If special widths are required…an extra will be charged – a brief history of the shroud.
‘If special widths are required, as used in Scotland and Ireland, an extra will be charged’. Those words grace the page of a Newman Brothers’ catalogue, dating from the 1920s, in which ‘robes’ are advertised. Robes in this instance refers to funerary gowns or shrouds. These words have puzzled us at Newman Brothers for a […]
Penny Dreadful! Or, Mrs Lovett’s Revenge!
Yet another performance from ‘Don’t Go into the Cellar – Victorian theatre with bite! There are chills and chuckles in abundance with this original one-woman show featuring Sweeney Todd’s partner in crime, Mrs Lovett! Be appalled by a plethora of other grotesque characters from the cheap and grisly pages of the Victorian era’s penny dreadful […]
“By the Gains of Industry” Birmingham Museums & Heritage at Risk
Donna Taylor is a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham. She is currently writing a thesis on the origins of Birmingham Town Council and is owner of the blog ‘Notes from Nineteenth-Century Birmingham’. On July 19th 1881 Mayor Richard Chamberlain laid the foundation stone of Birmingham’s first municipal art gallery and museum. It […]
360° Video Taster Tour
(on a mobile device? Click here to view on Youtube) Birmingham’s award winning museum Coffin Works invites you to ‘clock-in’ and watch this 360° taster tour video. This fun 360° video will give you a fully immersive and interactive experience. “We’re always trying to find new ways to allow people to experience the Coffin Works and engage with […]
The Graveyard Shift
Who could resist the offer of an assignment in the Jewellery Quarter graveyards? Well, truth be told I did ask if I could go along the next time Sarah was working there. A brisk walk and a take-away cuppa later, we were splashing through the mud in Warstone Lane cemetery. I was surprised to find […]
Museum & Heritage Award for Customer Service
The annual Museums + Heritage Awards for Excellence recognise projects of excellence, innovative and groundbreaking exhibitions from galleries and visitor attractions across the UK and Europe. We’re pleased to say that we won the award for best Customer Service and we’re over the moon! This is the first award of 2016 and fills a nice gap […]
An invitation to become Chair of Birmingham’s award-winning architectural preservation trust
For nearly 40 years, Birmingham Conservation Trust has been a leading force in preserving Birmingham’s architectural heritage. Past projects include rescuing the city’s last court of Back to Backs, and our most recent major project is the multi-award winning ‘Newman Brothers Coffin Works’ in the Jewellery Quarter, where we are running our own heritage attraction […]
Work experience: At the Coffin Works
I made the decision to do my work experience at Newman Bros, the Coffin furniture factory. It differed from the standard work experience locations, and quite significantly at that. While others headed to dentists and primary schools, I secured a place at the Coffin factory. From the off, I was kept busy. I spent a […]
Conserving dies: making old stuff look cared for again
Who’d have thought a training course on cleaning could be so much fun and fascinating at the same time. Not to mention hard work and a brain challenge. I signed up at Coffin Works to find out how to clean museum objects with Deborah, the freelance conservator. Owen was on the course too, which meant […]
Letters, lies and crossing the picket line
1894 was a good time to enter the coffin-furniture trade, but what you won’t often hear is that it was a dangerous time. And not because of industrial accidents or poor working conditions. This was a well-organised and tight-knit industry where outsiders were not highly thought of or easily admitted. In fact, by 1888 admission to […]
VJ Day at Newman Brothers, 1945
This weekend marks the anniversary of Japan surrendering during the Second World War. Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, addressed the nation at midnight on 15TH August 1945 announcing the surrender, in a broadcast from Downing Street. The next two days were declared public holidays and the buoyant celebrations in Birmingham reinforced what the end of the War really […]
Best Rescue of an Historic Industrial Building or Site. Countdown to voting deadline has begun!
