A DESCRIPTION

Of

MODERN

BIRMINGHAM

Whereunto Are Annexed,

Observations

Made during an Excursion round the Town

IN THE SUMMER OF 1818,

INCLUDING

Warwick and Leamington

BY CHARLES PYE

WHO COMPILED A DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY

Anti-Jacobin, May, 1804.

PYE'S DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.

The author's avowed object, is to arrange the ancient and modern names, in a clear and methodical manner, so as to give a ready reference to each; and in addition to this arrangement of ancient appellations both of people and places, with the modern names, he has given a concise chronological history of the principal places; by which the book also serves in many cases as a gazetteer. We find upon the whole a clear and practical arrangement of articles which are dispersed in more voluminous works. Mr. Pye has condensed within a narrow space the substance of Cellarius, Lempriere, Macbean, etc. In short the work will be found very useful and convenient to all persons reading the classics or studying modern geography, and to all readers of history, sacred or profane.

British Critic, June, 1804.

PYE'S DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY.

This may be recommended as a very convenient, useful, and relatively cheap publication of the kind, and may very properly be recommended for schools. The author very modestly desires that such errors and omissions as will unavoidably appear in an attempt of this nature may be pointed out to him, for the benefit of a future edition.

Monthly Review, October, 1805.

We prefer the old mode of having separate divisions; the one including ancient and the other modern geography, to that of uniting both under the same alphabetical arrangement. When the title of this work is considered, it is somewhat incongruous that the account of places should be inserted under the modern names, and a mere reference under that of the ancient. These accounts appear to be in general correct, but they are in our judgment too brief to be satisfactory. As the above writer says he prefers two alphabets to one; the editor hereby sets him at defiance to produce two books in any language (however large they are,) from whence the student or traveller can collect such information as is contained in this small volume, price 7s.

Mr. Pye also published a correct and complete representation of all the provincial copper coins, tokens of trade, and cards of address, on copper, that were circulated as such between the years 1787 and 1801; when they were entirely superseded by a national copper coinage. The whole on fifty-five quarto plates, price 20s. being a necessary appendage to every library; there being a very copious index.

TO Wm. Damper, Esq.

One of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace

FOR THE

COUNTIES OF WARWICK AND WORCESTER.

SIR,

As you occasionally amuse yourself with topographical pursuits, deign to accept of the following pages, from

Your most obedient,

Humble Servant,

CHARLES PYE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Whoever may take the trouble of looking into the following pages, will soon perceive that in some instances the editor has been very brief in his description of the public institutions; to which he pleads guilty, and accounts for it by observing, that the undermentioned card^[1] was written and delivered by him personally, to every public institution, at the respective places where the business is transacted, and when he called again, after a lapse of two months, there were several instances where all information was withheld.^[2] Having, as he thought, proceeded in the most genteel way, by soliciting assistance in a private manner, he feels doubly disappointed in not being able to give the public such information as might reasonably be expected in a publication of this kind.—Had his endeavors been seconded by those who are to a certain degree interested in the event, there are several points that would have been explained more at large; but being deprived of such assistance, he ventures to appear before the tribunal of the public, and to give them the best information that he has been able to obtain. Any person who discovers errors or omissions, that will take the trouble of rectifying them, and conveying the same through the medium of the publisher, will confer an inestimable favour on

Their obedient servant,

CHARLES PYE.

LINES

Written by the late John Morfitt, Esq. Barrister.

The Roads pointed out

TO PLACES DISTANT FROM BIRMINGHAM.

                       Miles      Folio
Alcester                ..  21      186
Atherstone              ..  20      178
Banbury                 ..  42      134
Barr-beacon             ..   7      188
Barr-park               ..   5      122
Bath                    ..  87      176
Bilstone                ..  11      101
Blenheim                ..  52      133
Bristol                 ..  84      176
Bromsgrove              ..  13      176
Buxton                  ..  61      163
Cheltenham              ..  51      176
Chester                 ..  75      101
Coalbrook Dale          ..  30      101
Coleshill               ..  10      180
Coventry                ..  18      161
Derby                   ..  40      163
Dublin                  .. 218      101
Dudley, thro' Oldbury   ..   9      130
Dudley, thro' Tipton    ..  10      125
Dunchurch               ..  29      161
Edgbaston               ..   1      190
Edinburgh               .. 298      113 and 163
Evesham                 ..  31      186
Glocester               ..  52      176
Hagley                  ..  12      169
Halesowen               ..   7      169
Handsworth              ..   2-1/2  106
Harborne                ..   3      182
Henley-in-Arden         ..  14      133
Hockley House           ..  10      133
Holyhead                .. 158      101
Kidderminster           ..  18      169
King's Norton           ..   6      186
Knowle                  ..  10      134
Leamington              ..  22      133 and 134
Leeds                   .. 109      113 and 163
Leicester               ..  43      180
Lichfield               ..  16      163
Liverpool               .. 104      113 and 163
London, thro' Coventry  .. 109      161
----, Henley-on-Thames  .. 118      133
----, Uxbridge          .. 114      133
----, Warwick and Banbury .. 119      134
Malvern                 ..  32      176
Manchester              ..  82      113 and 163
Matlock                 ..  55      163
Meriden                 ..  12      161
Northampton             ..  42      161
Northfield              ..   6      176
Nottingham              ..  50      163
Oxford                  ..  61      133
Rowley                  ..   7      193
Rugby                   ..  31      161
Sedgley                 ..  14      110
Sheffield               ..  76      163
Shenstone               ..  13      163
Shrewsbury              ..  45      101
Smethwick               ..   2      130
Solihull                ..   7      135
Stafford, thro' Walsall ..  26      113
----, Wolverhamp.       ..  30      101
Stourbridge             ..  12      130 and 169
Stratford-upon-Avon     ..  22      133
Sutton Coldfield        ..   8      163
Tamworth                ..  16      163
Tipton                  ..   8      125
Walsall                 ..   9      113
Warwick, by Knowle      ..  20      134
----, by Hockley House  ..  20      133
Wednesbury              ..   8      110
West-Bromwich           ..   6      108
Wolverhampton           ..  14      101
Worcester               ..  26      176
Yardley                 ..   3      192
York                    .. 132      113 and 163

