The Alternative Tour

Lord Mayor’s Blog 24

There is a ‘regulation’ tour of Birmingham’s Magnificent Council House on which visitors are taken. This includes the Lord Mayor’s Parlour, the Council Chamber and the Banqueting Suite. Our Victorian forebears certainly new how to build aesthetically pleasing buildings that would last more than the thirty years of modern sheds and carbuncles and do so with remarkable speed and economy - the Council House cost well under £200k at the time.
But as Lord Mayor I was able to undertake an alternative tour of unusual areas and forgotten corners. Guided by the Curator, we started at the bottom with the former City mortuary. Some parts of this now form offices for Scrutiny and the Resilience Team (averting or dealing with civil emergencies). A former use is suggested by the white tiles, but there are also near derelict areas where bodies were laid out.
Next to the intriguingly named upper and lower Muniments Rooms where old records gather dust and where a key on a dusty shelf reminded us of a former time when security guards patrolled and used the key to indicate that they’d reached this point.
Thence to the roof and the base of the flagpole. This is much larger than it appears from Victoria Square. The flag normally flown represents the city’s coat of arms. Incidentally, ‘half mast’ means two thirds of the way to the top of the pole.
Then to the large space above the council chamber beneath the roof. At this point we clarified a legend that there used to be a workman whose job was to keep the roof in good order and clear it of dead birds etc. and that he had a shed on the top of the municipal world. There is indeed such a shed, but it is inside, beneath the rafters in the roof above the council chamber.
Finally to the clock tower. This is accessed by a side door near the entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery. One ascends in a series of stages beginning with a spiral staircase taking you past the old mechanical winding area (the mechanism of which would still work if needed but would take about five hours to wind the clock).
Thence up another flight to the level where the beautiful Victorian engineered mechanism resides. Up again to the bell tower - a very interesting experience as we were there when the chimes operated! Then on to the very top.
From Chamberlain Square you can just see what looks like a small box at the top of the clock tower. The view from the lookout point gave an impressive and rarely seen impression of our magnificent city centre.
This was one of the former lookout points used during the bombing raids that Birmingham suffered during the War. These were the most intense outside London save for Merseyside and over 2,200 people lost their lives and who are commemorated by the Birmingham Air Raids Remembrance Association whose sterling work includes the memorial just opposite the Bull Ring open markets.