England Made Me
All about England
Position:52???¡ã30′N 1???¡ã50′W
Altitude:250-750ft/76-229m
Population:1,014,000
History: Birmingham’s past undoubtably goes back as far as the Bronze age and beyond. However, very little remains from this era except the scattered flint stones and bronze artifacts that can be found in the city museum. Early Roman military roads have passed through the region. Anglo-Saxon tribes started to settle in the region around 700 A.D. Tribes such as the Hwicce and Anglian Mercians started to make the area their permanent home.
Evidence of Saxon settlement is apparent from the name endings of some of Birmingham’s well known localities. The suffix -ley means clearing in a forest. Therefore Selly, Yardley, Moseley and Warley are likely to have been Saxon clearings. Other place names also carry the names of their founders. The town of Birmingham was a hamlet hence ending in ham. The followers of the ingas of Birm or Beorma completes the equation and demonstrates how many town names carry the names we have today. Medieval and subsequent Norman occupation also added to the variety of interesting place names, the origin of which is often buried in a murky past. An example of medieval remains can be found at Weoley Castle.
Description: It may be aesthetically challenged but England’s second-largest city has a lot to be proud of: a globe-spanning industrial legacy; the Mini; British pooch-pageant Crufts; more canals than Venice; and more curry joints than you can shake a naan at.
Travel Tips: Birmingham doesn’t have a peak season as such. The main theatres shut for the summer, but all other attractions remain open. Large conventions and exhibitions run year-round, and accommodation can be harder to find at these times. As a rule if you go between May and September you’re more likely to get blue skies than during the colder winter months, but, as any Anglophile knows, the heavens could open at any time.
Attractions:
Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Black Country Museum
Central Library
International Convention Centre
Jeweler’s District
Walsall Lock Museum
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May 2007Post A Comment