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February 1, 2024

Birmingham Back to Backs: A Glimpse into the Past

Birmingham Back to Backs: A Glimpse into the Past

AHP’s director Rhiannon, was at the Birmingham Hippodrome yesterday with family watching Disney’s The Lion King. The Hippodrome is located opposite the National Trust’s Back to Back Museum, which is Birmingham's last surviving court of Back to Backs: houses that were literally built back-to-back, quickly and cheaply, with outer houses facing onto Inge and Hurst Street and inner houses facing into a shared courtyard.

These houses, also known as Court 15, were part of a series of back-to-back houses built in Birmingham in the 1830s for working class families and are now designated as Grade II listed.

According to the National Trust, everyone who lived in back-to-back, or ‘court’ housing, “shared a brewhouse to do their washing and a small number of outdoor toilets. Overcrowding and poor sanitation was common; this court of 11 houses was once home to as many as 60 people, with only four privies between them!

It was common for families to take in lodgers to help pay the rent, and these lodgers would often share a bedroom with the family's children, separated from them by a makeshift curtain” (National Trust).

In the 1930s, the council began to demolish Back-to-Back houses, and these Back-to-Backs were eventually the only ones left standing, purely because they were at the time being used as shops with workspaces at the rear. In 1973, the Back-to-Backs were saved from demolition and converted into a museum. The houses were restored by the Birmingham Conservation Trust in 2004 and then opened to the public. Each of the four houses is decorated and furnished representing four eras: 1840s, 1870s, 1930s and 1970s, giving visitors a glimpse into the lives of the people who once lived there.

We unfortunately missed out on the tour this time, but will be back! (to back…sorry…).

Visit: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/birmingham-back-to-backs.

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