The Streets of Brum - Part Four

Birmingham’s streets, roads and lanes are an absorbing aspect of our history. They call out to us about long dead landowners, notable figures from the history of England, Brummies long forgotten, farms that have been swept away by the outpouring of our city, remarkable physical features, distant battles, intriguing foreign places and mysterious happenings.

The street names of Birmingham raise many immediate questions. Why was the name of Nineveh, a wicked biblical city, given to a Handsworth thoroughfare? Why do so many roads have a connection with the famous admiral, Lord Nelson, in a city so far from the sea? Which roads commemorate the ‘Battle of Birmingham’? Where exactly was Paradise in Birmingham? What now stands on the land once occupied by John Baskerville’s beautiful home and estate? Which roads in Sparkhill carry the Christian names of a famous Birmingham family of benefactors?

In this deeply researched book, Carl Chinn looks at scores of street names, bringing to life their meaning and those people who belonged to them.

Carl Chinn MBE is Professor of Community History at The University of Birmingham, a broadcaster with BBC WM and a columnist with the Birmingham Evening Mail and the Express and Star. The Streets of Brum: Part Four is his 26th book.