Birmingham Hidden Gems: Inside the Jewellery Quarter coffin maker

The coffin works is an independent museum and charity located here in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, preserving the experiences of work life in the Newman Brothers factory - an icon of Birmingham’s rich industrial heritage.

The museum offers guided tours around the factory as well as workshops full of original stock and tools, so visitors can get a true insight into what life was like inside the Newman Brothers factory, and how things operated.

Only a five minute walk from the city centre, the Coffin Works in the Jewellery Quarter offers a unique look into the history of the UK’s second city.

Sarah Hayes, Museum Manager at the Coffin Works, says: “So the coffee works opened in 2014 and it preserves the contents of the former Newman brothers coffin fittings manufactory.

“And they made a rather unusual product - you probably guessed - not coffins but coffin fittings. But not just any old coffin fittings - this company was the Rolls Royce of coffin furniture.

“So many a king, queen and Prime Minister has ended up with coffin fittings on their coffins made by the working class Brummies in this modest average size factory.

“It’s a typical slice of Birmingham’s industrial history. And although we speak about the kings, queens and prime ministers, and the great and the good, this is really about the lives of ordinary working class Brummies.

“We celebrate that and talk about the people who made this factory work.”

“This is an interactive experience for visitors. What I will say is that you get to see exactly the same things on a guided tour as you do on a self guided visit.

“We get the working machinery in action, the drop stamps, we operate the fly presses in a stamp shop. So there’s so much to this story that the visitor can explore and draw on their own experiences.

“It’s not a Gothic Horror Show. People think ‘coffins’ and they get a little bit tentative and a bit scared. But I’m gonna say it again - it’s a classic slice of Birmingham’s industrial history.

“If you’re a Brummie you’ll love it. If you’re proud of the city’s industrial past and interested in it, you’ll love it as well.”

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