Soho Manufactory closed after the death of James Watt the younger in 1848, and was demolished some 15 years later. The Great Hockley Pool, by then renamed Soho Pool, was drained, and its site used for railway sidings. The minting of coins continued in Soho; Boulton's steam presses were brought by Ralph Heaton and Son in 1850, and installed at their workshops in Bath Street. The business moved in 1860 to a site in Icknield Street, on the fringe of the jewellery quarter, becoming the Birmingham Mint.
All Saint's Church was consecrated in 1838, a red-brick gothic edifice later to be sandwiched between the Great Western main line, and Hockley goods yard. A number of missions and churches were built within the Parish boundaries, and as the population rose some were in time provided with parishes created out of All Saints: St Cuthbert's in 1872; St Chrysostom's in 1890; and St Peter's was formed out of All Saints and St Mark's in 1902.
The area was served by two railway companies: the Stour Valley line of the LNWR opened in 1852 and the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley railway (part of GWR) in 1854. This coincided with the opening of stations in the city centre, thus allowing suburban rail travel, and encouraging the opening of local stations. A cable-car system connecting Colmore Row (in the City Centre) to Hockley was opened in 1888, and extended to New Inns in Handsworth in 1889. This continued in use until replaced by electric trams in 1911.
The area was crossed by three roads. The road from Wednesbury and Wolverhampton, which now consists of Constitution Hill, Great Hampton Street and Hockley Hill, was turnpiked in 1727.
In 1746, the Colmore family released land on what is known as the Jewellery Quarter today to help satisfy the demands of an increasing population. The largest tract of land was Newhall which had been purchased from the Manor of Birmingham by William Colmore. In 1560, it was described as a rabbit warren and by 1620, New Hall Manor had been constructed on the site. The large manor house gave its name to the area. By 1746, the Colmore family had moved out and let the manor to tenants. Beyond this, there were enclosed fields leading to Birmingham Heath. Sandpits were located on Hockley Hill and the product of these pits was used for moulds which were used in the local metal casting industry
Key Hill House was constructed in the 1780s on Key Hill for Joshua Glover, a local merchant. In 1784, Sir Thomas Gooch leased out an estate on the northern side of Warstone Lane. Forrest's Brewery and two semi-detached houses were constructed on the plot. These houses were occupied by the owners of the brewery. On land owned by Samuel Lloyd and Edward Harford on the northeast side of Great Hampton Street, houses were constructed from the late 1780s. The land had been owned by Richard Parkes,
In 1835, the Key Hill Cemetery (then called the General Cemetery) was opened for burial on Key Hill on land that had once been used as gardens and a sandpit. The owners continued to remove the sand until the 1930s as it was in such high demand and was of high quality. The cemetery was open to all, however, there was still pressure for an Anglican burial ground and in 1845, the Church of England Cemetery Company was established. In 1848, the company bought land used for sandpits and gardens from the Gooch and Vyse estates for use as a cemetery. The General Cemetery continued to expand and in the cemetery companies bought land north of Pitsford Street from the Vyse estate for expansion. However, this land was sold to the railway company in 1854. The General Cemetery again expanded in the 1890s northwards. The company purchased the site of Key Hill House, which had been demolished for the extraction of sand
In 1824, William Elliot set up a works on the corner of Frederick Street and Regents Street for the manufacture of buttons. In 1837, he patented a method of manufacturing cloth-covered buttons and built a factory to the rear of his works which extended to Vittoria Street. This was one of many purpose-built factories with others including the Victoria Works on Graham Street, which was built between 1839 and 1840 by Joseph Gillott for the mass production of steel pen nibs.
There were two pools within the Jewellery Quarter before the 19th century. The largest was Great Hockley Pool and the other was Little Hockley Pool, which was located on what is the site of Hockley railway station. Little Hockley Pool was filled in after 1834 whilst Great Hockley Pool was drained in 1869.
The Chamberlain Clock stands at the junction of the Vyse and Frederick Street with Warstone Lane. It was constructed in 1903 to mark Joseph Chamberlain's visit to South Africa. It was unveiled in January 1904
The former City of Birmingham Fire Brigade station on Albion Street which was built between 1909 and 1910 to a design by T. G. Price, has been converted into a private children's day nursery.
Warstone Lane Cemetery, also called Brookfields Cemetery, Church of England Cemetery, or Mint Cemetery, is a cemetery dating from 1847 in Birmingham, England. It is one of two cemeteries located in the city's Jewellery Quarter, in Hockley (the other being Key Hill Cemetery). It is no longer available for new burials.
A major feature is the two tiers of catacombs, whose unhealthy vapours led to the Birmingham Cemeteries Act which required that non-interred coffins should be sealed with lead or pitch.
Much of the route of the Icknield Street is still used by modern roads, most notably the A38 from Lichfield to Derby and some retain the name Icknield Street as in Hockley, Birmingham
The Birmingham Mint, a coining mint, originally known as Heaton's Mint or Ralph Heaton & Sons, in Birmingham, England started producing tokens and coins in 1850 as a private enterprise, separate from, but in cooperation with the Royal Mint. Its factory was situated in Icknield Street on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter. It was created by Ralph Heaton II, using second-hand coin presses bought from the estate of Matthew Boulton.
Soho Mint was created by Matthew Boulton in 1788 in his Soho Manufactory in Handsworth, West Midlands, England.
A mint was erected at the manufactory containing eight machines, driven by steam engine, each capable of striking 70 to 84 coins per minute.
In addition to copper domestic coins, silver coins were made for some of the colonies, and various medals and trade tokens were struck.
After the demise of the Soho Mint some of the machinery was bought at auction by the new Birmingham Mint of Ralph Heaton II
