Your West Midlands Questions answered
- Published
All week you have been using Your Questions to tell us what you have always wanted to know about the West Midlands.
You wanted to know if Brexit would have any impact on Christmas markets.
We were asked to investigate why there seem to be more homeless people than ever on the streets of Birmingham.
You also shared the stories behind your surnames and asked us to investigate their origins. Here is a look at what we have found out.
Stuart Onyeche asked: "What does the future look like for Birmingham's popular German Christmas market post-Brexit?"
It's that time of year when market traders from Europe make their annual pilgrimage to kick off England's Christmas countdown. It's the first time the rows of glowing wooden huts have been set up since Britain voted to leave the European Union. So will Brexit have any impact on Christmas markets as we know them?
Robert Flynn asked: "Why is something not being done to help the growing number of homeless people sleeping rough in Birmingham and Black Country town centres?"
The sleeping bags are evident as commuters walk to New Street Station in Birmingham. Bedding is piled up in shop doorways and shoppers are regularly asked if they can spare some change. But is the number of homeless people in the city centre increasing and what is being done to help those sleeping rough?
Nearly 700 people sent in stories about their surnames and asked us to investigate their origins.
While we could not include everyone we did find out some interesting information about the surnames Marriage, Holister, Walker, Amor, Spoors and De'Ath.
And we heard from couples like Tim and Jeni Kenson who created their own surname by merging their family names when they married.
Peter Hare asked: "The River Severn is powerful and can wreak havoc and cause floods, but couldn't a prettier bridge be built at Upton-upon-Severn? Beautiful location, but no views."
Jon Fraser, highways manager at Worcestershire County Council, tells us the bridge was only refurbished in 2011 and some structural work was carried out.
The public was then asked to pick the new colour scheme.
He says he appreciates it's a modern, steel bridge, with a high wall one one side which perhaps prevents motorists from seeing any views, but confirms there are no plans for a new one in the near future.
Earlier bridges in the town were partially demolished in the English Civil War and washed away in a flood - you can find out more on the Upton-upon-Severn, external history site, which also has pictures of the current bridge being built.
Don Logan asked two questions about Shropshire's place in the history books.
His first question was: "Why is Ironbridge known as the birthplace of industry?"
Paul Gossage, from the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, explained that in 1709 Abraham Darby perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, rather than with charcoal. That made it possible to mass produce iron in an affordable way.
That allowed all sorts of industries to expand, triggering the industrial revolution.
Don also wanted to know if it was true that the first skyscraper was built in Shrewsbury.
That's not quite correct.
The Ditherington flax mill in Shrewsbury is thought to be the world's first iron-framed building and, as iron frames would later make it possible to build the first skyscrapers, it has been described as "the forerunner to the modern skyscraper".
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