Dig reveals origins of Medieval Birmingham
Archaeologists dig up 900 years of history in heart of Second City
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have been digging into Birmingham’s medieval beginnings near the heart of the original Bull Ring.
And just in case there were any doubts as to the origins of that name, old cattle horns have been dug up close to the city’s 12th century heart.
The land near the iconic Selfridges store is set to be redeveloped as the Beorma Quarter, taking its name from the city’s earliest origins.
It is surrounded by Park Street, Allison Street and Well Lane – boundaries that have lasted for centuries at the top end of Digbeth.
Work to build a 29-storey tower is expected to start in late spring and should be complete by summer 2024.
As the leader of the Headland Archaeology dig on site, Steve Thomson aims to build up a picture of life in the near 1,000 years since a market charter was first granted for the area in 1166.
And it is remarkable how much has been preserved under this site, he says.
The presence of water in tandem with the remains of coal burning has had a preserving effect on layers of organic materials.
The dig also appears to confirm that the Victorians, like the Romans before them, didn’t mind dumping stuff in situ.
Work to investigate the area began on September 4, last year.
Following the demolition of some non-historic local buildings, another dig will start in an area even closer to the grade II*-listed St Martin’s Church and the modern Bull Ring Markets from June.
Other nearby digs in the past 20 years have explored areas that have since become the modern Bull Ring Markets and the Bullring shopping centre
Archaeologists have just finished the most recent dig after stripping back the layers of almost ten centuries of history, and items are still being sifted and catalogued.
Birmingham’s growth is all the more astonishing because it had no obvious attributes beyond the hard work of its local people.
The immediate vicinity was neither rich in coal nor other minerals and there were only three small rivers, the Rea, Tame and Cole.
But once a Market Charter was granted in 1166, traders began to capitalise on the one thing they did have – a central location.
The dawn of the Industrial Revolution from 1760 to 1840 fuelled an ability to manufacture extraordinary things and the city’s grafters rolled up their sleeves and never looked back.
Suddenly, the ingenuity of bright sparks like Matthew Boulton, James Watt, William Murdoch and James Brindley, backed by the drive of tireless workers, began to put Birmingham on the map.
After necessity mothered the invention of canals, Birmingham’s only direction after that was onwards and upwards with railways, major roads, motorways and its airport all fuelling the push for growth.
Thanks to a range of experts – including a dendrochronologist who will date all of the uncovered wood – a new chapter is about to be written to further explain the city’s history.
Speaking of the discovery of cattle horns, archaeologist Mr Thomson said: “It’s good to find that evidence and link it to certain activities that we can even see in the modern day.
“We’ve also found evidence of the tanning industry and associated lime slaking pits as well as lots of water management features including a ditch from the 13th or 14th century and pottery from the period, too.
“We still have a long way to go to understanding it all. The archaeologists were typically working to a depth of 1.5 to 2.5 metres and we took a section right through the middle of the city’s history.”
Some of the items found include buttons and smokers’ pipes.
Large stones with holes in them would have been used for grinding.
Wood has been uncovered in various guises, from heavy large joists to planks for holding back water.
The presence of organic vegetation has meant that many things have been preserved, including bull horns and cattle bones.
Mr Thomson said: “We are simply looking for whatever is here – we’ll deal with the archaeology as it presents itself.
“One of the fundamental reasons for the excavation is the nature of the early medieval boundary ditch around the town of Birmingham which we’ve identified here on site.
“That’s representing the early development of the town from 1166 and it was dug around that time.
“It effectively gives us a nice crosssection through the development of Birmingham from that date right through to the modern time.
“We see how the town expands beyond that boundary into Digbeth, the industrial activity associated there and then later development comes back to Well Lane, as it is now.
“Essentially, we’re looking at the development of the second-largest city in Britain from 1166 through to the modern day. It’s a privilege to be involved.”
Does the name of the site’s neighbouring ‘Well Lane’ mean there was a well there?
“Underneath the old pewter manufacturers on the other side of Well Lane they have an old stone-built well way down in their basement which is sealed off,” said Mr Thomson.
“There certainly seems to be an awful lot of water-related issues in this area.
“The maps of 1733 indicate we have the lord’s lake meadows to the north of the site beyond Well Lane. “We have organic preservation here due to the waterlogging of the site, unusual for an urban environment, and it has formed over the sands.
“We also have Victorian reservoirs which create a clean water system with corbelled drains running from the site.
“That was known prior to our coming here as well, so there has been something going on relative to the water management in the area for quite some considerable time. “That said, we also have Upper Mill Lane, just across the road.
“We know there’s the mill court, moated site just to the south of that.
“There’s Lower Mill Lane further to the east of the site, so a lot of things have gone on over the centuries relative to water management.”
Finding horns buried so close to the Bull Ring Markets must have been a exciting moment.
“The link was certainly smiles Mr Thomson.
“The evidence on site is from industrial activity related to the processing of bones.
“We’ve had evidence of bone working at the site on Park Street that we’ve excavated already – processing of cores and of hides – so it makes logical sense that somewhere in this vicinity the animals are being treated or slaughtered effectively.
“And then this waste material is being deposited here on site as well.
“The fact that we have such proximity to the Bull Ring makes logical sense that these industries would develop around that area as well.”
He added: “One of the things I find with archaeology is that too often we are just digging holes, whereas what we should be doing is digging up the people,” he says.
“Not literally the bones, but the idea of the people who did these things. I find myself wondering what were they wearing, what were they doing?
there,”
“Every little artefact you find gives you occasionally a personal touch of somebody, not just industrial activity.
“A small button had fallen into a lime slaking pit and I’m thinking I would have cursed if it was my button because you wouldn’t be able to recover it.
“Those little things bring real people to you, like the clay pipes that they smoked.
“All these later things just add that touch of the human being within that past that we’re looking at.
“In an environment like this where it’s been very wet, mucky, quite boggy, these Brummies were earning their living and really working hard to achieve what they were doing.
“And you do have a respect for that, it really couldn’t have been easy.”
Clearly what an archaeologist needs more than anything is an open mind, to be guided by the facts of what that they find. But in trying to explore 855 years of history in just four months, what does Mr Thomson hope to achieve in context?
“Whether the artefacts will tell us I’m not really sure, but I’d love to discover what drove this initial movement from the early medieval town and caused it to want to expand over a very big, formal boundary ditch that existed.”
Mr Thomson says he is hoping that evidence from “ditch fills” will help to explain what initially drove that expansion and how the internal side of Birmingham developed.
The dig follows another major effort just 400 yards away to remove bones from a cemetery next to Park Street to pave the way for HS2.
Park Street burial ground was opened in 1810 as an overflow cemetery for St Martin-in-the-Bullring and remained open for just 63 years, closing to public burials in 1873.
Archaeologists excavated 6,500 sets of human remains from the ground.
We’re looking at the development of the second-largest city in Britain, through from 1166 through the modern day... Steve Thomson