This Italianate tower is a somewhat unlikely symbol of Birmingham: it belongs to the former St Basil's church, now home to a homeless charity.
It is one of the older parts of Birmingham and is home to a pub which os one of, if not the, oldest building in the city:
It shows its more recent industrial heritage in all sorts of ways: I love this wall:
The more recent collapse of industry made it a cheaper part of the city (before recent regeneration) so that it atttracted an arty set:
As well as a caring set:
Of course before the ideology of moving out of city centres (which has now gone the other way) people lived in Digbeth. I love this terrace of houses opposite the Polish centre:
And the walk back into the city means passing one of my favourite ruined buildings, which was operative as a pub in the past five years:
Do you see the cobbles on the streets? Everywhere you look, stone & rock. Can you imagine what it feels like to reach down with your bones & feel the living stones? The city is built on itself, all the cities that came before. Can you imagine how it feels to lie down on an ancient flagstone & feel the power of the rock buoying you up against the tug of the world? And that's where witchcraft begins. The stones have life, & I'm part of it. - adapted from Terry Pratchett
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