Warwickshire

m has been sung by a

ff–spring of

country! Glor

toy shop! arts'

titles, Birmin

rs, from charter

nius finds a

beral as the b

heart and plumes

e of a prosaic and commercial than

ies alone there have been eight modes of spelling it,-Burmyngham, Bermyngham, Byrmyngham, Bermyngeham, Brumychcham, Bromycham, Bromicham, and lastly the more modern and generally accepted Birmingham. The curious, however, may be set yet a greate

lers of a place in almost every country of the world were in the habit of describing in their place–names, the mountain, lake and valley, the moorland and the heath, and also the character, situation, and size of these; and village

Saxon owner or settler. In this regard he says, "The appellation need not be doubted; the last part o

le Bromwych; the terminal "ham," he argues, being subsequently added, and up till the time of the Saxon Heptarchy the spot retained its full name, "Bromwycham." This argument, however, in reality seems to support Dugdale's idea concerning the derivation of the name, as all three portions of it are of Saxon origin. The alteration locally to Bromicham was only a contraction, which continued in use down t

iod lasting four centuries, we find the name of De Bermingham as lords of the fee. The first was a Peter de Bermingham, who in the reign of Henry II. in 1154 had a castle here, and lived in considerable splendour. Here all succeed

whose son Turchill founded the Warwickshire family of Arden, of whom the mother of Shakespeare was a descendant. There is no doubt t

ore the Conquest, was discovered. Fairs were certainly held very early in Birmingham's existence as a town, and in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is a curious MS. map dating from the last years of the thirteenth century, with a church clearly indi

it was also a flourishing one, with a market for country produce, cattle, hides, etc., whic

Founders and all the Fraternitie." It also had other and more secular objects. In the year 1545 the lands belonging to it were seized by the Crown, and five years afterwards were given by Edward VI. for the "Free Grammar School of King Edward the Sixth, for the Education and Instruction of Children in Grammar for ev

was situated within a few yards of St. Martin's Church, and a little to the west o

od markett towne in the extreame parts of Warwickshire, is one streete going up alonge almost from the left rype (b

s, and resounding with hammers and anvils, for the most of them are smiths." "The lower par

: "There be many smithes in the town that used to make knives and all mannour of cutting tooles, and many loriners that make bittes and

uring the last half century, that history proves its progress has been continuous, and that the town has never suffered a declin

nts of war and husbandry. It may even be possible, according to this historian, that the scythes fixed to Boadicea's chariot wheels had their genesis at a Birmingham forge. In support of this theory he quotes that "upon the borders of Aston parish stands Aston furnace, appropriated for melting iron–stone, and reducing it into 'pigs'; this has the a

LFORD MAN

tury, and continued until the beginning of the eighteenth century; and it was in this 'High' or main street that early settlers manufactured coarse ironware, nails, and similar articles. Hutton is inclined to believe that in quite ancient times carpenters' tools as well as spades, forks, and other implements of husbandry were made here; and that the worn hollow ways i

when contemplating modern Birmingham with its fine streets, magnificent public buildings, and general appearance of wealth, industry, and prosperity, to realise that the ancient houses were of a type simi

at Lane, Spiceal Street, and part of Moor Street, and the streets where the fairs were held. These formed the boundaries of the town in the thirte

643, during the Civil War. It created an immense amount of additional antagonism towards the Cavaliers on the part of

s between the scattered Royalist forces. These messengers were sent to Coventry and imprisoned. Prince Rupert's attack was chiefly prompted by two reasons: the desire for

liers rode through the town, with the Earl of Denbigh at their head, "like so many furies." People were shot at their windows, at their doors, and in th

rally was to make the Birmingham folk

White Hart Inn. The visitation seems to have been a severe one, for it was found impossible to inter the victims in the usual burying–ground, and a full acre of land was set aside at Lady Wood Green (known for many years after as the "pest" ground) for the reception of those who had died of the plague. The town soon, however, appears to

umber to 28, the houses to 2504, and the inhabitants to 15,032. Thirty–one years later the streets had doubled, the houses had nearly doubled, and the inhabitants had increased almost in the same proporti

of many younger men of Birmingham into the army, and the exodus of masters and journeymen, left upwards of 1500 houses uninhabited. Notwithstanding the set–back caused by the war, only seven years later there

itself reformers of all kinds, and also skilled workmen, drawn hither by the freedom of manufacture which existed. The iniquitous "Five Mile" and similar Acts had served to drive many wealthy and able men out of corporate towns. In Birmingham these found a "city of refuge," with fewer restrictions; and with their coming the i

large portions of land at low ground rents and on long leases; thereby giving notable encouragement to the er

Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, and somewhere about 1780 a cotton mill was built, but only t

and other ornaments, increased rapidly, and he was compelled to transfer it to larger and better premises. It was to Boulton that James Watt ultimately came in despair at not being able to get his newly invented steam–engine well and carefully made. As events proved, he had come to the right man, and an engine factory, from which th

t all the world desires to have-Power." And the founder of Soho, through stormy and even occasionally dangerous times, doggedly persevered, and by great powers of initiative and control secure

ered around him and attracted to Soho from all parts of the world men of genius, scientists, and others. The "Soho circle" or "Lunar Club," called the latter from the fact that it met only when t

keen brain and recent discoveries; John Baskerville, with his type, paper, and printing, which "astonished the Librarians of Europe"; Dr. Withering, the noted botanist; Joseph Berington, the Roman Catholic h

e factory having been removed to Smethwick in 1848, after the death of James Watt, the son of the inventor. The site on which Boulton's house stood is n

n to architectural beauty seemed to have concerned the inhabitants, and we read, the town "is daily improving in the sty

latter half of the nineteenth century

acter, although "the mansion house of tymber" which Leland saw and specially mentioned, still remains in

d in 1872–75, at the cost of a sum of nearly ￡30,000, stands on the site of a Norman church of undoubted antiquity. In this ancient fabric, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, many additions a

Birmingham in the chancel. One is believed to be that of the third William de Bermingham, who was at the siege of Belgrade in France in 1297, and was tak

COM

ed and isolated position. The church stands upon ground which was originally part of a farm called Horse Close, afterwards Barley Close, and the land was given by one Robert Phillips and the church named after the saint and also the founder. It was commenc

e–erected in the form of an uninspiring structure of Georgian plainness in brick. It contains the bust of John Rogers, a native of the district, who was the first martyr in the days of the Marian persecution. The original church was founded in 1375 by thirteen persons, who had found themselves on many occasions una

n was in 1889, when a fierce contest was waged and continued for over a month in thoroughgoing electioneering

igns by A. W. Pugin in 1839–41 in the Decorated style, it forms one of the principal churches of Birmingham. In it are some fine modern stained glass; a sixteenth–century carved oak pulpit brought from Louvain; and

ess, and wealth began in 1875, when the

ry, containing some notable modern as well as older pictures, and a fine collection of the work of the pre–Raphaelite School; Free Library; Mason University College; Great Western Arcade; Midland Institute; Edward VI.'s Grammar School, the ancient foundation nowadays housed in a modern building by Sir Cha

ebt not easily repaid. To all who know anything of the city's history the names

re, there certainly hangs about this city, which has owed in later years so much to the energy, wisdom, and enterprise of such men as John Thackray Bunce, Joseph Chamberlain, Josiah Mason, George Dawso

st important munitions centres in the Kingdom. Situated in the heart of England, and far distant from the sea coast, it seemed peculiarly suited for the site of a great na

intent upon inflicting injury upon this home of war–time industry, are repor

came one immense area of feverish war activity. Factories which in times of peace were employed in the production of agricultural implements for use throughout the world; the making of "Birmingham" jewellery; the provision of "trade" articles for barter with the un

achine–guns, and its reaping hooks into bayonets, an inve

tion by the thousand million rounds, shells in their millions, machine–guns in their thousands, and materials r

ned cit

ceasing work, the colossal output was maintained, and the titanic st

g the foremost cities of sacrifice in the

ions made by tens of thousands of tons, or for money with which to assist national finance by way of muni

nts which covered themselves with "an eternal weight of glory" in the f