Page:A century of Birmingham life- or, A chronicle of local events, from 1741 to 1841 (IA centuryofbirming01lang).pdf/23

 Although Birmingham may properly be considered a modern town, it has claims to antiquity which must not be ignored. We need not be bewildered by the speculations of Hutton, or misled by the curious pictures which some writers have drawn from their imaginations as to the size of the town, and the lives and occupations of its people in the time of the Britons. There is reason to believe that it was the site of a Roman station; and it is certain that one of the great Roman roads passed near the place. Remains of this permanent work are still to be traced in Icknield Port Road, and one of the most perfect fragments crosses the Coldfield at Sutton. That there was a hamlet here in very early times, called by the name which our more modern manufactures have made famous throughout the civilized world, is, happily, placed beyond a doubt. In that invaluable work of William the Conqueror, the Domesday Book, we read, that in the year 1086, "Richard holds of William (Fitz Ansculf) 4 hides in Bermingeham. The arable employs 6 ploughs; 1 is in the demesne. There are 5 villeins, and 4 bordars with 2 ploughs. Wool half a mile long, and two furlongs broad. It was and is worth 20/." Nearly eight hundred years have passed since this official return was made, and the sparse and insignificant population has increased to nearly 350,000 persons. The place which "was and is worth 20/," has now property the annual of which is more than a million; and the little settlement on the banks of the River Rea has developed into a town of more than five miles in length, of three miles in breadth, and covering an area of upwards of 7,800 acres. It has now 1more than 200 miles of streets, which contain something like 60,000 houses. Many of the public buildings are noble structures in themselves, and nobler from the uses to which they are put. The most beautiful and important are the Free Grammar School of Edward VI., one of the earliest and most successful works of the late Sir Charles Barry; the Town Hall, the Midland Institute, and the Central Library. Although some of the churches and chapels are in the worst style of architecture, and have no