George Demidowicz BA, MSocSci

Department of History
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Email
george@demidowicz.co.uk

Qualifications

  • BA(Hons)
  • M.Soc.Sci  

Biography

George Demidowicz began his research in historical geography at the University of Birmingham with a study of late medieval colonisation and settlement in the north east region of Poland. He transferred his interests to the local scene whilst seeking gainful employment in a variety of careers, including social work. He continued to research and write and became increasingly involved in conservation issues and the protection and interpretation of the historic environment. In 1990 George was appointed by Coventry City Council as the City Conservation Officer, going on to lead the Conservation and Urban Design Team and later the Conservation and Landscape Architecture Team. He retired from the City Council in March 2011 as head of the Conservation and Archaeology Team, which he set up in the early 2000s following the completion of Coventry’s Millennium scheme, the Phoenix Initiative. This was the first city centre regeneration project to have the conservation of historic buildings and archaeology as a principle aim.

George was elected as Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of History in April 2011

Postgraduate supervision

George is willing to supervise work on building history, urban and landscape history and industrial archaeology.

Find out more - our PhD History  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

Research

George’s main research field is the historic environment, employing a multi-disciplinary approach combining documentary history with field work and archaeological excavation. His particular interests are building history, rural landscape history, garden history, urban topography and industrial archaeology. He has concentrated his activities in the West Midlands, in an area extending from Sandwell to Coventry, but has worked on a number of projects elsewhere.

George’s principal industrial archaeological project has been the study of the Soho Manufactory, Mint and Foundry, acting as consultant to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. In 1996 the opening of Soho House as a museum provided the opportunity to invite Channel 4’s Time Team to undertake their first industrial archaeological dig. The sites of both the Soho Manufactory and Mint were successfully located and revealed. George is also a keen molinologist and has undertaken a detailed documentary and field study of Birmingham’s watermills. He initiated and advised on the excavation of the Hill Hook Mill in Sutton Coldfield, Lifford Mills in King’s Norton and Northfield Mill.

George is particularly pleased with his discovery of two hitherto unknown rentals of Birmingham, which have transformed our knowledge of the mediaeval borough. He has also produced a history of Kings Norton with Stephen Price.

Other activities

George has been a member of the Birmingham City Council’s Conservation and Heritage Panel (previously Conservation Areas Advisory Committee) for over 25 years and is a member of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. He has recently joined Coventry Cathedral’s Fabric Advisory Committee.

He has contributed to a number of television and local radio programmes including the Time Team programmes on Soho and the Cathedral and Priory of St Mary’s, Coventry, Meet the Ancestors, History Hunters and a television film on the Soho Foundry.

Founder editor of The Birmingham Historian (1987-1993)

Publications

Forthcoming publications

  • George Demidowicz, 'A New History of St Mary’s Hall', in: The Medieval Tapestry at St Mary's Hall, Coventry: weaving the threads together (2024).
  • George Demidowicz, The Watermills of Birmingham: the Rea, the Cole and Hockley Brook (Vol 1)

Books

  • George Demidowicz, The Soho Manufactory, Mint and Foundry, West Midlands, 1761-1895, Where Boulton, Watt and Murdoch made History (2022) Historic England and Liverpool University Press
    Received the Association of Industrial Archaeology, Stephen Neaverson Award for Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship in Industrial Archaeology, (2023)
  • George Demidowicz, A History of Barton Court, Colwall, (2020) for the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Beauty, Kindle Publishing
  • George Demidowicz and Heather Gilderdale Scott, St Michael’s Coventry: The Rise and Fall of the Old Cathedral, (2015) Scala
  • George Demidowicz and Toni Demidowicz, Evesham Bell Tower An Architectural and Documentary History, (2015) Evesham Vale Historical Society
  • George Demidowicz and Stephen Johnson, A History of Caludon Castle The Lords of the Manor of Caludon, (2013) John Clarke
  • Recording, Excavation and Documentary Research in King’s Norton, Birmingham 2005-2007, Malcolm Hislop, George Demidowicz and Stephen Price, British Archaeological Reports British Series 529 (2011)
  • George Demidowicz and Stephen Price, ‘King’s Norton A History’ (2009) Tempus
  • George Demidowicz, A Guide to the Buildings of Coventry An Illustrated Architectural History, (2003) Tempus
  • George Demidowicz, A History of the Blue Coat School and Lych Gate Cottages, Coventry, (2002) Coventry City Council
  • George Demidowicz, (ed.), Coventry’s First Cathedral The Cathedral and Priory of St Mary, (1994) Paul Watkins of Stamford including contribution: ‘Coventry – a New Beginning?’1-15

