Harriet’s Research

We began the week with a meeting discussing the past week’s work and our aims for this week. My research this week has been based around the areas of Edgbaston and Bournville focussing on what these areas have to offer in terms of attractions, the arts, religious buildings etc. 

Both have a rich history that relies heavily on the industrial revolution. Edgbaston was largely built up by the Calthorpe family after the industrial revolution brought more wealth into the area. Bournville was conceived during the late 19th century with the booming chocolate trade meaning the Cadbury brothers made the decision to move into a larger factory outside the centre of Birmingham.

The model of the village was then born in order to provide comfortable working and living conditions for the workers at the Cadbury family. When researching these two areas of Birmingham I first read a brief history of the area before moving onto researching places that may be of interest to students such as, Cadbury World, the Purple gallery, the Botanical Gardens and many others. 

Harriet’s data collection

In addition to researching, Bournville led me to take an interest in the Quaker movement that was arguably behind the town's founding. The Cadbury family were prominent Quakers and the town is arguably a representation of this with its philosophy and a number of quaker buildings, such as the friends meeting house and the Woodbrooke quaker study centre (the only one of its kind in Europe). One of the most surprising things I found out this week is that Bournville is a ‘dry’ village. The Cadbury family thought that alcohol was not beneficial to society and due to this there are no pubs in Bournville and that is still true to this day.

On another note, I have also started to research activism and local movements that students may wish to get involved with. This week focusing on the LGBTQ community I have been documenting a number of organisations that focus on supporting the community in Birmingham, including the University of Birmingham’s own LGBTQ society.