Park Street and the coffin industry September 2019

Josie Wall works at the Coffin Works Museum, which is run by Birmingham Conservation Trust, as Operations and

Volunteer Assistant. Josie’s particular interest and area of expertise is Victorian funerals and the garden cemeteries

that opened outside cities in the 19th century.

In this blog, she explores Birmingham’s legacy as the centre for coffin furniture manufacture and reveals the

historical context of some of the archaeological discoveries unearthed by archaeologists from MOLA Headland at

Park Street Burial Ground on behalf of HS2.

The Coffin Works is a unique museum in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, which preserves the Newman Brothers’

Victorian Manufactory as a time capsule. The factory opened in 1894 and from that time the Newman Brothers

specialised in making coffin furniture, in particular high-quality cast brass coffin handles.

Although the factory dates to just after the closure of Park Street burial ground in 1873, the staff and volunteers

here were all very excited to see what would be found during the recent excavation at the site. The types of coffin

furniture recovered there would be very similar to those in our earliest 1890s catalogue because funeral fashions

stayed consistent for quite long periods.

Coffin furniture, or coffin fittings, is most easily described as all the metal decorations added to coffins, including

handles, breastplates (where name and dates are shown) and any other elements such as lid motifs, corner clips,

nails and screws.

Tradeshow stand exhibition at The Coffin Works showing their finest coffin furniture designs.

The coffin shown here is a modern replica of an early 20th century style. Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

The Newman Brothers also made the

‘soft goods’ for coffins, including coffin

linings, pillows, mattresses and

shrouds. We know this as they

advertised for seamstresses as early as

1911. Again, they would have looked

similar to those buried at Park Street,

because shroud designs didn’t change

substantially until the 1950s.

The Newman Brothers were relative

latecomers to the coffin furniture

making business. By the time they

entered the trade, Birmingham was

already the centre of manufacturing

for these items, as it was for so many

small metal goods. Birmingham-made coffin handles were used around the world, particularly across the British

Empire. The coffin furniture found at Park Street would have been locally made, and perhaps some of the

people buried there were even employed in the industry

This type of coffin was made from wood, usually elm, and then covered with fabric. Black or red velvet were

used for the most expensive coffins. The fabric would be held in place by rows of decorative nails – the more

nails, the more expensive it was! There would also be decorative metal elements on the coffin; the handles were

very ornate and there were three pairs down each side of the coffin. There might also have been ring handles

on the head and foot ends of the coffin because these coffins were usually ‘triple shell’, which means there was

an inner and outer wooden coffin, with a lining made from lead in between, so they were very heavy.

The lid of the coffin had a large breastplate

where the name of the deceased and their date

of birth and death could be engraved or painted

and decorative motifs added – often with

religious or sentimental symbolism. One very

popular set was the Urn and Glory – we have

examples here in the Coffin Works collection but

this design was popular from the 18th century

until the 1960s.

Coloured engraving showing the coffin of Princess Amelia who

died in 1786. Credit: Wellcome Collection.

Brick vaults at Park Street Burial Ground

Newman Brothers’ dies for producing coffin ornaments. These ornaments usually appeared as a pair on

the lid of the coffin and the design was known as ‘Urn and Glory’. Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

In the late 19th century a coffin for a rich person would have looked more like the example below (right).

Instead of elm covered with upholstery, French polished oak coffins had become the most fashionable. These

coffins were often lead lined, too.

Solid cast brass handles were used on the most expensive coffins. A set of six handles would have cost 15

shillings in the 1890s – about the same as a week’s wages for a clerk, so they were very exclusive products.

The coffin of a poorer person in the 19th century would have been a much simpler affair: made of plain wood,

and without a lead lining. The wood used would have been cheaper, such as pine and the handles were plain

and were usually made of iron. Any decorations would have been made of thin sheet tin rather than brass. The

cheapest coffins would be completely undecorated and have rope handles.

Advert for Ingall, Parsons and Clive (1954)

showing coffin available in elm or oak.

Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

Page of cast brass handles from Newman

Brothers first catalogue c. 1890s.

Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

Shrouds and coffin linings were another way of

showing wealth. When Park Street opened in 1810

most ordinary people would be buried in a shroud

made from woollen flannel fabric. This was because of

a law called the ‘Burying in Woollen Act’ which wasn’t

repealed until 1815. This law was designed to protect

the British wool trade from imported fabrics like linen.

The rich could pay a fine if they wanted to bury their

dead in other fabrics, and so fabrics like linen, silk and

even cashmere were used for shrouds to show the

status of the deceased. This fashion continued long

after the law was repealed.

The preservation of coffins and coffin furniture at

Park Street is variable across the site. In many cases

the iron coffin nails and handles have become

‘concreted’ which means their original shape can’t be

easily seen, and the wooden part of the coffin has

rotted away leaving only a stain in the soil.

There are several cases where breastplates have

survived but because the names are painted onto

the lacquered surface, or inscribed lightly into the

metal, they are not always legible. Below are two

relatively well-preserved examples. In both, the

breastplate is shaped like a shield.

A similar shape can be seen on the Newman Brothers’ breast plate on the next page. In the late 19th century, they

also produced more elaborate breastplates, with a similar shield shape in the centre.

Catalogue page from Newman Brothers’ 1920s

catalogue. Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

Breastplates from Park Street.

However, in a few cases there is good preservation of the coffins, particularly inside vaults, so we can see the

coffin furniture and coffins clearly. One of the most striking aspects observed is that many are ‘fish-tail coffins’

which taper in at the ankles before flaring out again. These are produced by making shallow saw cuts in the

boards to allow them to be bent into a curve.

A fish-tail coffin being excavated at Park Street.

Before the Park Street excavation this shape of coffin was not known to be common in Birmingham because

they were not noted in previous archaeological excavation of burial grounds, for example the dig at St Martin-

in-the-Bull Ring. They had been seen in some other parts of the UK, including at St John the Evangelist burial

ground in Blackpool.

Newman Brothers’ shield shaped breastplate. This

example was manufactured in the 20th century,

but this design would have also been available

earlier. Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

Newman Brothers’ die for producing coffin

ornament. This breastplate has a shield shape in

the centre and appears in the 1890s Newman

Brothers’ catalogue. Credit: Coffin Works Collection.

There are several theories as to why fish-tail coffins were used, including the idea that the tightness of the coffin

at the ankles made it difficult for resurrection men (grave-robbers) to steal bodies. Resurrectionists often

tunnelled into graves at an angle, opened the end panel of a coffin at the head end and pulled the body out.

This meant that graves would not look like they had been disturbed. Another theory is that this shape simply

became fashionable because one or more of the local coffin makers had moved into Birmingham from an area

where this was already a commonly-used shape for coffins, eventually making the style popular here too.

We know that in the 19th century most coffins were made by undertakers. Undertakers were often carpenters,

cabinetmakers or upholsterers by trade, who did undertaking as a side-line. They would buy the coffin furniture

from a company like Newman Brothers, but make the coffins themselves. Sometimes they would hire other

trappings needed for the funeral and procession, like the hearse and black feather plumes for the horses. These

were sourced from ‘funeral furnishing’ companies, these big firms had huge warehouses, full of everything they

might need. In Birmingham the largest company was Ingle, Parsons and Clive, whose headquarters were in

Digbeth, not far from Park Street.

Chuter Brothers Undertakers 1840. Credit: Amoret Tanner/Alarmy Stock Photo.

If you have enjoyed reading my blog and would like to learn more about coffin fittings, how they were made or the

lives of the Brummies who ‘made a living out of dying’ at Newman Brothers, please visit the Coffin Works digital

archive or visit the museum, which is open Wednesday – Sunday (plus Bank Holiday Mondays) for guided tours on

the hour from 11am to 3pm. Admission is by guided tour only. Find more information and book tickets on the Coffin

Works website.

The archaeological programme at Park Street in Birmingham is being carried out by our experts on behalf of LM for

HS2 Ltd. To find out more about the programme visit www.hs2.org.uk or for information on what is going in your

local area head to Birmingham’s Commonplace.

Explore the archaeology programme on social media with #HS2digs