Quaker History Walk: University of Birmingham campus and Selly Oak

Tickets available from August 9, 2025, 12pm.

Join Rhiannon Grant from the University of Birmingham for a walking tour through time.

In nearby Bournville, a family of Quakers, the Cadburys, made a big impact; as we walk from the University of Birmingham main campus through Selly Oak we’ll find evidence of Cadbury involvement in the community and also learn about other members of this religious group.

There’s Margery Fry, for example, who was from a different famous Quaker chocolate family and worked at the university before becoming a campaigner for Pr*son reform.

There’s the Gibbons family who ran the company for which Battery Retail Park is named and gave land for a library and a park (and intermarried with the Cadburys, who are never far away).

The actions and attitudes of Quakers in the past and the buildings they chose to fund, including the Quaker meeting house, will give examples of some of the ideas which are still important to Quakers today, such as that all people are equal and that simplicity and silence can help us be closer to God.

The walk is about 1.7 miles in total. It’s mostly flat with a slight hill along the Bristol Road through Selly Oak, and we can use a route with no stairs. We will stop for short talks in several places, most of which do not have seating.

Depending on the weather, you may want a raincoat and a water bottle.

Host or Publisher University of Birmingham Events Team