town away from the sea or tidal rivers has at all times been a source of
difficulty, and Birmingham forms no exception to the rule. When it was
in reality but the little "hardware village" it has so often been
called, the Rea was sufficient to carry off the surface waters taken to
its channel by the many little rills and brooks of the neighbourhood,
but as the town increased, and house drainage defiled that limped
stream, it became necessary to construct culverts, so as to take the
most offensive portion of the sewage to a distance from inhabited
houses. A great improvement was looked for after the introduction of the
Waterworks, allowing the use of water-flushed closets in the better
class of houses, instead of the old style of accommodation usually
provided at the end of the garden, but even this system became a
nuisance, especially to residents near the river Tame, the receptacle of
all liquid filth from our streets, closets, middens, and manufactories,
and legal as well as sanitary reasons forced upon the Corporation the
adoption of other plans. Our present sanitary system comprises the
exclusion, as far as possible, of closet refuse and animal and vegetable
matters from the sewers, and secondly, the purification by filtration,
&c., of the outpourings of the sewers, after the partial separation
therefrom of the more solid constituents. In 1871, when the real
sanitary work of the borough may be said to have practically commenced,
out of about 73,200 houses only 3,884 were provided with water-closets,
the remainder being served by middens, drained and undrained, the
greater part uncovered and polluting the atmosphere, while the soakage
fouled the earth and contaminated the wells. From these places in 1873
there were removed 160,142 loads of ashes, &c., the number of men
employed being 146, and the cost, allowing for sales, over £20,000, or
£55 10s. per 1,000 of the Population. In the following year the Council
approved of "the Rochdale system," closet-pans and ash-tubs taking the
place of the old style with middens, the contents being removed weekly
instead of being left to accumulate for months. At first the new system
was far from perfect, and met with much opposition, notwithstanding the
certainty of its being a more healthy plan than the old one; but
improvements have been made, and it is now generally confessed that the
pans and tubs are the right things in the right places. The number of
pans in use in 1874 was 3,845; in 1875, 7,674; in 1876, 15,992; in 1877,
22,668; in 1883, 37,287, equal to a collection of 1,900,000 pans per
year. The sanitary force now numbers 622 men, who, in addition to the
above, removed in 1883, from tubs, middens, &c., 128,966 loads of ashes.
The chief depot for this accumulation of refuse and rubbish is at the
Corporation's wharf, in Montague Street, where over £52,000 has been
laid out in buildings and machinery for its due disposal. At first,
nearly two thirds of the mass had to be taken by canal into the country,
where it was "tipped," the expense being so heavy that it entailed a
loss of about 6s. 6d. per ton on the whole after allowing for that part
which could be sold as manure. Now, however, the case is different.
Extensive machinery has been introduced, and the contents of the pans
are dried to a powder, which finds a good market; the ashes, &c., are
used in the furnaces for the drying process, and the residue therefrom,
or clinkers, forms a valuable substance for roadmaking or building
purposes, &c., in the shape of concrete, paving flags, mantelpieces,
tabletops, and even sepulchral monuments being constructed with it, so
that in a short time the receipts will, it is expected, more than
balance the expenditure in this department of local sanitary work. The
pollution of the river Tame in past years led to continuous litigation
until the year 1877, when, as the result of an exhaustive inquiry, it
was determined to form a United Drainage District Board, with powers to
construct and maintain intercepting sewers sufficient for carrying the
drainage of the whole district, comprising Aston, Aston Manor, Balsall
Heath, Birmingham, Handsworth, Harborne, King's Norton, Northfield,
Perry Barr, Saltley, and Smethwick. The first meeting of this Board was
held December 6, 1877, when it took over the sewage farm at Saltley
belonging to the Corporation (about 262 acres), the plant and stock, &c.
Up to the present time (end of 1884), nearly half a million sterling has
been spent by the Board, whose "farm" of 1,500 acres, extends from
Saltley to Tyburn, two and a half miles, and who have now to deal with
the sewage brought there from 188 miles of main sewers, extending as far
as King's Norton and Selly Oak, Harborne, Smethwick, &c. The whole of
the black and turgid stream of liquid filth brought down by the sewers
is utilised upon the farm, some 200 cubic yards of mud being lifted
daily from the settling tanks, to be dug in, while the overflow is taken
by carriers to the most distant parts, and allowed to filtrate through
the soil, until the resulting effluent is as clear as crystal, while
immense crops are gathered yearly from the land so treated. An analysis
made a little time back of a natural deposit from the town sewerage,
formed near the embouchure of several sewers emptying into one of the
great arterial mains, showed the absence of all ammoniacal salts and a
scarcity of phosphates, particularly alkaline phosphates, and at the
same time the presence of a large quantity of protoxide of iron, also of
zinc, copper, and other metals in the state of oxides and sulphurets.
