Advantage West Midlands are currently working together to develop the scheme that will turn the building into a unique visitor attraction. © Advantage West Midlands
A Birmingham coffin works that provided for the funerals of Churchill, Chamberlain and Princess Diana is being saved from the grim reaper, following a £1.5 million donation.
Regional development agency Advantage West Midlands have put the money towards a £3.4 million scheme to bring the three-storey, grade II listed building alive once again and turn it into a museum.
The decaying Newman Brothers Coffin Works was one of England’s only remaining funeral furniture manufacturers. It is situated Birmingham’s world famous Jewellery Quarter on Fleet Street.
The project hopes to add five commercial units to the rear of the works to help local jewellery companies prosper within an historical and creative environment. More importantly many of the unique artefacts that were left intact when the company closed in 1999 will be catalogued and preserved.
Newman Brothers was one of the only remaining coffin manufacturers in England © Advantage West Midlands.
Advantage West Midlands bought and preserved the site in 2002 on behalf of Birmingham Conservation Trust. They are currently working together to develop the scheme that will turn the building into a unique visitor attraction.
Elizabeth Perkins of Birmingham Conservation Trust said: “There is a huge amount of work to do but Birmingham Conservation Trust is really looking forward to using its experience to bring the contaminated and disused factory back into life.”
The building was designed in 1892 by Richard Harley for Alfred Newman who ran the business with his three sons; Horace, George and John. It was over a century old when the business closed due to a change in fashion towards cremations and cheaper overseas manufacturing.
B. Houle and I. Davies, Trustees of Birmingham Conservation Trust; M. Laverty, AWM Deputy Chief Executive; E. Perkins, BCT Director © Advantage West MIdlands.
In their heyday Newman Brothers Coffin Works employed over 100 people. They manufactured metal coffin fittings and shrouds in which to wrap corpses for burial. In the 1950s the company's finest coffin furniture was being exported to Africa, India, Ceylon, Canada, Malta and the West Indies.
Senior Lecturer in History at Newman College of Higher Education, Chris Upton, is delighted the Victorian works has been saved. “The factory is an amazing time capsule of Birmingham metal working and shows how the local manufacturers could turn their skills to anything, even coffin furniture,” he said. “The museum will be a great, and very unusual, addition to the list of visitor attractions in the area.”
The site featured on BBC2’s Restoration programme in 2003, bringing attention to the works’ eerie cultural heritage. Deputy Chief Executive at Advantage West Midlands, Mick Laverty, said: “This is an exciting project that helps us celebrate the history of the Jewellery Quarter and help secure its future as a working urban village.”
