“Ghostly and Grisly Birmingham”

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