JXH design

In fact historians go so far as to say that back in the 19th century, 75 per cent of everything written in the world would have been written using a Birmingham-made pen.

And at its height that there were 100 pen factories in the Jewellery Quarter which employed around 8,000 skills craftsmen and women – around 70 per cent were women.

As quill pens were overtaken by steel pens, it was John Mitchell, in Newhall Street, who was the first to pioneer their mass production in the early 19th century.

The Mitchells – John with his brother William – are credited as being the first manufacturers to use machines to cut pen nibs, which made the process much faster.

In 1828 Josiah Mason created a cheap, efficient, slip-in nib that could be added to a fountain pen, and by the 1850s, Birmingham was the world centre for steel pen and steel nib manufacture - at this time it’s said that over half the steel-nib pens manufactured in the world are said to have been made in Birmingham.

Built between 1888 and 1904, it was originally called “The Hut”. It was renamed Wyckhams Close around 1944.

Possibly something to do with Wyckham Blackwell, the timber merchants.

It’s been pretty much empty since 2003. Outline Planning permission was granted in 2010 to knock it down and replace it with a new detached dwelling and garage. A compulsory purchase order was issued by Solihull Council in 2013 in order for them to replace and widen the A45 / Bridge

Typhoo Tea Factory, founded by John Summer in 1903, was known as one of Birmingham's most prominent landmarks. The factory was used for tea production from the 1930's, surviving bombing by the Luftwaffe in WW2. Typhoo merged with Schweppes in 1968 and the following year merged with Cadbury to form Cadbury Scweppes. The factory eventually closed in 1978. The site, which is currently being used as a 148-space pay and display car park, has been granted planning permission as part of a £14 million project to be turned into a university campus for Birmingham City University.