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The Great Britain Guide

Museums · West Midlands

Coffin Works

Victorian♿ Wheelchair accessible

Coffin Works — former factory, preserved as a museum.

Coffin Works, museums in West Midlands

Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
1.5 h–3 h
Best time of year
Year-round
Nearest railway station
Birmingham Snow Hill · 0.6 km
  • Family-friendly
  • Wheelchair accessible

About

Coffin Works is a museum in the United Kingdom. Records date its origin to 1894. Heritage designation: Grade II* listed building. Wikidata describes it as: "former factory, preserved as a museum". Coordinates: 52.4820°, -1.9074°.

Photo gallery

Heritage listing

Newman Brothers at The Coffin Works is a museum in the Newman Brothers Coffin Furniture Factory building in the Jewellery Quarter conservation area in Birmingham, England. The museum educates visitors about the social and industrial history of the site, which operated from 1894–1998 as a coffin furniture factory. The museum opened in October 2014 after a fifteen-year campaign by the Birmingham Conservation Trust to save the factory building, which ceased trading in 1998, and raise the funds to transform it into a heritage attraction.

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

Newman Brothers at The Coffin Works is a museum in the Newman Brothers Coffin Furniture Factory building in the Jewellery Quarter conservation area in Birmingham, England. The museum educates visitors about the social and industrial history of the site, which operated from 1894–1998 as a coffin furniture factory. The museum opened in October 2014 after a fifteen-year campaign by the Birmingham Conservation Trust to save the factory building, which ceased trading in 1998, and raise the funds to transform it into a heritage attraction. Located at 13–15 Fleet Street, the building is Grade II* listed.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

Newman Brothers began life as a brass foundry company, established in 1882 by brothers Alfred and Edwin Newman. In 1894, the company moved to a new factory at 13–15 Fleet Street in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, designed by Roger Harley in 1892. At its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, the company employed around 100 people and was exporting products internationally to West Africa, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the Caribbean, Canada and Malta. The company's success was not to last however as by the 1970s, a number of factors began to lead to the decline of the business. One of the central contributing factors was the decrease in the popularity of metal coffin furniture, a change which was…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
52.4820, -1.9074
District
Birmingham
Parish
Birmingham, unparished area
Postcode
B3 1JP
Parliamentary constituency
Birmingham Ladywood
Phone
+44 121 233 4790
Established
1894
Nearest railway station
Birmingham Snow Hill0.6 km
Official site
www.coffinworks.org

Sources

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Frequently asked questions

Where is Coffin Works?
Coffin Works is in the West Midlands, United Kingdom (postcode B3 1JP), in the parish of Birmingham, unparished area.
When was Coffin Works built?
Built or established in 1894.
Is Coffin Works a listed building?
Coffin Works is officially recognised as Grade II* listed building listed.
How do I get to Coffin Works?
The nearest railway station is Birmingham Snow Hill, about 0.6 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode B3 1JP.