Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/210

198  central block and the nearest two or three homes, the rest being built as occasion offers.

Oscott College.—See "Schools" &c.

Oxford, (Edward).—The boy Oxford who shot at the Queen, on June 10, 1840, was born here and had worked at several shops in the town.

Oxygen.—It was on the first of August, 1774, that Dr. Priestley discovered the nature of oxygen or "dephlogisticated air." If he could visit Oxygen Street in this town in August of any year, he would probably say that the air there to be breathed required dephlogisticating over and over again. 

 Packhorses.—In and about the year 1750 the only method of conveying parcels Of goods from here to London was by means of packhorses, the charge being at the rate of £7 to £9 per ton; to Liverpool and Bristol, £5.

Panorama.—A circular erection in New Street, and now partly incorporated in the Society of Artists building, where early in the century panoramas of various kinds were exhibited.

Panoramic View.—A peculiar view of this town was published in 1847 by Ackermann of London, and was thus called, as it purported to give the thoroughfares pictorially, showing the houses as they would appear from a balloon over Moseley Street. The size was 27½ in. by 14¾ in. As a curiosity it is prizable, but its correctness of delineation is marred very much by the plan adopted.

Pantechnetheca.—A large place of general business, opened in 1824, at the New-street end of Union-passage. In 1817, there stood on this spot a public house, known as the "Old Crown," the entrance to which was in a large, open gateway at its side, through which a path led to the cherry orchard. The Pantechnetheca was one of "the sights" of the town, the exterior being ornamented with pillars and statues; while the name was not only a puzzle to the "Black Country" visitors, but quite a subject of dispute as to its etymology among the Greek scholars of the Grammar School opposite.

Paradise Street.-The footpath on the Town Hall side used to be several feet higher than the causeway, and was supplied with iron railings. If the name had been given in late years, it might be supposed to have been chosen because the doors of the Parish Offices are in the street.

Parish Offices.—See "Public Buildings."

Parkesine.—A material used for knife handles and other purposes, so named after its maker, Alexander Parkes, a well-known local manufacturer, who said it was made from refuse vegetable fibre, pyroxyline, oil, naphtha, and chloride of sulphur.

Park Lane.—From Aston Cross Tavern to the Birchfield Road, originally being the road outside the wall of Aston Park. The first lots of land for building that were sold were those fronting Church Lane, and they fetched an average price of 2s. 2d. per yard, each lot being 12 yards by 60 yards. Te next were the lots marked out by the side of Park Lane, and it was at about the middle of Park Lane that the first house was built in Aston Park in 1854 or 1855.

Park Road.—Leading over the hill from Aston Cross to Aston Church, was the first laid out, and the first opened to the public (Easter Monday, 1855) through the old grounds belonging to the HoltsHoltes [sic].

Parks.—Thanks to the munificence of Miss Ryland, Lord Calthorpe, Sir Charles Adderley, and Mr. W. Middlemore, with the concurrent generosity of the Church authorities, in whom the freehold of our churchyards was invested, Birmingham cannot be said to 