Back to backs 20th anniversary visit

When visiting the Back to Backs in Birmingham, your booking includes an hour and a half tour of the premises.  The buildings were built with speed and were cheap to both buy and live in.  In 1870, Birmingham was undergoing tremendous change as people were coming into the city looking for work.  The backs to backs were quickly put up to accommodate the increasing population. The buildings now blend into the modern landscape around this area of Birmingham known as Southside.

Our National Trust guide was Dick, who met us outside on Hurst street and after an introductory talk of the background to the Back to Backs led us into the buildings.  We started in the yard and this was followed by the inside tour of the Back to backs known as Court 15. The rooms are small and negotiating the staircases between the properties is challenging.  As we progressed through the 4 houses that make up the Back to Backs, Dick kept us entertained and informed about how life would have been.  Through his descriptions of the people, we began to understand what living in these cramped houses meant and learnt how these humble residences were much loved family homes.  

Pictures from the Yard of Court 15

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There is a bike, skateboard, a pram and other games that would be part of life.

There are four houses to visit and the first one is an early reproduction of life in the 1870’s.  The second house exemplified life of a large family.  There were 11 children and often a couple of lodgers were taken in.  They all lived in the same place. Space was so scarce that the chest of drawers doubled up as a cot for the baby.   Birmingham was known as the City of a 1,000 trades and in this house, the family were proficient at glass work and in particular glass eyes.  The properties changed hands at a regular rate yet the occupants of the third property lived in the Back to Backs for most of their lives.  This house illustrated how electricity was introduced and there were other comforts such as a radio.  

Court 15 is unusual in that it survived the demolition that took place all around the area.  The City removed the back to backs and replaced them with flats and other houses.  The reason that these Back to backs survived, is likely to have been the businesses that were associated with them.  The National Trust have recreated a tailor’s shop in the final property.  George Saunders came from St Kitts and after a variety of jobs set up his tailor’s shop in Court 15.  He was an enterprising man and his made to measure suits were sought after by the local clientele.  The shop’s position near to the Hippodrome assisted with much of the business in this area.

We started and finished in the communal yard where we visited the communal washhouse. At the end of the tour, I asked Dick if he would be part of my 100 strangers project and he agreed.  The picture is taken around the outside toilets which gives an insight to the conditions that people had to endure in the Back to Backs.

There were many details in the Back to backs that caught my eye.  The yard has many angles and props that bring the place to life.  There are old prams, bottles, skittles to name a few.  Each house is a treasure trove of differing objects including chamber pots and mini work tops where craftsmen worked.  The living rooms contained items that would have been commonly used by the family.  These rooms have been photographed many times before and I am adding to the many records.  For myself the journey was fun as much of it reminded me of my own childhood when I was sitting in family houses around Manchester looking up at the pictures on the walls and the pieces of China on the mantlepiece.  

The layout of the living quarters were not that dissimilar.   The accompanying guidebook is a good companion to your visit to the Back to Backs and beings out more details about the life and times of the people who lived in these unassuming buildings.  This year is the 20^thanniversary of the renovation of the Back to Backs by the National Trust and I was pleased to be able to visit after passing them so many times in my walks through Birmingham.

If you enjoyed this blog on the Back to backs then please visit my visits to other National Trust properties on my blog. Just search National Trust. I have added one link but there are many more.