The Jewelery Quarter (Birmingham)
written by d_i_hunter
on May 12th, 2009
, 5 comments
(6 votes)
In the nineteenth century, Birmingham’s Jewelery Quarter was one of the largest centers of jewelery production in the UK – it is estimated that by 1850 half of the gold and silverware products on sale in London were produced there. Then with the decline of jewelery manufacturing in the UK throughout the twentieth century, an exodus occurred, leaving behind a myriad of abandoned and decaying side streets that can be explored in (relative) safety.
Rotting doorways, smashed windows, peeling paint and faded signs, all relics of long gone business success, reminding us that economic downturns are nothing new!
Who knows, maybe one day the area will be transformed into the ‘creative hub’ of the city the council would like it to be, but for the lomographer who finds inspiration in dereliction it already offers ample creative opportunity.
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