These metallic salts absorb the sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonia
generated by decaying vegetable, and animal matter, and doubtless so
contributes to promote the health of the town, but nevertheless every
precaution should be taken against the possible admission to the house
of "sewer gas," which at all times is injurious to health. The analysed
deposit contained when dried only 1.4 per cent. of nitrogen (not as
ammonia) and 3.5 of earthy phosphates; but about 11.7 of protoxide of
iron, besides zinc, copper, and other metals to the extent of 2 or 3 per
cent. The latter-named proportions may in some measure account for "what
becomes of the pins?" as in the deposit named (which was nearly solid)
those useful little articles were exceedingly conspicuous.
~Shambles.~--The name given to the meat market in Jamaica Row. In the
map of 1731, "The Shambles" are marked as a long block of buildings, a
little higher than opposite the end of Bell Street, and in 1765 they
still remained there, forming a kind of "middle row," among the
incongruous collection of tenements, stallages, &c., that encumbered our
Bull Ring, down to the gates of the church itself.
~Ship Inn.~--The old Ship Inn, at Camp Hill, where Prince Rupert had his
headquarters in 1643, was pulled down in 1867; the present Ship Hotel
being opened February 6, 1868. It was sold in July, 1882, for £12,050.
~Shirley.~--Situated in the parish of Solihull, though but a village
with some half hundred cottages, has of late become a favorite spot for
those fond of a Sunday drive.
~Shoeblacks.~--An attempt was made in 1875 to form a shoeblack brigade,
but only ten gentlemen attended the meeting (called June 21), and the
business was left to the irregulars.
~Smallbrook Street.~--A small stream, formerly ran its course along part
of this site, proceeding by way of Smithfield Passage to the moat, and
thence through the mill-pool, back of Bradford Street, to the Rea. The
ancient family of the Smallbrokes held considerable lands in the
neighbourhood, but whether the street's name came from the small brook
or the Smallbrokes is a matter of doubt.
~Smallpox.~--From the opening of the Smallpox Hospital in May, 1882, to
July 10, 1884, the duration of the late epidemic, there were 1,591 cases
admitted. Among the 1,384 patients who had been vaccinated there
occurred 59 deaths; among the 207 unvaccinated, 90 deaths. No
re-vaccinated person died.
~Snow Hill.~--There is a difference of 60ft. between the top level next
Bull Street and the Bottom of Snow Hill.
~Soho.~--Prior to 1756 the country on the Handsworth side of Birmingham
was little better than barren heath, the home of conies and a few
beggarly squatters, until Mr. Edward Ruston leased from the Lord of the
Manor the whole of the piece of common that lay between Nineveh and
Hockley on the left of the West Bromwich Road. He deepened the channel
of Hockley brook, and built a small mill by its side, which being
purchased from him in 1764 by Matthew Boulton (who soon acquired the
freehold also) formed the site of the once world-renowned Soho Works. In
1774, according to "Swinney's Birmingham Directory," these works
consisted of four squares of buildings, with workshops, &e., for more
than a thousand workmen. Many more than that number, however, were
afterwards employed on the grounds, and for long years Soho House, as
Boulton's residence was called, was the resort of lords and ladies,
princes and philosophers, savants and students, to a far greater extent
than many of the European courts. Of this home of the steam engine, and
the birthplace of inventions too numerous to count, there is now no
vestige left, the foundry being removed to Smethwick in 1848, the
celebrated Mint, with the warehouses and shopping, being cleared out
early in 1850, and the walls razed to the ground in 1853.
~Soho Hill.~--The top is 177ft. higher than at Hockley Bridge, the foot
of the hill.
~Soho Pool~ was formed by the make of an embankment (1756-60) impounding
the waters of Hockley brook, and for some years after the demolition of
the Soho Works it was a favourite place for boating, &c.. The pool was
drained in 1866, and, having been filled up, its site will ere long be
covered with streets of houses.
