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.
The foundation upon which this mistress of the arts is erected, is one
solid mass of dry reddish sand.
The vapours that rise from the earth are the great promoters of disease;
but here, instead of the moisture ascending to the prejudice of the
inhabitant, the contrary is evident; for the water descends through the
pores of the sand, so that even our very cellars are habitable.
This accounts for the almost total extinction of the ague among
us:--During a residence of thirty years, I have never seen one person
afflicted with it, though, by the opportunities of office, I have
frequently visited the repositories of the sick.
Thus peculiarly favoured, this happy spot, enjoys four of the greatest
benefits that can attend human existence--water, air, the fun, and a
situation free from damps.
All the _past_ writers upon Birmingham have viewed her as low and
watery, and with reason; because Digbeth, then the chief street, bears
that description. But all the future writers will view her on an
eminence, and with as much reason; because, for one low street, we have
now fifty elevated.
Birmingham, like the empire to which she belongs, has been, for many
centuries, travelling _up hill_; and, like that, rising in consequence.