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Bite-Size: Ian Jelf Walk “Ghostly and Grisly Birmingham”
The group assembled in Victoria Square. Ian Jelf started the Walk as he meant to carry on by skilfully combining historical fact, folklore and humour. Even in the 19th century, Birmingham was known for continually demolishing buildings, creating roads and rebuilding. During the construction of the Town Hall two workmen were killed. On the top tier of the Town Hall, which has now gone, a ghostly figure was seen wearing a top hat. In Congreve St a phone box reminded our guide of the ghost of Erdington, a lady in a pink cardigan, who would be seen in a phone box on the phone but when the door was opened, she was not there. We were told of the first man who was hanged at Winson Green, the first hanging in 8o years. A drunken man who had gone to The White Hart Inn (now demolished) near Chamberlain Square, tried to shoot his girlfriend but shot her friend by mistake. In the Council House, the ghostly figure of Joseph Chamberlain wearing his distinctive orchid in his buttonhole was reported to be seen through the glass of the parlour. The body of John Baskerville, of the type of designer fame, was continually being dug up and moved. His body was even put on display. Little squares of his shroud were sold as keepsakes. Eventually he was buried in Warstone Lane cemetery, where his ghost has been seen wearing a rather ragged shroud. We walked down to Hinckley Street, originally an area called the Inkleys, where there was extreme poverty and from where the original Peaky Blinders came. In the Alexandra Theatre, there is the ghost of a manager who jumps out at people. St Jude’s Church graveyard was originally where the Holiday Inn (formerly The Albany) is now. A ghost has been seen there. The Grand Central station is on a site where there was a public right of way, and this has been preserved to this day. The site was called The Froggery, a marshy area. Ghostly lights of trains from the past have been seen on the tracks. We moved on to the site of the old covered market, which was bombed. During the intense fire which developed there was a sight of a huge wave of water moving uphill. It turned out to be a mass of hundreds of rats fleeing the inferno. Moving on to St Philip's graveyard, we saw part of a plinth from the Town Hall, a memorial to the two men killed in its construction. We saw a disused well said to have run with blood. The graveyard holds thousands of bodies piled on top of each other. The path of a sad procession through the graveyard was mentioned, i.e. the body of the last person executed by a hanging in public was buried here (although he should have been buried in unconsecrated ground). The man had killed a nightwatchman, he was tried in Warwick and hanged on Snow Hill before the procession to St Philip’s. Finally, we saw the grave of the smallest woman in England, she was 2 ft 9" 18 members then enjoyed a meal after the Walk in The Old Joint Stock Pub, Colmore Row in a private dining room. Written by George Mitchell
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