The Crescent, Birmingham

[1] The land was leased from the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI on a 120-year term.

[1] Only twelve of the houses, mostly in the two wings, were built by 1795, when a building depression resulting from the war with France brought construction to a stop.

[4] The Crescent ran north of, and roughly parallel to, the present Cambridge Street, the concave side facing northwards from a hilltop, overlooking the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal (completed in August 1789),[5] and the area now known as Ladywood, which was then countryside.

[8] On 13 October 1823, a hot air balloon flight was made from the Crescent, by Windham Sadler.

A contemporary report describes how, at 'a quarter before 3 o'clock Mr Sadler Junior went up in a fire balloon from the Crescent accompanied by James Busby, [and it] was seen for 20 minutes, took direction of Hagley and descended safe in a field near Kinver or Enville.

Plan of the Crescent , engraved by Francis Jukes , 1804, from the designs of John Rawsthorne
Artist's interpretation of the original design, from William Hutton 's 1809 book An history of Birmingham
1904–1905 Ordnance Survey map showing The Crescent
The site of The Crescent in January 2014. The sunlit tower block is Crescent Tower.
Painting from a Japanned tin tray souvenir of Sadler's balloon flight