~Solihull.~--This very pleasant village, but a few miles distant, could
boast of a Free School for its children at a very early date, for we
read of the buildings being repaired in 1573. In 1882 the School was
rebuilt, at a cost of about £5,700, and its endowments, some of which
were given in the reign of Richard II., are yearly becoming of greater
value as building progresses. The present population is nearly 6,000,
the rateable value of property being £45,202, from an area of 12,000
acres. The parishes in the Union comprise Baddesley, Balsall, Barston,
Bushwood, Elmdon, Knowle, Lapworth, Nuthurst, Packwood, Solihull,
Tanworth, and Yardley, including an area of 46,302 acres, a population
of 21,000, with a rateable value amounting to £157,000.
~Spanish Armada.~--The nobility and gentry of this and adjoining
counties, at the time of the threatened invasion by the Spaniards,
contributed sums of money sufficient to hire and equip no less than 43
ships of war. Among the names we note the following local subscribers of
£25 each:--William Kinge and William Collmer (Colmore), of Burmingham;
Richard Middlemore, Edgbaston; Mrs. Margarett Knowlys, Nuneton; Gabriell
Powltney, Knowle; Richard Corbett, Meryden, &c.
~Speaking Stile Walk.~--In a footpath leading from Holloway Head to
Edgbaston Church, there was a stile at a spot from which an exceedingly
clear echo, could be raised, and the footpath being partly thrown into a
lane the latter became "Speaking Stile Lane." The short street or road
at present existing preserves the name, but that is all, the echo, the
stile, and the footpath having vanished long, long ago.
~Spelling Bee.~--The first "Spelling Bee" held in Birmingham took place
January 17th, 1876. Like many other Yankee notions, it did not thrive
here, and the humming of those bees soon ceased.
~Springs.~--In Hutton's time there was, "a short distance from
Birmingham, in the manor of Duddeston, and joining the turnpike road to
Coleshill," a chalybeate spring of which he speaks very highly, though
even then it was neglected and thought but little of. In 1849 Mr. Robert
Rawlinson making inquiries, was told by the Town Clerk that "the
chalybeate spring in Duddeston was turned into a culvert by the railway
people when the Birmingham and Liverpool Railway was constructed," to
the great regret of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who spoke
strongly of the virtues of the water in diseases of the eye. It was
suggested in 1862 that an attempt should be made to reopen the spring
for public use, but as it was nobody's business nobody did it. There was
(sixty years ago) a spring a little below Saturday Bridge opposite
Charlotte Street, which always give forth a constant stream of
beautifully clear soft water. Another in Coventry Road, where 25 years
or so ago an old man stooping to quench his thirst fell head foremost,
and not being able to recover his equilibrium, was drowned, leading to
the spring being covered up. Several mineralised springs existed in
Gooch Street, and thereabouts, and there was one that sprung out close
to where Kent Street Baths are now. The spring which gives name to
Spring Street and Spring Vale, and which has been turned so that its
waters run into the sewers, is estimated to discharge 20,000 gallons of
pure limpid water per hour. The little stream arising from this spring
constituted part of the boundary line between the Birmingham and
Edgbaston parishes and at far less cost than it has taken to waste its
water it could have been utilised for the above-named Baths, less than a
thousand yards off, and with a natural fall of 6ft. or 8ft. Spring Hill
takes its name from a spring now non-existent, but which was once a
favourite with the cottagers who lived near to it.
~Sporting Notes.~--It is not for a moment to be admitted that the men of
Birmingham in past years were one whit more brutal in their "sports"
than others of their countrymen, but it must be confessed they somehow
managed to acquire a shocking bad name to that effect. This of course
must be laid to the credit of the local supporters of "the noble art of
self-defence," the Brummagem bruisers. Bullbaiting and cockfighting were
no more peculiar to this neighbourhood than parson-pelting or woman
ducking at Coventry, where the pillory and ducking-stool were in use
long after they had been put aside in Birmingham.
_Archery_ at one period of history was so little of a sporting nature
that laws were passed for the erection of shooting-butts, the provision
of bows and arrows, and the enforcement of constant practice by all
young men and apprentices. The monk's mixture of brimstone, charcoal,
and salt-petre, however, in course of time left the old English
clothyard shaft with its grey goose feather and the accompanying
six-foot bow of yew to be playthings only, or but fit to use in shooting
squirrels or other small deer. The "Woodmen of Arden" is the oldest
society (in this county) of toxopholites as the modern drawers of the
long bow are called, which society was "revived" in 1785, the Earl of
Aylesford giving a silver bugle horn and his lady a silver arrow as
first and second prizes. The members of a local society may in summer
months be sometimes seen pacing their measured rounds on an allotted
portion of the Edgbaston Botanical Gardens.
