From churches to Tudor buildings: Here are the best historic places near Birmingham to visit

It’s truly surprising how many historic sites are in and around the West Midlands. From city cathedrals, to plague villages, this is truly a wide area of locations which can be travelled to via car or by train! The majority of these are completely free to visit and should be a requirement to visit at least once as a history girlie.

Stratford Upon Avon

Let’s start with the big place near Birmingham first, Shakespeare’s birthplace! This place is a requirement to go if you are at the University of Birmingham. With this being either a 40 minute drive or over an hour by Birmingham Moor Station, this place will truly make you appreciate being in the West Midlands. Be sure before you go to save your change as to enter Shakespeare’s house is £30!

Oxford

Perfect for all the Oxford rejects, this place screams history! With the extortionate parking here, I’m talking £28 for six hours, get the train as its way easier! With the likes of the Ashmolean Museum, this is truly the pinnacle of every history student’s day dream! From artefacts from ancient Egypt to early modern England, this is truly a place you can spend hours in without stopping! Not only this other must have places are: St-Michael at the North Gate, the Bodleian Library, Oxford Castle and Prison and the Oxford martyr’s memorials. This place is easily somewhere you can spend a day or two!

Worcester

Arthur Tudor’s burial place in Worcester Cathedral

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I’m saying this mostly due to the Cathedral, I will be honest. Worcester Cathedral is truly a pinnacle of church history in England and holds various people of importance inside the church. One of these is Arthur Tudor, the forgotten heir and prince of England of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. This place also holds King John of England, yes the same one who signed the Magna Carta. Due to this being a cathedral, this place is free to enter so walk around freely!

Warwick

Need I say more? Both the town itself and the castle are magnificent! Warwick Castle is as old as the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and is one of the greatest surviving forts William the Conqueror built that remains in good condition!

Student tickets for the castle cost as little as £16 when you book in advance. Warwick holds various pieces of history such as having one of the oldest public houses called The Roebuck Inn, their food is phenomenal for a bite to each before going in the castle. Kenilworth Castle, a place where Robert Dudley and Queen Elizabeth I held banquets, is also only a stone-throws away from Warwick.

Bath

Now this may seem very far away, but, this place can be around two hours by train! This is one that would need a lot of booking in advance with the likes of the Roman Baths being a must-see, and also Bath Abbey being right next to the Roman site. Not only this, you can see the iconic Royal Crescent, which you may recognise from Bridgeton, and Pulteney Bridge. The Bath Abbey, if you are not visiting for prayer, and the Roman Baths need payment to enter. If you book this months in advance its basically free right?

Eyam Plague Village

This site is exactly what it says in the title. Situated in Derbyshire, this site is the most famous for its deaths and quarantining during the plague of 1665 and 1666. This is one of the greatest examples of quarantining with many people in the summer of 1665 setting out a plan to stop infection spreading from each town by dropping provisions off near the town instead of entering. As you walk through the town now, you may see many signs surrounding houses which records the deaths of family members that had died from the plague during this period.

Harvington Hall

If you are one that loves Elizabeth I, you will love this site. This Elizabethan moated house is situated near Kidderminster and is most famous for its priest holes. As Catholics began to be persecuted in the later period of Elizabeth’s reign, Humphrey Pakington, designed various priest holes to hide Catholic priests who would enter his home. This place is truly magnificent in both its decor, and also the priest holes which the designated tours will show! To think people were stuck in priest holes for days at a time reminds of my own exam periods to be honest.

Gloucester

Robert Curthoses’s burial place in Gloucester Cathedral

Truly if I hear one more American say they want to go to Gloucester Cathedral to see where they slapped blood on the wall for the Chamber of Secret’s film I will cry. Gloucester Cathedral is one of many places you can visit in Gloucester which holds both the burial place of Robert Curthose, and also the location for filming crews such as Harry Potter. Not only this but Æthelflaed, the lady of the Mercians, is also buried at St Oswald’s priory only a five minute walk away from the Cathedral! For anyone that has watched The Last Kingdom on Netflix, it’s the fitty that gets with Uhtred in the last season.