Skip to content
Kingstanding Together

Trail · About 2 km (1¼ miles) · About 1 hour on foot, plus time for any museum visit

The Jewellery Quarter trail

A short walk through Birmingham’s working quarter, from a Victorian coffin works and a Georgian church to James Watt’s street, Gillott’s pen factory, the Pen Museum, the Chamberlain Clock and the catacombs of Warstone Lane.

The Jewellery Quarter grew from the 1770s, when the Colmore family laid out a smart square round a new church and sold the plots. Within a few years the houses had workshops behind them. Over the next century the streets filled with makers of buttons, buckles, pens, jewellery and coffin fittings, each firm doing one part of the work for its neighbours.

This walk follows that story uphill, from the edge of the Quarter near the canal to its Victorian heart around Warstone Lane. Look up at the frontages, and through the gateways into the yards, where you can still see the long ranges of workshop windows the jewellers called “shopping”.

7 of 7 places shown

Old map
11. Newman Brothers Coffin Works — Surviving22. St Paul’s Church and St Paul’s Square — Surviving, Surviving but altered33. Watt’s house at Harper’s Hill (Regent Place) — Lost, Partly surviving44. Victoria Works, Graham Street — Surviving, Surviving but altered55. Pen Museum, Argent Centre — Surviving66. The Chamberlain Clock — Surviving, Surviving but altered77. Warstone Lane Cemetery — Surviving, Surviving but altered
Map © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, 1888–1913, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). A dashed ring means the position is approximate; a shaded ring means only the general area is known.

Every place on the map

The stops

  1. 1. Newman Brothers Coffin Works

    Surviving

    Start on Fleet Street at the Coffin Works, built in 1892–94. Behind the plain front is a factory left almost as it was when the firm closed: press shop, drop stamps, plating shop and shroud workroom.

  2. 2. St Paul’s Church and St Paul’s Square

    SurvivingSurviving but altered

    Walk up to St Paul’s Square. The church of 1777–79 was built on land given by the Colmores to help sell the plots round it. By the 1780s the square’s houses had workshops behind them. Look for Goodwin’s spire of 1822–23.

  3. 3. Watt’s house at Harper’s Hill (Regent Place)

    LostPartly surviving

    Head west to Regent Place. James Watt lived here at Harper’s Hill until 1790; look for his blue plaque on 15–17. The street also has early 19th-century houses with workshops behind them.

  4. 4. Victoria Works, Graham Street

    SurvivingSurviving but altered

    Round the corner on Graham Street is Joseph Gillott’s Victoria Works, begun at the end of the 1830s to mass-produce steel pen nibs. Pens were made here until 1956. View from the street.

  5. 5. Pen Museum, Argent Centre

    Surviving

    A few steps away on Frederick Street, the Pen Museum occupies a pen factory of 1862–63. The museum tells the story of Birmingham’s steel-pen trade. Check its opening days before you go.

  6. 6. The Chamberlain Clock

    SurvivingSurviving but altered

    Walk north to the crossroads of Warstone Lane, Vyse Street and Frederick Street. The cast-iron clock of 1903 marks Joseph Chamberlain’s visit to South Africa, at the height of the Quarter’s prosperity.

  7. 7. Warstone Lane Cemetery

    SurvivingSurviving but altered

    Finish a few minutes west along Warstone Lane at the Anglican cemetery of 1848. Its two tiers of catacombs are cut into the sides of an old sand pit. John Baskerville lies in one of the vaults.

Before you go

The walk starts in Fleet Street, a short walk from Birmingham Snow Hill station and St Paul’s tram stop, and ends near Jewellery Quarter station (trains and trams) on Vyse Street.

Newman Brothers at the Coffin Works is a museum with set opening days and guided tours; check and book on its website: https://coffinworks.org/ . Its website has reported that the lift is out of service at times, so check access before you go.

St Paul’s Church is a working parish church. Check its website for opening times: https://stpaulsjq.church/

Victoria Works and the buildings on Regent Place are private; look from the street.

Warstone Lane Cemetery is a public open space. The catacombs are sealed and can be seen from the paths. The Friends of Key Hill & Warstone Lane Cemeteries run tours: https://www.fkwc.org/

The Chamberlain Clock stands in the middle of a busy road junction. View it from the pavement.

The Pen Museum has set public opening days; check times and tickets on its website: https://www.penmuseum.org.uk/ . The streets are hilly in places. The distance is an estimate based on the stops’ positions.

Share