INDEX.

MODERN

BIRMINGHAM,

EMPHATICALLY TERMED

THE TOY-SHOP OF EUROPE.

This extensive town, which, from its manufactures, is of so much importance to the nation, is distinguished in the commercial annals of Britain, for a spirit of enterprize and persevering industry. Its inhabitants are ever on the alert, and continually inventing some new articles for traffic, or making improvements in others, that have been introduced in foreign countries; and by their superior skill, aided by machinery, are enabled to bring into the foreign market an endless variety of manufactured goods, both useful and ornamental, which they sell at a more moderate price than any other manufacturers of similar articles in the known world.

Comparisons are odious, and therefore to be avoided. That the inhabitants are become wealthy, there is indisputable evidence, but to whom they are indebted for their opulence, different opinions prevail.

The writer of these pages was born in the year 1749, and having been an attentive observer more than fifty years, he is convinced that the extensive trade now carried on in this town, is principally to be attributed to the enterprising spirit of the late Matthew Boulton, Esq. who, by his active and unremitting exertions, the indefatigable perseverance of himself and his agents, together with the liberal manner in which he patronized genius, laid the foundation.

This town is situated near the centre of the kingdom, in the north west extremity of the county of Warwick, and so near the verge of it, that within the distance of one mile and a half from the centre, on the road to Wolverhampton, a person removes himself into Staffordshire, and on the road to Alcester, about the same distance from the centre, you are in the county of Worcester.

The superficial contents of the parish is two thousand, eight hundred, and sixty-four acres.

The situation of the town is very uneven in its surface, but not in any part flat; on which account the rains and superfluous water, remove all obstructions, and contributes in a considerable degree to the salubrity of the air.

From the remarkable dry foundation of the houses, and the moderate elevation on which they are erected, the celebrated Dr. Priestley pronounced the air of this town to be equally pure as any he had analysed. The water is also allowed by medical practitioners, to be of a superior quality, and very conducive to the health of the inhabitants, who are scarcely ever afflicted with epidemic diseases.

The foundation of the houses is, with very few exceptions, a dry mass of sandy rock, from whence there are not any noxious vapours arise, and on that account, the cellars might be inhabited with safety, but that is not customary here.

In approaching the town, you ascend in every direction, except from Halesowen; on which account the air has free access to every part of it, and the sun can exercise its full powers in exhaling superfluous moisture.

In this favoured spot, the inhabitants enjoy four of the greatest benefits that can attend human existence; air more pure than in many other places; water of an excellent quality; the genial influence of the sun; and a situation not in the least subject to damps.

The adjacent lands are of an inferior quality, but by cultivation they are rendered tolerably productive; those immediately surrounding the town, are almost in every direction converted into gardens, which are in general rented from one to two guineas per year, and without a doubt are very conducive to the health of the inhabitants.

The waste lands about the town being inclosed in the year 1800 were found to contain two hundred and eighty nine acres, which land now lets from thirty to fifty shillings per acre.

The only stream of water that flows to this town is a small rivulet, denominated the river Rea, which takes its rise upon Rubery Hill, near one mile north of Bromsgrove Lickey, about eight miles distant, from whence there being a considerable descent, numerous reservoirs have been made, which enables the stream, within that short space, to drive ten mills, exclusive of two within the town; and what is very remarkable, some person has erected a windmill very near its banks, where the ground is not in the least elevated. This curiosity of a windmill being erected in a valley, is very visible soon after you have passed the buildings on the road to Bromsgrove.