_Athletics_--The Birmingham Athletic Club opened the Gymnasium in King
Alfred's Place, in Aug 1866, and hold their annual display and
assault-at-arms in the Town Hall in the month of March. Certain hours
are allotted to the ladies' classes, and special terms are made for
young men and schoolboys.
_Bowling Greens_ and Quoit Grounds were once favourite places of
amusement, many even of the town taverns having them attached. There was
one at the Salutation, bottom of Snow Hill, in 1778, and at an earlier
date at the Hen and Chickens, in High Street. In 1825 a bowling green
was laid out at the corner of Highfield Road and Harborne Road, for "a
very select party" of Edgbastonians. There was also one at the Plough
and Harrow, and several may stil be found in the neighbourhood.
_Chess_, aristocratic game as it is, is far from being unknown here, a
Chess Club having been established half-a-century back, which has nearly
a hundred members. Its present headquarters are at the Restaurant, 1,
Lower Temple Street.
_Cock-fighting_.--Early numbers of _Aris's Gazette_ frequently contained
notices of "mains" fought at Duddeston Hall.
_Cricket_.--There was a Cricket Club in existence here in 1745, and it
has been chronicled that a match was being played on the same day on
which the battle of Culloden was fought. Of modern clubs, whose name is
Legion, the oldest is the Birmingham C.C., started in 1819, the members
including the young _élite_ of the town, who had their field opposite
the Monument at Ladywood. The Birchfield C.C. was organised in 1840.
Among the noteworthy matches of late years are those of the All England
Eleven against a local twenty-two, at the Lower Grounds, June 5, 1871,
the visitors winning; the Australian Eleven _v_. Pickwick and District
Twenty-two, at Bournbrook, June 24 to 26, 1878, the game not being
finished, the first innings showing 105 runs for the Eleven, against
123; the Australians _v_. Eleven of England, at Lower Grounds, May 26,
1884, when the Colonials put together 76 against 82 in the first
innings, the second innings of 33 against England's 26 being won with
five players left to bat.
_Croquet_ was introduced in 1867; the first code of laws being published
in October, 1869.
_Cycling_, though quite the rage at the present time, is by no mems a
modern amusement, as running a race with "dandy-horses" was considered
good sport in the days of the fourth Royal George. These vehicles
consisted of two wheels united tandem fashion, the bar being fitted with
saddle-shaped seat as in the first bicycles, but the motive power was
applied through the contact of the riders' feet with the ground.--The
"track" at the Lower Grounds measures 501 yards.
_Football_ is a game as old as the hills, and there are hundreds of
clubs in the town and district, the best meadow for the purpose (at the
Lower Grounds) being about 125 yards long by 75 yards broad. The Aston
Villa is the chief club.
_Hare and Hounds_.--Every suburb and district has its club of Harriers
or Hare and Hounds, an annual cross-country amateur championship contest
being started in 1879. At the last (Feb. 9, 1884) the Birchfield
Harriers scored their fourth victory against the Moseley Harriers twice.
_Hunting_.--Time was when the sight of scarlet coats and hounds was no
novelty in Birmingham, but those who would now join in the old English
sport of hunting must go farther afield, the nearest kennels being at
Atherstone. The announcements of the meets in this and adjoining
counties appear regularly in the _Midland Counties' Herald_.
_Jumping_.--At the Lower Grounds in July, 1881, Mr. P. Davine, of
Belfast, jumped 6ft. 3in. the highest previous record having been 6ft.
2-1/2in., the performance of Mr. M.J. Brookes, (Oxford U.A.C.) at Lillie
Bridge, March, 1874.
_Lacrosse_, a popular Canadian game, was introduced here June 23, 1883,
by a team of Canadian Amateurs and Iroquois Indians, who exhibited their
prowess at the Lower Grounds.
_Lawn Tennis_, at first known as Lawn Racquet, was the invention of the
late Major Gem, who played the first game in 1865 with his friend Mr.
Perera. of Great Charles Street.
_Pedestrianism_.--Among the earlist noted achievements of local peds. is
that of George Guest, who having wagered to walk 1,000 miles in 28 days
finished his task Feb. 1, 1758, with five hours to spare, doing six
miles in the last hour he footed it.--Mr. E.P. Weston, the walker _par
excellence_, was at Bingley Hall in April, 1876, and at the Lower
Grounds in Jan., 1884, when on his walk of 5,000 miles in 100 days.--A
six days "go-as-you please" match came off at Bingley Hall in Sept.,
1882, and a ridiculous exhibition of a similar nature occurred in the
following year, when women were induced to walk for the sport of gaping
idiots.
