Part 2

Some Account of the Derivation of the Name of Birmingham, ..................................... page 1 Situation, ..................................... 3 Soil, .......................................... 6 Water, ......................................... 7 Baths, ......................................... 8 Air, ........................................... *8 Longevity, ..................................... 9 Ancient State of Birmingham, ................... 13 Battle of Camp-hill, ........................... *41 Modern State of Birmingham, .................... 40 Streets, and their Names, ...................... 53 Trade, ......................................... 57 Button, ...................................... 75 Buckle, ...................................... 76 Guns, ........................................ 78 Leather, ..................................... 79 Steel, ....................................... 80 Nails, ....................................... *83 Bellows, ..................................... *85 Thread, ...................................... *89 Printing, by John Baskerville, ............... *90 Brass foundry, ............................... *94 Hackney Coaches, ............................. 81 Bank, .......................................... 83 Government, .................................... ibid Constables, .................................. 92 Bailiffs, .................................... 94 Court of Requests, ............................. *99 Lamp Act, ...................................... 99 Religion and Politics, ......................... 105 Places of Worship, ............................. 111 St. John's Chapel, Deritend, ................. 112 St. Bartholomew's, ........................... 113 St. Mary's, .................................. 115 St. Paul's, .................................. ibid Old Meeting, ................................. 116 New Meeting, ................................. 117 Carr's-lane Meeting, ......................... 118 Baptist Meeting, ............................. ibid Quaker's Meeting, ............................ 120 Methodist Meeting, ........................... 121 Romish Chapel, ............................... *125 Jewish Synagogue, ............................ *128 Theatres, ...................................... 123 Amusements, .................................... 127 Hotel, ......................................... *132 Wakes, ......................................... 132 Clubs, ......................................... 135 Ikenield street, ............................... 140 Lords of the Manor, ............................ 153 Uluuine, 1050, ............................... 156 Richard, 1066, ............................... ibid William, 1130, ............................... 161 Peter de Birmingham, 1154, ................... 161 William de Birmingham, 1216, ................. 163 William de Birmingham, 1246, ................. 164 William de Birmingham, 1265, ................. 165 William de Birmingham, 1306, ................. 166 Sir Fouk de Birmingham, 1340, ................ 168 Sir John de Birmingham, 1376, ................ 169 Lord Clinton, ................................ ibid Edmund, Lord Ferrers, ........................ 170 William de Birmingham, 1430, ................. ibid Sir William Birmingham, 1479, ................ 171 Edward Birmingham, 1500, ..................... 172 John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1537, ... 177 Thomas Marrow, 1555, ......................... 180 Thomas Archer, 1746, ......................... 181 Andrew, Lord Archer, ......................... 181 Sarah, Lady Archer, 1781, .................... ibid Manor house, ................................... 182 Pudding-brook, ................................. 186 Priory, ........................................ 187 John à Dean's Hole, ............................ 195 Lench's Trust, ................................. 196 Fentbam's Trust, ............................... 200 Crowley's Trust, ............................... 201 Scott's Trust, ................................. 202 Free School, ................................... 203 Charity School, ................................ 209 Dissenting Charity School, ..................... 214 Workhouse, ..................................... 215 Old Cross, ..................................... 227 Welch Cross, ................................... 229 St. Martin's, .................................. 232 St. Philip's, .................................. 246 Births and Burials, ............................ 253 General Hospital, .............................. 256 Public Roads, .................................. 259 Canal, ......................................... 266 Deritend Bridge, ............................... 269 Soho, .......................................... 271 Danes Camp, Danes Bank, or Bury Fields, ........ 272 Gentlemen's Seats, ............................. 273 The Moats, ................................... 276 Black Greves, ................................ ibid Ulverley, or Culverley, ...................... 277 Hogg's Moat, ................................. 278 Yardley, ..................................... 281 Kent's Moat, ................................. 282 Sheldon, ..................................... 283 King's hurst, ................................ ibid Coleshill, ................................... 287 Duddeston, ................................... 289 Saltley, ..................................... 292 Ward-end ..................................... 293 Castle Bromwich, ............................. 295 Park hall, ................................... 299 Berwood, ..................................... 300 Erdington, ................................... 301 Pipe, ........................................ 303 Aston, ....................................... 306 Witton, ...................................... 309 Blakeley, .................................... 312 Weoley, ...................................... 313 Sutton Coldfield, .............................. 320 Petition for a Corporation, .................... 324 Brass Works, ................................... 329 Prison, ........................................ 332 Clodshale's Chantry, ........................... 336 Occurrences, ................................... 340 Earthquake, .................................. ibid Pitmore and Hammond, ......................... 343 Riots, ....................................... 345 The Conjurers, ............................... 350 Military Association, .......................... 353 Bilston Canal Act, ............................. 357 Workhouse Bill, ................................ 361 The Camp, ...................................... 370 Mortimer's Bank, ............................... 372

DIRECTIONS

TO THE

BINDERS,

FOR PLACING THE

COPPER-PLATES.

Prospect of Birmingham, to face the Title. Plan, ........................................ 43 Alm's-houses, ................................ *58 St. John's Chapel, Deritend, ................. 111 St. Bartholomew's, ........................... 113 St. Mary's, .................................. 115 St. Paul's, .................................. 116 Old and New Meetings, ........................ 117 New Theatre, ................................. 123 Hotel, ....................................... 130 Free School, ................................. 203 Charity School, .............................. 209 Workhouse, ................................... 215 Old and Welch Cross, ......................... 229 St. Martin's Church, ......................... 232 St. Philip's, ................................ 246 General Hospital, ............................ 256 Canal, ....................................... 265 Navigation Office, ........................... 267 Brass Works, ................................. 329

HISTORY &c.

