By the turn of the twentieth century Small Heath and Sparkbrook, two adjacent inner city districts of Birmingham, had been transformed from a rural environment to an urban one. Two vibrant shopping areas had evolved surrounded by Victorian properties of working class back-to-backs and middle class terrace housing on the Coventry Road, Small Heath and Stratford Road, Sparkbrook. Birmingham City FC dominates the city end of Small Heath whereas Small Heath Park at the other end also attracts ...

Digbeth, Birmingham's oldest street has descended downhill from St Martin Church to the River Rea since 1166 when Birmingham's market opened. At the Rea crossing Deritend joins Digbeth to form a southerly route in and out of Birmingham with Highgate located to the West. Each district has varying historical assertions that contribute towards Birmingham's growth from a small village into the large metropolis we know today. The Victorian railway viaduct survives, still dominating one side of ...

No district of Birmingham has had so many name changes and major redevelopments as Lee Bank. Once known as Holloway Head then Bath Row the previous Lee Bank area is now part of a new district called Attwood Green after Thomas Attwood Birmingham's first MP. Lee Bank once housed thousands of families living in a congestion of substandard Victorian working-class back-to-back and terraced houses together with industries, local public houses and shops. Between 1950 and 1970 Lee Bank underwent m...

This walk is one of twelve walks in John Wilks' Walks Through History - Birmingham series which contains twelve walks within the city. The whole book is available as an ebook or physical book or you could try this one out first. The book is a celebration of the beauty and poetry of the county. Each walk in this book has been chosen not only because it is a pleasant walk in its own right, but also because it goes past sites which reveal the rich and varied history of the county. Each walk i...

Battersea has grown to be a fashionable and vibrant district of south-west London. Referred to as Patricesy in the Domesday Book, Battersea was historically best known for market gardening, providing fruit, vegetables and flowers for the City of London. However, the area moved from rural to urban with the coming of the railways, industry and large-scale housing from the 1840s, provoking a population growth from 4,000 to 120,000 by the beginning of the twentieth century. Glimpses of the pas...

A level 1 Oxford Bookworms Library graded reader. Written for Learners of English by John Escott. Twenty-five million people come to England every year, and some never go out of London. But England is full of interesting places to visit and things to do. There are big noisy cities with great shops and theatres, and quiet little villages. You can visit old castles and beautiful churches - or go to festivals with music twenty-four hours a day. You can have an English afternoon tea, walk on l...

The railway network within Birmingham has long been important for the movement of passengers and freight to serve the centre and its suburbs, and as the road network around Birmingham has become more congested, the railways in the city have, once more, taken on an important role. As the network declined in the twentieth century, trains were regarded as shabby and also suffered from poor punctuality and stations became unkempt and many had no staff, although the majority of the network rema...

This new collection of images traces some of the changes that have taken place in and around this vibrant community over the centuries. It is a town with a long and surprising history, which began with the imposing Norman castle in the control of the infamous Mortimer family. Due to its position in the borderlands, by the Tudor period it became the virtual capital of neighbouring Wales, and the castle was home to some of the country's best known nobles.Though the town's importance declined...

For centuries Uxbridge, whose origins lie in Saxon times, was a market town serving much of West Middlesex and South Buckinghamshire. At one time there were thirteen water mills in the area where corn was processed. Situated on the London - Oxford road, it was an important town in the stagecoach era. This collection of images old and new charts the history of the area, and reveals many hidden aspects of this urban sprawl. In the early twentieth century London sprawled out westward, and the...

Please write a review on Smashword if you use this book. If you have criticisms or can suggest improvements please email mail me (address in book)To tour central London, buy a travel card or Oystercard, climb to the top of the number 11 bus and open this e-book.Each stop is indicated and the things to watch out for after each stop are detailed. Suggestions are made about where to get off, what to see and where to take a walk. Connect up with other buses to other sites and t...

You don’t have to travel far in this city to realize there is one major visual reference in this city, and that’s the superb castle perched high on the hill. Everything tumbles away from this most famous of landmarks. Countless alleyway and steep steps intertwine with tall terraces and imposing public buildings, constructed from rugged grey/green stone. Once through the pleasant parks that form a natural link between the old and new city, you are treated to imposing Georgian streets...

Wallasey Through Time is a unique insight into the illustrious history of this part of the country. Reproduced in full colour, this is an exciting examination of Wallasey, the famous streets and the famous faces, and what they meant to the people of this area throughout the 19th and into the 20th Century. Looking beyond the exquisite exterior of these well-kept photos, readers can see the historical context in which they are set, and through the author's factual captions for every picture,...