Birmingham Highlights: Essential City Walk

St Martin’s Church St Martin in the Bull Ring is Birmingham’s original parish church and a fitting opening stop on an essential city walk: it connects the modern commercial centre with the city’s older civic and religious identity. The Church of England parish church stands between the Bull Ring Shopping Centre and the…

St Martin's Birmingham2 — St Martin in the Bull Ring

2. Birmingham Back to Backs After St Martin’s Church, Court 15 offers a different kind of city history: not a landmark built to impress, but the closely packed homes that housed Birmingham’s growing industrial population. At 50–54 Inge Street and 55–63 Hurst Street, this is the city’s last surviving court of back-to-ba…

Birmingham back-to-backs

Birmingham Cathedral After the Back to Backs, St Philip’s offers a different view of how Birmingham grew: not through the close-knit homes of working families, but through a church built for a town whose existing parish church, St Martin’s, could no longer serve its expanding population. Designed by Thomas Archer, St P…

St Philip's Birmingham vrt

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery After Birmingham Cathedral, this stop shifts the walk from the city’s religious history to its civic, industrial and artistic stories. The museum stands on Chamberlain Square, part of the central public landscape shared with Victoria Square. Its Grade II listed building has watched over …

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery — Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Birmingham Town Hall From Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, this stop shifts attention from the city’s collections to a building where people have gathered to hear, watch and take part in public life. Opened in 1834 in Victoria Square, Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies. Its Grade I …

Birmingham Town Hall from Chamberlain Square

6. Hall of Memory Leaving Birmingham Town Hall, this stop turns from the city’s public and musical life to the human cost of war. The Hall of Memory stands in Centenary Square, beside the route to the Library of Birmingham, and anchors the square’s civic story in remembrance. Designed by S. N. Cooke and W. N. Twist, th…

Hall of Memory Birmingham

Library of Birmingham From the Hall of Memory, this stop shifts the walk from remembrance to the city’s contemporary civic life. The Library of Birmingham stands on Centenary Square, beside Birmingham Rep and Baskerville House; it connects to the theatre and shares some facilities with it. Together, these institutions …

Library of Birmingham 2024-07-19 - 1

Ikon Gallery: A Changing City’s Creative Voice After the Library of Birmingham, Ikon Gallery offers a different view of the city’s cultural life: not a civic library built for public learning, but a contemporary-art gallery housed in a Victorian school. The contrast makes this a fitting final stop on a walk through Bir…

IkonGallery — Ikon Gallery