J. W. Evans Silver Factory

The silver factory established in 1881 by Jenkin Evans is one of several former workshops in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter that now show to visitors something of the range of goods made in the area and the working conditions of the craftsmen employed there. Evans established his business in small workshops behind four terraced houses in Albion Street, and his family lived until 1901 in No 54. The company ceased trading in 2005 and from 2008 English Heritage undertook to preserve the factory, which was opened to the public in 2011. Visitors can see the tools used in the silver-smithing trade, including drop stamps and fly presses, and many documents relating to the trade. A ‘bling room’ displays the company’s products which were all made for other businesses and bore no distinctive mark. Former workers at the factory have been interviewed and the interpretive material includes many anecdotes about life there in the second half of the twentieth century. The factory is open only for pre-booked parties of visitors on dates which are published on the English Heritage website.