Books

Due to the sad death of our Chairman, we are currently unable to process orders. Please contact us in a few weeks, when new arrangements should be in place.

All prices include VAT and delivery within the UK. Overseas customers please email us.

Quinton in the mid 1800s

Quinton in the mid 1800s

By local historian Dr Michael Hall

Published July 2019 by Quinton Local History Society

If local history is your interest, then within this little community you will find in a microcosm all the tragi-comedy of human life.

"... through delving deeply into the past, Dr Michael Hall has brought into view those previously hidden in the shadows."
Professor Carl Chinn, MBE

49 pages of colour illustrations

If family history appeals to you then 13 pages of index will take you to over 1,000 people who may be part of your family tree.

Discover in this most detailed study ever produced on 20 years of Quinton history:

  • How Quinton fared in the 1849 cholera epidemic which claimed the lives of 53,000 people in England and Wales;
  • How Quinton linked with two Cornish lunatics;
  • The sins of which the Rector accused his parishioners;
  • Who owned the land and claimed the rent;
  • Assault and attempted rape;
  • Violent death;
  • + 100s of other facts

Price : £14.95 + £3.05 p&p

Bourne College, Quinton, Birmingham

Bourne College, Quinton, Birmingham

By local historian Dr Michael Hall

Published August 2011 by Quinton Local History Society

Click here for a video introduction by the author

In 1882 the arrival of the Primitive Methodist Bourne College, in Quinton marked one of the village’s most influential happenings. A local magazine reported the event: In one of the prettiest spots within easy walking distance of Birmingham stands Bourne College. The site, approached via College Road, extended from Spies Lane, taking in Chantry Drive, Hickmans Close, Hoosen Close and Lombardy Close, across the motorway through Ridgacre Road West to the top of Meadow Road and what remains of Quinton Park. Here in Quinton, the magazine continued, students would be removed from the special temptations of town life, which would form one of the greatest encouragements to their parents, who were naturally anxious that their sons should be preserved from corrupting associations.

Bourne College’s 19 acre campus included two football and two cricket pitches, two tennis courts, gardens tended by the students and a small farm which provided fresh produce to the college kitchens. The Queen Anne style building, its principal entrance in a 60’ clock–tower, included “Big School,” dining room, class rooms, music practice rooms, chemistry laboratory, dormitories, bath rooms, kitchen, scullery, servants’ hall, store rooms, pantries and dairy. Adjoining the College was the Governor’s house.

At Bourne College boys studied everything from book-keeping to botany, from chemistry to carpentry and from elocution to electricity. Games were an important part of the curriculum - proper physical culture is not only a source of pleasure and an auxiliary to health, but is a stimulus to the intellect - all for 24 guineas per term.

Affected by the increasing provision of state secondary education following World War I, Bourne College went into voluntary liquidation in 1928; its contents were auctioned and the buildings acquired by the Board of the Birmingham Guardians of the Poor, being subsequently refurbished as Quinton Hall, a home for aged men.

Read about this important piece of Quinton history;
11 chapters
144 pages
127 pictures – many not previously published

Price : £6

The Quinton - a Century in Birmingham

The Quinton - a Century in Birmingham

By Bernard Taylor
Quinton Local History Society

"Quinton has changed dramatically over the last century, but like all places its name and its people call out to us to hark to their history. That they are listened to is thanks to a highly-active and industrious Quinton Local History Society. Through an excellent website, newsletter and publications its members bring the past to the present and the future and much credit for that success goes to Bernard Taylor. The indefatigable and talented chairman of the Quinton Local History Society, Bernard is motivated by a passion to ensure that modern Quintonians know who they are. This latest work makes a vital contribution to that goal and Bernard is to be commended for his dedication to the cause of local history."

Professor Carl Chinn MBE

Price : £4

Tilton - Francis Brett Young's Quinton

Tilton - Francis Brett Young's Quinton

by Dr. Michael Hall

Price : £5

memories of a Parish - Cover

The Story of a Parish

By T. W. Bunting and Bernard Taylor

“The Story of a Parish – 1840 to 1990” was written by T. W. Bunting and published around 1990. Unfortunately, the book has been out of print for many years. Bernard Taylor, with the consent of Tom's widow, has reprinted it, adding photographic and archive material not available to Tom when he wrote it.

Price : £2

Memories of Quinton - Cover

Memories of Quinton

By Bernard Taylor

This new book from Quinton’s local historian, as the title suggests, recalls the memories and reminiscences of the people who were part of this suburb of Birmingham. Illustrated with ninety previously unpublished photographs, this work has enabled the author to preserve the oral history of the area and its people for generations to come.

Price : £5

Images of England - Quinton

Images of Quinton

We are pleased to announce the release of “Images of Quinton”. Published by Tempus Books, it contains over 220 photographs of our beloved village, its people and its history. The majority of the photos have not been published before and we are sure you will enjoy this look into Quinton’s past. The chapters include :
  • Now and Then
  • Bourne College and Quinton Hall
  • Shops, Pubs and Businesses
  • Lost Churches and Chapels
  • Events, Sports and Entertainment
  • Scenes around Quinton
  • Lost Farms
  • Schools and People
Price : £5

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