Notwithstanding there is only one stream of water, the streets are so intersected by canals, that there is only one entrance into the town without coming over a bridge, and that is from Worcester.

At the top of Digbeth, very near the church-yard of St. Martin's, there is a never-failing spring of pure soft water, wherein is affixed what is called the cock pump; which being free to all the inhabitants, it is a very common thing to see from twelve to twenty people, each of them with a pair of large tin buckets, waiting for their turn to fill them, and this in succession through the whole day. From this very powerful spring there is a continual stream that runs through the cellars, on each side of the street, and several of the inhabitants have therein affixed pumps, from which innumerable water carts are filled every hour of the day; notwithstanding which, during the greatest heats and droughts, there is always a super-abundance of that necessary and valuable article.

Immediately above the same church-yard, and near to the principal entrance, there is another pump, constructed in such a singular manner, that I have no hesitation in saying, there never was one of the same before, nor ever will be in future.

LADY WELL.

This inexhaustible spring of soft water has for a series of years been encircled by a brick wall, which forms a very capacious reservoir; from whence there are at least forty people obtain a livelihood, by conveying the water in buckets to different parts of the town. An attempt was made in July, 1818, to prevent the public from having access to this invaluable water; but by the commissioners of the street acts interfering, it remains open to the public.

No town in existence can be more plentifully supplied with water than this is, nor in a more commodious manner, for every respectable house either has a pump to itself, or one pump to serve two houses; and in every court, where there are a number of small houses, that useful appendage is not in any instance wanting, for the accommodation of the tenants.

In various parts of the town the water is soft, but it is not so in general; and to supply that defect, numerous people find their advantage in conveying that useful article in carts, and innumerable others in carrying it with a yoke and two buckets, to those who are in want of it, which they sell at the rate of from ten to twelve gallons for one penny, according to the distance.

Near one mile and a half from the centre of the town, there is, on the road towards Coleshill, a chalybeate spring, which some years back was in general repute, but now little attention is paid to it.

The lands in the vicinity of this town are beyond all doubt higher than any other in the kingdom; there being three instances of springs issuing from them that take two different courses. One instance is upon Bromsgrove Lickey, from whence two springs arise, one of which flows into the Severn, and the other into the Trent.—Another instance is at the Quinton, on the road to Halesowen, from whence there issues two springs, each of them taking the same course as those from Bromsgrove Lickey. The third is at Corley, in the vicinity of Packington, where they pursue the same courses. These springs arise in a triangular direction, Birmingham being in the centre.

To demonstrate what has been advanced respecting the salubrity of the air and purity of the water, the hotel, in Temple-row, was erected in the year 1772, upon the tontine principle. There being fifty shares, of course the same number of lives must be nominated at that time, of whom there were, in the middle of October, 1818, forty-five still living.

Another instance may be adduced, equally appropriate. There are at the present time, 1818, still living, and in health, seventeen persons, (and there may be several more), who all of them received their education under one schoolmaster, the youngest of whom is sixty-nine years of age.

And what is still more remarkable, although there were in the middle of November more than three hundred and eighty children in the asylum, there was not one sick person in that numerous family.

ST. MARTIN's CHURCH

Is undoubtedly of great antiquity, and to trace its foundation is at present impossible, tradition itself not giving any clue. It was originally erected with stone, but the exterior being decayed by time, in the year 1690 the body of the church, and also the tower, were cased with bricks of an admirable quality, and mortar suitable to them, for at this time there is scarcely any symptoms of decay. The elegant spire has been several times injured by lightning, and during its repairs the workmen have contracted the length of it considerably. It was at one time (whatever it is now) the loftiest spire in the kingdom, measuring from its base to the weathercock. The person who repaired it in 1777 made the observation.—There are, no doubt, several steeples more lofty, measuring from the ground, the towers of which extend to a great height, whilst this at Birmingham is very low.—There are within the church two marble monuments, with recumbent figures upon them, but no inscription, and are, like the church, of such ancient date, that no person has yet presumed to say when they were executed nor for whom, (only by conjecture); but let the artists be who they would, the effigies do them great credit, and were highly deserving of better treatment than they have experienced. In the church is a fine-toned organ. In the steeple are twelve musical bells, and a set of chimes, that play with great accuracy a different tune every day in the week, at the hour of three, six, nine and twelve; and they are so contrived, that they shift from one tune to another, by means of their own machinery. On the south side of the tower there is a meridian line, which was affixed there by Ferguson, the astronomer, so that when the sun shines, the hour of twelve may be ascertained to a certainty. Birmingham is only one parish, except for church fees, and in that respect, the rector of St. Philip's presides over a small part within the town. The Rev. Charles Curtis is rector of Birmingham: the Rev. Edmund Outram being rector of St. Philip's, in Birmingham. The regimental colours, late belonging to the Loyal Birmingham Association, are suspended in the east window, over the altar. This church is computed to accommodate 2200 persons.