followed, such as the more famous contract by the ‘Officers of Ordinance’ placing an order of 200 arms over a period of a year, this was spread over five Birmingham gun makers. The structure of the gun makers within the quarter is particularly interesting. It is hard to imagine a vast number of makers selling almost identical arms operating next door to one another. Or maybe this was the governments strategy in ensuring high quality due to the highly competitive market? Regardless, all the makers resided in close proximity to one another, although this did mean the gun quarter buildings being described as ‘higgledy piggledy’ referring to the mixture of houses, buildings and sheds. The Birmingham Gun Barrel Proof House was also an important part of the gun quarter especially due to its high competitiveness. This independent governmental body ensured quality of the arms being manufactured in Birmingham. This also allowed Birmingham to compete with London’s gun makers who had their own proofing house to ensure quality. The introduction of very tight, strict rules for consumers in buying and ownership of firearms led to a declined consumer market. Today, the market for air arms is much more vigorous and this has therefore attracted the attention of foreign manufactures again reducing the demand for Birmingham’s arm makers.
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forgotten
GUN QUARTER By Oliver Cox
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CANAL NETWORK The canal network was dependent on industry, and the industries such as the gun manufacturing was dependent on the canals - It was a two way deal.
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Due to Birmingham being the most central part of the country, it was one of the furthest points away from the sea ports. This made transport of both raw materials and the finished products difficult logistically and economically as road transport was slow and expensive. Barges on canals were the solution successfully linking Birmingham to the rest of the country. Long, wide barges could be piled full of all the necessary raw materials and could be delivered to the manufacturers who were often located on the side of the canal. Then when the final product such as a gun had been made, perhaps for the government, large qualities of goods could be stacked onto a barge and could be transported to its customer. This was a vital and sustainable part of Birmingham’s infrastructure. Today 114 miles of the original 174 miles of canal network still exist.
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English heritage have recently described Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter as a unique historic environment in England, with few, if any, parallels in Europe. However, walking through Birmingham’s ‘gem’ does very little to convince me that its rich history and worldwide reputation have done many favours for the businesses there. Least not for the look of the place. 22
ignored
The fact that in 1998 25% of the buildings there were vacant attests to the lack of attention or protection given to the area following such an exodus. The firms that were able to stay found themselves adapting their practices and a more diverse range of businesses started to develop where strictly jewellery specialities were previously. One initiative started in 1998 by the Prince’s Foundation, Birmingham City Council, Jewellery Quarter Association, Advantage West Midlands and others, was the ‘Urban Village’ framework. A more recent development has been planned with AE Harris and the proposed demolition of one of their buildings will open space for new residential, retail, gallery and workshop space as well as a medical centre in an effort to bring some attention and financial clout to the quarter. Whilst the jewellery quarter has suffered for a long time from Birmingham being ignorant of its complex and deep rooted problems, such initiatives and bids as the one by English Heritage to make the jewellery quarter a World Heritage site will hopefully force the area back into the agenda for further regeneration. For now, I’d recommend taking either a pavement or building tour through the quarter to really sift through the rubbish that has tainted the area in recent decades. At least until the gem eventually and duly gets itself noticed.
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BALLANTYNE’S GEOMETRY By Robin Pugh
space & Centre
earlier this summer poet david page and artist robin pugh came together to tell the story of birmingham’s ephemeral and ignored spaces.
Sat deep in historical jewellery territory, metal fabricators AE Harris have concealed behind their walls a seemingly innocuous space. You would be forgiven for walking past and ignoring it entirely. However, inside the vacated manufacturing building lies a vibrant and exciting creative space adopted by theatrical practitioners Stan’s Café. They have transformed the building into a versatile creative space for performances, workshops, exhibitions, meetings and all events social and innovative. In June this year, poet and BCU student David Page joined forces with local painter Robin Pugh for an exhibition there, called Space & Centre, accompanied by a book of the same name. Using poetry, painting and audio, the exhibition narrated the overlooked passageways, mundane journeys and commonplace ‘non-place’ of Birmingham. Pugh’s haunting representations of ordinary spaces using light and darkness, gained increasingly ambient voices next to the words of Page, and the soundscapes from the depicted areas fully transformed the space to the uncanny world of Birmingham’s ignored expanses.
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