Monographs

  • George Demidowicz, ‘Medieval Birmingham; the Borough Rentals of 1296 and 1344-5,’ Dugdale Society Occasional Papers, No 48 (2008)

Articles in books

  • George Demidowicz, ‘Place, Home and Workplace, Baskerville’s Birthplace and Buildings,’ in Caroline Archer-Parré and Malcolm Dick (eds.), John Baskerville Art and Industry of the Enlightenment, (2017), 42-70, Liverpool University Press
  • George Demidowicz, ‘The north court prior to Leicester’s works,’ 33-38 and Appendix 2, ‘The water supply for Leicester’s fountain,’ 184-188 in The Elizabethan Garden at Kenilworth Castle, Anna Keay and John Watkins (eds.)  (2013) English Heritage 
  • George Demidowicz, ‘The Origins of the Soho Manufactory and its Layout,’ 67-83 in Matthew Boulton  Enterprising Industrialist of the Enlightenment, Kenneth Quickenden, Sally Bagot and Malcolm Dick (eds.) (2013) Ashgate
  • George Demidowicz, ‘The Re-development of the Cathedral and Priory of St Mary after the Dissolution’ and George Demidowicz, ‘The Development of St Mary’s Hall, Coventry: a short history,’ in Richard Morris and Linda Monkton (eds),  Coventry: Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology, British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions, Vol XXXIII (2011)
  • George Demidowicz, ‘Power at the Soho Manufactory,’ in Malcolm Dick (ed.), Matthew Boulton A Revolutionary Player, (2009) 116-131
  • George Demidowicz, ‘A Walking Tour of the Three Sohos,’ in Shena Mason (ed.) Matthew Boulton Selling what all the world desires, (2009) Birmingham City Council and Yale, 99-107,
  • George Demidowicz, ‘ Soho House and Soho Foundry,’ in Andy Foster, Birmingham, Pevsner Architectural Guides, (2005) Yale,  282-288
  • George Demidowicz, ‘From Hermitage to Hunting Lodge: Stoneleigh Deer Park – A Landscape History,’ in Robert Bearman (ed.), Stoneleigh Abbey The House, Its Owners, Its Lands, (2004) 214-242

Articles

  • George Demidowicz, ‘The Buildings of John Baskerville in Birmingham’, Transactions of the Birmingham an Warwickshire Archaeological Society, Vol 120 (2018) 107-131
  • George Demidowicz, ‘A New Birthplace for John Baskerville’, Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society, Third Series, Vol 26 (2018) 183-201
  • George Demidowicz, ‘From Queen Street to Little Park: The Failure of the Medieval Suburb in Cheylesmore Park and its Transformation into the Little Park,’ Midland History, Vol 37 No 1, (Spring 2012) 106-115
  • George Demidowicz and Chris Patrick, Excavations at 7 Priory Row 2004, The Cathedral of St Mary, Priory Row, Coventry, WMA , 47 (2004) 7-15
  • George Demidowicz, ‘The Lost Lint Brook. A Solution to the Hellerege Anglo-Saxon Charter and other explorations of King’s Norton History, Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society , Vol 107, (2003) 111-129
  • George Demidowicz, ‘The Hersum Ditch, Birmingham and Coventry; a local topographical term?’ Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, Vol 106, ( 2002) 143-150
  • George Demidowicz, ‘From  river Cole to river Rea,’ Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society, Vol 95, (1987-8)  81-84
  • George Demidowicz, Planned landscapes in north-east Poland; the Suraz estate, 1550-1760, ‘Journal of Historical Geography,’ Vol 11, 1  (1985) 21-47
  • George Demidowicz, Ridge and Furrow Surveys at King’s Norton and Northfield, WMA, 27 (1984) 117-121
  • George Demidowicz, ‘Hill Hook Mill, ‘Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society’ Vol 93, (1983-4) 73-89

Journals

  • Founder editor of The Birmingham Historian (1987-1993), first 9 editions.