Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/802

784 vocalists and instrumental performers. There are 5 parks and pleasure grounds belonging to the Corporation Aston Park and Hall, 45 acres; Calthorpe Park, about 35 acres; Cannon Hill Park, 65 acres; and Adderley and Highgate Parks, each about 12 acres. Beside these there are numerous pleasure-grounds the Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston, open to subscribers, and the Lower Grounds, a beautiful series of gardens at Aston, in which important flower shows are periodically held. Sutton Park, about 8 miles distant, and including about 3000 acres, is also much used by the Birmingham people. The Corporation has several sets of baths and wash-houses in various parts of the town. There are several extensive cemeteries.

Public Buildings.—Of these the Town-Hall, a nobly-pro portioned and impressive edifice, is the principal. It stands at the top of New Street, and on three sides is isolated from all other buildings by broad and handsome streets. The hall, completed in 1850 at a total cost of 52,000, is severely classic, modelled upon a Greek temple. The lower stage consists of a vast plinth or basement, 23 feet high, upon which is reared a fa?ade of peripteral character, with 8 Corinthian columns (36 feet high) at the two principal fronts, and 13 columns on each side. These columns (imitated from those of the temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome) support a bold and enriched cornice, finished at each end with a lofty pedi ment and entablature. The exterior of the hall is built of Anglesea marble. The interior consists chiefly of a regularly-built room, designed specially for meetings and concerts, with an orchestra containing one of the finest organs in the kingdom. The seats are arranged for an audience of 2265 persons, but when cleared of benches, as is the case at great political meetings, 5000 persons may find standing room. On one side of the Town-Hall are the buildings of the Midland Institute and the Free Libraries (of Italian design), occupying the whole of Ratcliff Place, with fronts to Paradise Street and Edmund Street. A new Art Gallery is in course of erection, front ing the latter street. At the back of the Town-Hall is the site of the new building of the Mason College (Gothic), and in front of the hall, in Paradise Street, are Christ Church (classic), the Queen s College (Gothic), and the Post-Office. On the side of the hall in Ann Street, opposite to the Midland Institute, are the new Corporate Buildings (Italian), now being erected at a cost of nearly 200,000. These will give accommodation for the Town Council, law courts, public offices, and the mayor of the borough. Lower down New Street is the building of the Royal Society of Artists (classic), with a noble portico ; then comes the Exchange (Gothic) in Stephenson Place ; and at the bottom of the latter street is the Central Railway station, used by the North-Western, the Midland, and their branch railways, and fronted by the Queen s Hotel. The station is more than a quarter of a mile in length. The roof, a magnificent specimen of engineering, consists of a vast arch of glass and iron, carried on pillars on each side, and measuring 1100 feet in length, 80 feet in height, and 212 feet in width in a single span. The glass in the roof weighs 115 tons, and the iron-work 1-400 tons. Below the station, in New Street, is the Grammar School ; and in High Street, close at hand, is the Market-Hall, a magni- Scent classic building, erected in 1833 at a cost of nearly 70,000, with an area of 4380 square yards, and affording room for 600 stalls. Amongst the other public buildings are the Borough Gaol at Winson Green, with 467 cells, arranged on the separate system ; near this the Lunatic Asylum, with accommodation for 600 patients ; and close at hand the workhouse, which receives about 2000 inmates. The General and Queen s Hospitals are also handsome buildings, the latter especially so, it being remarkable for a very noble out-patient hall. This and the out-patient hall at the Children s Hospital in Steelhouse Lane (Gothic) are perhaps the finest rooms of their kind in the kingdom. Birmingham had till very recently only one public monu ment, the statue of Nelson, by Westmacott, in High Street ; but several others have been erected namely, those of Joseph Sturge, at the Five Ways, and of Thomas Attwood, the founder of the Political Union, in Stephenson Place, both of them by the late Mr Thomas ; James Watt, a singularly beautiful work, in Ratcliff Place, by the late Mr Munro; Sir Robert Peel, in New Street, by Mr P. Hollins; the late Prince-Consort, in the Art Gallery, by Mr Foley; Sir Rowland Hill, in the hall of the Post-Office, by Mr Noble ; and Dr Priestley, in New Street, by Air F. J. Wil liamson. Chantrey s famous statue of James Waft is in a special chapel at Handsworth church. Manufactures.—From an early period Birmingham has been a seat of manufactures in metal. Hutton, the his torian of the town, claims for it Saxon or even British antiquity in this respect, but without the shadow of founda tion. The first or direct mention of Birmingham trades ia to be found in Leland s Itinerary (1538). He writes : &quot; I came through a pretty street as ever I entered into Bermingham towue. This street, as I remember, is called Dirtey (Deritend). In it dwell smiths and cutlers. There be many smithes in the towne that use to make knives and all manner of cutlery tooles, and many lorimers that make bittes, and a great many naylors, so that a great part of the towue is maintained by smithes, who have their iron and sea-cole out of Staffordshire.&quot; The cutlers no longer exist, this trade having gone to Sheffield ; but the smiths remain, and the heavier cutting tools are still largely made here. The well-ascertained importance of Birmingham as a centre of manufactures began towards the close of the 17th century, one great source of it being the absolute freedom of the town, there being no guilds, companies, or restrictions of any kind ; besides which the easy access to cheap coal and iron indirectly helped the development. It is remarkable that two important trades, now located elsewhere, wore first established here. Steel was made in Birmingham until 1797, and was then disused for quite 70 years, when an experiment in steel-making (still carried on) was made by a single firm. Cotton-spinning was begun in Birmingham by John Wyatt, and Lewis Paul, and Thomas Warren as early as 1730; but the speculation was abandoned before the end of the century. The great staple of Birmingham is metal-working in all its various forms. The chief variety is the brass-working trade, which employs several hundred masters, and about 10,000 work-people, and consumes probably 50,000 tons of metal annually, which is worked up into an infinity of articles of ornament and utility. Iron-working, though largely car ried on, is a much less important trade, works of this kind being chiefly established in the Staffordshire district. Jewellery, gold, silver, and gilt come next to brass. Then follow small arms of all kinds, some of the larger establishments being capable of turning out 2000 stand per week. Buttons, hooks and eyes, pins, and other articles used for dress, constitute a large class of manufac tures. Glass, especially table glass, is a renowned staple of the town. Screws, nails, &c., are made in enormoiis quantities; indeed, Birmingham has a monopoly of the English screw trade. Steel pens are also a specialty as much as, probably, 15 tons or more of steel being the weekly consumption of these articles ; the largest maker, Sir Josiah Mason, rolls 5 tons weekly for his own con sumption, and has about 60 tons of pens constantly in manufacture in various stages. About 20,000,000 pens are made weekly in the town, and are sold at prices rang ing from l|d. to 12s. per gross of 12 dozen. The fact that each gross requires 144 pieces of steel to go through 