* * * * *

Some account of the derivation of the name of Birmingham.

The word Birmingham, is too remote for certain explanation. During the last four centuries it has been variously written Brumwycheham, Bermyngeham, Bromwycham, Burmyngham, Bermyngham, Byrmyngham, and Birmingham; nay, even so late as the seventeenth century it was written Bromicham. Dugdale supposes the name to have been given by the planter, or owner, in the time of the Saxons; but, I suppose it much older than any Saxon, date: besides, it is not so common for a man to give a name to, as to take one from, a place. A man seldom gives his name except he is the founder, as Petersburg from Peter the Great.

Towns, as well as every thing in nature, have exceedingly minute beginnings, and generally take a name from situation, or local circumstances. Would the Lord of a manor think it an honour to give his name to two or three miserable huts? But, if in a succession of ages these huts swell into opulence, they confer upon the lord an honour, a residence, and a name. The terminations of sted, ham, and hurst, are evidently Saxon, and mean the same thing, a home.

The word, in later ages reduced to a certainty, hath undergone various mutations; but the original seems to have been Bromwych; Brom perhaps, from broom a shrub, for the growth of which the soil is extremely favourable; Wych, a descent, this exactly corresponds with the declivity from the High Street to Digbeth. Two other places also in the neigbourhood bear the same name, which serves to strengthen the opinion.

This infant colony, for many centuries after the first buddings of existence, perhaps, had no other appellation than that of Bromwych. Its center, for many reasons that might be urged, was the Old Cross, and its increase, in those early ages of time must have been very small.

A series of prosperity attending it, its lord might assume its name, reside in it, and the particle ham would naturally follow. This very probably happened under the Saxon Heptarchy, and the name was no other than Bromwycham.

SITUATION.

It lies near the centre of the kingdom, in the north-west extremity of the county of Warwick, in a kind of peninsula, the northern part of which is bounded by Handsworth, in the county of Stafford, and the southern by King's-norton, in the county of Worcester; it is also in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and in the deanery of Arden.

Let us perambulate the parish from the bottom of Digbeth, thirty yards north of the bridge. We will proceed south-west up the bed of the river, with Deritend, in the parish of Aston, on our left. Before we come to the Floodgates, near Vaughton's Hole, we pass by the Longmores, a small part of King's-norton. Crossing the river Rea, we enter the vestiges of a small rivulet, yet visible, though the stream hath been turned, perhaps, a thousand years, to supply the moat. We now bear rather west, nearly in a straight line for three miles, to Shirland brook, with Edgbaston on the left. At the top of the first meadow from the river Rea, we meet the little stream above-mentioned, in the pursuit of which, we cross the Bromsgrove road a little east of the first mile stone. Leaving Banner's marlpit to the left, we proceed up a narrow lane crossing the old Bromsgrove road, and up to the turnpike at the five ways in the road to Hales Owen. Leaving this road also to the left we proceed down the lane towards Ladywood, cross the Icknield street, a stone's cast east of the observatory, to the north extremity of Rotton Park. We now meet with Shirland Brook, which leads us east, and across the Dudley road, at the seven mile stone, having Smethwick in the county of Stafford, on the left, down to Pigmill. We now leave Handsworth on the left, following the stream through Hockley great pool; cross the Wolverhampton road, and the Ikenield-street at the same time down to Aston furnace, with that parish on the left. At the bottom of Walmer-lane we leave the water, move over the fields, nearly in a line to the post by the Peacock upon Gosty-green. We now cross the Lichfield road, down Duke-street, then the Coleshill road at the A B house. From thence down the meadows, to Cooper's mill; up the river to the foot of Deritend bridge; and then turn sharp to the right, keeping the course of a drain in the form of a sickle, through John a Dean's hole, into Digbeth, from whence we set out. In marching along Duke-street, we leave about seventy houses to the left, and up the river Rea, about four hundred more in Deritend, reputed part of Birmingham, though not in the parish.

This little journey, nearly of an oval form, is about seven miles. The longest diameter from Shirland brook to Deritend bridge is about three, and the widest, from the bottom of Walmer Lane to the rivulet, near the mile-stone, upon the Bromsgrove road, more than two.

The superficial contents of the parish may be upwards of four miles, about three thousand acres.

Birmingham is by much the smallest parish in the neighbourhood, those of Aston and Sutton are each about five times as large, Yardley four, and King's-Norton eight.

When Alfred, that great master of legislation, parished out his kingdom, or rather, put the finishing hand to that important work; where he met with a town, he allotted a smaller quantity of land, because the inhabitants chiefly depended upon commerce; but where there was only a village, he allotted a larger, because they depended upon agriculture.

This observation goes far in proving the antiquity of the place, for it is nine hundred years since this division took effect.

The buildings occupy the south east part of the parish; perhaps, with their appendages, about six hundred acres.

This south east part, being insufficient for the extraordinary increase of the inhabitants, she has of late extended her buildings along the Bromsgrove road, near the boundaries of Edgbaston; and actually on the other side planted three of her streets in the parish of Aston. Could the sagacious Alfred have seen into futurity, he would have augmented her borders.

As no part of the town lies flat, the showers promote both cleanliness and health, by removing obstructions.

The approach is on every side by ascent, except that from Hales-Owen, north west, which gives a free access of air, even to the most secret recesses of habitation.

Thus eminently situated, the sun can exercise his full powers of exhalation.