Page:Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham.djvu/211

Rh be short of parks and public grounds, though with all put together the area is nothing like that taken from the inhabitants under the Enclosures Acts of last century. The first movement for the acquisition of public parks took the shape of a town's meeting, Dec. 22, 1853, when the burgesses approved the purchase, and in 1854 an Act was obtained for the formation thereof. The first to be opened was Adderley Park, Aug. 30, 1856, the gift of Sir Charles Adderley. Its area is 10. 0. 22., and it is held nominally on a 999 years' lease, at a rental of 5s. per year. Calthorpe Park was opened June 1, 1857; its area being 31. 1. 12., and it is held under a grant by the Calthorpe family that is equivalent to a conveyance in fee. Aston Park was opened Sept. 22, 1864; its area is 49. 2. 8., and it belongs to the town by purchase. Cannon Hill Park, the gift of Miss Ryland, was opened Sept. 1, 1873; its area being 57. 1. 9. In 1874, the Town Council gave the Trustees of Holliers' Charity the sum of £8,300 for the 8. 8. 28. of land situated between the Moseley Road and Alcester Street, and after expending over £5,400 in laying out, fencing, and planting, opened it as Highgate Park June 2, 1876. In 1876 Summerfield House and grounds covering 12. 0. 20. were purchased from Mr. Henry Wess for £9,000, and after fencing. &c., was thrown open as Summerfield Park, July 29, 1876. In the following year, Mr. William Middlemore presented to the town a plot of ground, 4. 1. 3. in extent, in Burbury Street, having spent about £3,500 in fencing and laying it out, principally as a recreation ground for children (the total value being over £12,000), and it was opened as Hockley Park, December 1, 1877.—Small Heath Park, comprising 41. 3. 34., is another of the gifts of Miss Ryland, who presented it to the town June 2, 1876, and in addition provided £4,000 of the £10,000 the Town Council expended in laying it out. The formal opening ceremony took place April 5, 1879. There are still several points of the compass directing to suburbs which would be benefited by the appropriation of a little breathing place or two, and possibly in due time they will he acquired. The Nechells people have had laid out for their delectation the waste ground near the gas works which may be called Nechells Park for the time being. The Earl of Dartmouth in June, 1878, gave 56 acres out of Sandwell Park to the inhabitants of West Bromwich, and they call it Dartmouth Park.

Park Street takes its name from the small park or wood surrounding Park House, once existing somewhere near to the burial ground.

Park Street Gardens—As they are now called, comprise the Park Street Burial Ground and St. Bartholomew's Churchyard, the possession of which (under a nominal lease for 999 years) was given by the Rectors of St. Martin's and Sr. Bartholomew's to the Corporation according to the provisions of the Closed Burial Grounds Act. The whole area included a little over five acres, and the site thus given was valued at £50,000. About half an acre was devoted to the widening of the surrounding streets, the remainder being properly fenced in and laid out as recreating grounds and gardens. The opening ceremony took place, June 25, 1880.

Parliamentary Elections.—Notwithstanding the safeguards provided by the Ballot Act, and all the deterrent measures enacted against bribery and intimidation, and those peculiar tactics known as "getting up steam," the period of an election for Parliamentary representatives is a time of great excitement even in these days. But it is comparatively naught to what it used to be, when the art of kidnapping Tory voters, or "bottling" Whigs, was considered as only a small part of the education required by aspiring political agents. Leading