_Pigeon-flying_ has been for several generations the favourite amusement
of numbers of our workers, and the flyers have a club of their own,
which dates from August, 1875.
_Pigeon-shooting_ is a cruel sport, not much favoured in this locality,
and now that a cheap clay pigeon has been invented for use in this game,
instead of the live birds, it is to be hoped that the disgraceful
practice will be confined to the Hurlingham boys.
_Prize-fighting_ was long the popular sport of high and low life
blackguards, and Birmingham added many a redoubtable name to the long
list of famous prize-fighters, whose deeds are recorded in "Fistiana"
and other chronicles of the ring. Among the most conspicuous of these
men of might, were Harry Preston, Davy Davis, Phil Sampson, Topper
Brown, Johnny and Harry Broome, Ben Caunt, Sam Simmonds, Bob Brettle,
Tass Parker, Joe Nolan, Peter Morris, Hammer Lane, and his brothers,
with a host of other upholders of fisticuffs, the record of whose
battles will _not_ be handed down to posterity in the pages of
_Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham_, though, as a matter of history, it
may be noted that the earliest account we have of a local prize-fight is
of that which took place in Oct. 1782, for 100 guineas a side, between
Jemmy Sargent, a professional, and Isaac Perrins, one of the Soho
workmen. Jemmy knuckled under after being knocked down thirteen times,
in as many rounds, by the knock-kneed hammerman fiom Soho, whose mates,
it is said, won £1,500 in bets through his prowess. Attempts have lately
been made to revive the old sport, but the sooner the would-be adepts
learn that their occupation is gone the better it will be for them, and
all men.
_Racing and Steeplechasing_ was not, unknown to the Brums of the 18th
century, as the _Gentleman's Magazine_ makes note of the races at
Birmingham, May 27 to 29, 1740, but where the old racecourse was
situated it is impossible to tell. Indeed it is doubtful whether any
special course has ever long been in existence, as at various dates we
read of races being held at Aston, Bordesley, Deritend, Walmer Lane, and
other places. The Four Oaks Park, adjoining Sutton Park, formerly the
property of a private gentleman, was bought by a company in June, 1879,
for the purpose of laying out a racecourse in this neighbourhood, of a
similar nature to that of Ascot, and other great racing centres. In
addition to the Hall, the buildings comprise a grand stand (the memorial
stone of which was laid June 2, 1880), and a club stand, each 70ft. by
66ft., with two galleries of seats refreshment, private, and other
rooms. Also a second stand for the general public, 62ft. by 31ft. and a
press and jockey stand, 53ft. by 31ft. The "paddock" occupies nearly
three acres, while an area of 115ft. by 72ft. is devoted to "the Ring."
The cost of these various buildings and their necessary adjuncts is
estimated at about £12,000, the structures themselves, which are built
of red brick with stone facings, accommodating 3,000 persons. The course
is about a mile and a half in circumference, and the "straight" about
five furlongs in length. The Park includes an area of 130 acres, and the
first race was run March 1, 1881.--No steeplechases have been run on the
old Wolverhampton course since 1855, and no flat races since Aug. 1877.
_Running Records_.--Mr. W.G. George, of the Moseley Harriers, won a two
mile handicap at Stamford Bridge, April 24, 1884, in 9 min. 17 2-5 secs.
On May 17, same year, he ran four miles, in 19 min. 39 4-5 secs. On July
28 following, he covered, in the hour, 11 miles, 932 yds., 9 in., being
37 yds. 2 ft. 3 in. less than the hitherto unsurpassed hour record of
the celebrated Deerfoot in 1862. Another of George's feats took place
May 1, 1882, when he ran ten miles in 52 min. 56-1/2 secs.
_Skating Rinks_ were opened at the Lower Grounds May 1, 1875; at Bingley
Hall, Oct. 2, 1875; at Moseley, Dec. 6, 1876; and at Handsworth, Oct. 8,
1877; and, for a time, the amusement was exceedingly popular, more than
one fortune accruing from the manufacture of patent and other roller
skates. One of the most noteworthy feats on the slippery rinks was the
skating of 200 miles in 24 hours by a Mr. F. Betteridge at Bingley Hall,
Aug. 20, 1878.