Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter: a national treasure

Called a ‘national treasure’ by English Heritage, Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is a dense network of streets that is still home to manufacture of 40% of the jewellery made in Britain. Much of the late Georgian and Victorian urban fabric remains today and the original mix of workshops, shops and houses has been given extra piquancy by trendy bars, restaurants, loft apartments and galleries. This lecture will focus on the history and buildings of area plus two remarkable local people from opposite ends of the social scale – Joseph Chamberlain and Kathleen Dayus (“The Girl from Hockley”).

Lecturer: Ed Isaacs. Ed chairs The Arts Society Wolverhampton and is presenting this lecture at no cost to the society. He is an artist, illustrator and curator and in 2023 published an illustrated book about the Jewellery Quarter.