Guided tour of the Birmingham Back to Backs from the National Trust
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Having pre-booked a guided tour of the Birmingham Back to Backs, we went to the National Trust property on Hurst Street and Inge Street in Southside on Friday 10th February 2023, for the 10:20am tour. Before starting there was an exhibition space to check out. The tour itself with a knowledgeable volunteer, took well over an hour and a half to get around the houses and the tailoring shop.
Back to Backs
It is best to book your tour in advance for the Back to Backs, as they are usually fully booked if you arrive without pre-booked tickets at the Visitor Centre (corner of Hurst Street and Inge Street).
National Trust members go free (they will scan your card in the Visitor Centre). Otherwise, tickets for adults are £7.50 and for children £3.75 (ground floor only). The full guided tour costs for £9.50 for adults and £4.75 for children.
Hurst Street
The Visitor Centre is at the corner of Hurst Street and Inge Street, while the former George Saunders tailoring shop you will see during the guided tour. To the far left is the second hand book shop. Upstairs on the 1st and 2nd floors are the special exhibition rooms.
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Here's the exterior of George Saunders Tailoring. The tailor was here on Hurst Street from 1974 to 2001. You will see more of that from the guided tour.
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Inge Street
The guided tour starts outside the three terraced houses on Inge Street. The tour guides take the group of about 10 people through the gate.
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Special exhibition
In 2023, the Back to Backs is the proud host of a special exhibition called From City of Empire to City of Diversity. This is on the floors above the second hand bookshop.
The exhibition tells the tale of Birmingham from City Status in 1889 to the present day, with people of South Asian and Caribbean heritage very much part of this exhibition. It is on the 1st and 2nd floors, accessed via the narrow spiral style staircases (with hand rails and grips to go up and down).
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Court 15 - inner courtyard
This is the only surviving courtyard in the block. Built after 1801, there used to be other courts of back to back houses down Hurst Street, Bromsgrove Street, Essex Street and Inge Street. The rest were demolished. Court 15 was restored after 2001, and opened as a museum by the National Trust in 2004.
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To the far left are three outdoor privies (toilets). The one on the left was just a hole with a bucket below. The second was a flushing toilet with long pull cord.
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On this side is the Wash House, women would work hard all day washing and cleaning clothes and sheets etc, manually. There was no plumbing or mod cons back in the 19th century.
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Outside is a bike, a child's wheelchair and what looks like a skateboard.
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Some rooms above had windows with views to the courtyard below. Here's the Wash Room again.
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Other groups were visiting Back to Backs at different times. This group were near the privies, so at the end of their guided tour.
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We were taken into three houses. The left was set up as the 1840's for the Levy's. Then the 1870's for the Oldfield's. Finally the 1930's with the Mitchell Brothers.
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There is a bicycle outside of one of the houses.
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Here's the 1840's house in the corner.
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This is the alleyway we came into at the beginning of the tour from Inge Street. They lock the gate now, but it never used to be locked back in the day.
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Wash Room
The Wash Room or laundry room is accessed from the inner courtyard. There is so much manual equipment and tools here to wash and dry your clothes and women would be doing this all day long. There is also shoe polish and a basic iron for ironing clothes.
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House 1 - 1840's Levy's
The first house you enter from the inner courtyard is on the far left. It is set up as an 1840's home of the Levy's, who were Jewish. The dining table is set up with bread and wine with candles on the table. Although the candle sticks would normally be close together.
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The daughter had to share a room with her parents, but the boys had their room on the top floor. They got the beds through the window, as the staircase was way too narrow to carry beds up to the rooms. There was a potty under the bed.
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Here is the fireplace in the bedroom and a dressing table.
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Three beds are in the boys room on the 2nd floor. There was also unfurnished rooms on the top floor to show how bad a condition the property was before it was restored from 2001-4.
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House 2 - 1870's The Oldfield's
30 years later, the middle house in the 1870's was the home of the Oldfield family.
There is a bedroom workstation for making clock hands during the day. They would put their own thing onto the attachment at the front.
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In one bedroom, a curtain divides the beds from the lodgers.
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There are some rabbit ornaments on the dressing table next to the light, with a hand mirror.
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Downstairs, there is a kitchen table with basic food and a candle stick lit in the middle.
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House 3 - 1930's The Mitchell Brothers
No, not the Mitchell Brothers from Eastenders! In this case, the Mitchell Brothers were elderly men in their 60's or 70's living during the 1930's. The decade of three Kings (George V, Edward VIII and George VI) and the start of WW2.
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On the window sill on the ground floor, there is a potted plant, some jugs, playing cards etc.
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A Bakelite radio is on the ground floor with a mirror and other objects.
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There are items above a chest of drawers in one of the bedrooms. There are some books or notebooks plus a clock and candle sticks.
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1970's George Saunders Tailoring
George Saunders, from the West Indies, set up his tailoring business on Hurst Street in 1974. He stayed until he retired in 2001 (before the houses were restored). He mainly made suits for men. All of the contents are original as he left them.
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Here is one of the machines for making or pressing buttons.
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Here is a table with some magazines and a radio.
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Here is the ground floor shop, George's desk with phone, postcards etc.
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Photography by Elliott Brown
We hope you have enjoyed this post and tour of Back to Backs.