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Birmingham’s ‘Cavern Club’
Historic England has recently listed three properties that have been claimed as the ‘first’ examples of their kind (not, it has to be said, by Historic England themselves – they know better than to invite a pantomimic chorus of ‘Oh no it’s not!’, but the media are not so subtle). Hence the BBC, among others, claimed that the Crown Hotel in Station Street, Birmingham, newly listed at Grade II, was ‘the birthplace of heavy metal’ and the place where ‘Black Sabbath played their first gig’. In reality, Black Sabbath played their first gig in Workington, Cumbria, and the band that we now know by that name was called ‘Earth’ when it performed at the Crown.
There are numerous other bands that could claim to be the originators of heavy metal. Wikipedia devotes many words to the topic and concludes that Black Sabbath’s eponymous album (released on Friday 13 February 1970) was the first LP composed entirely of metal tracks, whereas Cream’s first album (released on 9 December 1966) and Led Zeppelin’s first two (31 March 1969 and 31 October 1969) also included blues covers and folk-influenced material.
Singling out Black Sabbath as the reason for the listing does a disservice to the venue’s rich musical history. It started as a folk revival pub, where the Ian Campbell Folk Group recorded Ceilidh at the Crown (a pioneering example of a live folk-club recording), as well as hosting such luminaries of the rock world as Christine McVie, Jethro Tull, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Status Quo, Thin Lizzy, and UB40. Campaigners say that it is as important as a music venue as the Cavern Club in Liverpool.
Now that it has been listed, the pub is likely to feature on next year’s Heritage at Risk Register because it ceased trading as a public house in 2014, and has been vacant ever since. It stands close to The Old Rep Theatre (also listed at Grade II), claimed as the UK’s first purpose-built repertory theatre, and to Birmingham’s first movie theatre, the Electric, which opened in 1909 and was, until it closed two months ago, the oldest working cinema in the UK. Black Sabbath’s name and change of musical direction was inspired by seeing a poster outside this cinema advertising the horror film Black Sabbath, starring Boris Karloff.
Local campaigners have called for the whole street to be protected, amid fears that developers are planning to use the site for a 50-storey apartment block. With understandable local pride, it has been described as ‘like having the British Film Institute, the historic West End, and the Cavern Club all on the same 200-metre stretch’.
Waterton Park
The next example of a listing hailed as a ‘first’ concerns Waterton Park, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire. According to the list entry, this is ‘widely considered to be the first dedicated nature reserve for the protection of native wild species in the world, following Charles Waterton’s explicit repurposing and enclosure of the park by a high boundary wall in 1821-1826 to protect wildlife from poachers and foxes’.
The list entry is well worth reading in its entirety for its explanation of Waterton’s belief – unusual for the time – in the virtues of humans living in balance with nature. Whenever he could afford it, he dedicated the money that he managed to save ‘by his lifelong commitment of not drinking alcohol’ to buying stone and employing masons to build the wall. The piecemeal construction is evident in the numerous marked changes in the sizes of the stone used for the wall, which ended up 3 miles long and 10ft high.
Waterton considered all gamekeepers to be ‘rascals’, and deplored those who posed a threat to birds in ‘this depraved and demoralised part of Yorkshire’, including the owners of a soap works set up close to his estate in 1839. This was the source of chemicals that severely damaged the trees in the park and polluted the lake, as well as affecting the whole neighbourhood with crops failing, livestock sickening, and watercourses poisoned. He successfully forced the owners to close the factory, whose operatives, he said, ‘are the very personification of death alive. There is not a single cherry-cheeked fresh or healthy looking man among them’.
The park is now used as a golf course and the various roofless and ivy-covered buildings constructed by Waterton for birdwatching are now also in need of restoration.
Outsider Art
A third listing to be hailed as a ‘first’ is the ground-floor flat at 8 Silverdale Road, Oxton, the Wirral, whose interior is covered in brightly coloured murals executed by its late owner, Ron Gittins. It was described by the BBC as ‘the first example of what is called Outsider Art, done by those without conventional training, to be nationally listed’. Historic England, in more measured terms, describes it as ‘an exemplar of large-scale Outsider Art… a creative phenomenon by artists motivated by their personal visions and often working in a compulsive way, usually with no formal training and outside the influence of the mainstream art world’.
Historic England’s listings team is no doubt well aware that there is already an example of Outsider Art on the register at 575 Wandsworth Road, London, designated Grade II in 1974, though the listings schedule makes no mention of the interiors and (like far too many other register entries) only describes the dull and utilitarian Regency house front.
The property now belongs to the National Trust who (controversially) acquired it in 2010 in order to preserve the fretwork that covers the walls, ceilings, and doors, created by Khadambi Asalache (1935-2006), ‘a Kenyan-born poet, novelist, philosopher of mathematics, and British civil servant’. Asalache bought the house in 1981 while working at the Treasury, and he covered up the persistent damp in the walls by embellishing them with carvings made from pine doors and floorboards that he rescued from skips.
Classical inspiration
Back to Birkenhead. Ron Gittins sought inspiration for his ‘highly idiosyncratic, creative and compellingly immersive artistic space’ in the ancient world, ‘based on careful historical research’ combined with ‘more individualistic interpretations’: hence a fireplace is carved in the shape of a minotaur, there are ancient Egyptian and Greek motifs on the walls and floors, and a ‘Roman’ bread oven stands in the kitchen, while sculpted concrete columns representing the Battle of Actium flank the front door.
Again, the list entry is enlightening (even if at times it reads like an entry in Private Eye’s ‘Pseuds Corner’). There cannot be many listed building descriptions that include a pen portrait of the owner, described as ‘a complex man with an idiosyncratic personality, deeply private… whilst colourful and flamboyantly engaging… well known in the local community for his flair for dressing up in costumes and accessories all hand-made by himself, including various military uniforms, a Roman centurion, and as a troubadour busking with his guitar, when visiting the local shops’.
It is notable that this property, like the Crown Hotel, was brought to the attention of Historic England by local campaigners who raised the funds to purchase the building at auction, helped by a loan from Tamsin Wimhurst and her husband Mike Muller, who run the charitable trust that owns the David Parr House (Grade II*) at 186 Gwydir Street, Cambridge. This is another remarkable terraced house, whose Victorian brick façade hides a wealth of Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts painted decoration, but it doesn’t count as Outsider Art because David Parr (1854-1927) trained as an artist; worked for William Morris, George Bodley, and Charles Kempe; and decorated many a church and mansion house.
‘Ron’s Place’, as it is affectionally known by campaigners including Jarvis Cocker, will now undergo a programme of conservation work. Once it opens to the public the building will be used for events and projects that ‘celebrate the creativity within all of us as a powerful source of healing, inspiration, and well-being [and] as a springboard to generate new work by amateur and professional contemporary artists, writers, performers, and musicians from diverse backgrounds, including those who work in non-traditional and neurodivergent ways’.
