Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/286

Rh BIRMINGHAM. 270 B1KN1E. is applied to the support of from 15 to 20 children in tlmt BC-hocil. Tli' I; ..man Catli'.lic college is a very handsome structure, in the Tudor style, with a richly-ornamented chapel, oratories, refectories, and various other apart- ments and offices. It is of red brick with stone dressings, and was designed by Pugin. Springhill College was established in 1838, for the education of candidates for the university, and has an income from endowment of 500 per annum. At the neighbouring village of Hands- worth are a convent of the Sisters of Maroy ami a House of Mercy for destitute young women. There is also a brain ! - of St. 1'aul.in Uath- and the Brotherhood of Oratorians, in Lombard-sin .1, of which Dr. Newman is principal. Birmingham lias many charitable foundations, at the head of which may be named t i Hospital, founded in 1778 by 1 >r. Ash, and supported from the first partly by the p> of the triennial musical festivals. The profits of the festival have gradually risen from .U27 the first year up to several thousand pounds. The building was enlarged in 1791, and contains a portrait of the founder, b Sir Joshua Reynolds. The Dispensary was established in 1794. There are also infirmaries, the Queen's Hospital, an asylum for the deaf and dumb, blind asylum, Magdalene Institution, and many other institutions for relieving the diversified wants and sufferings of the poor. The literary and wieiitilic. institutions include two public libraries, one founded in 1779, the plan of which was subsequently revised by Dr. Priestley ; the other in 1 7 96 ; both are supported by subscription, and contain, the former 30,000, the lattc-r 7,000 volumes ; a newsroom at Bennett' s-hill, established in 1825, a handsome edifice with a Doric front ; the Philosophical Society ; the Society of Arts and School of Design, founded in 1821, with about 500 students, a third being females; the Polytechnic Institute ; the Odd Fellows' literary insti- tute ; the Society of Artists, &c. The townhall of Bir- mingham, erected in 1834, is a magnificent structure of Anglesey marble, designed by Hansom, after the temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome. It occupies an elevated site in Church-street, and is a conspicuous object from all parts of the town. The hall itself stands on a basement above 20 feet high, and is surrounded by ranges of columns of the Corinthian order, fifteen on each side, and eight at each end. The interior dimensions are length, 145 feet ; breadth and height, Go feet. It is capable of holding 4,000 persons. In this hall is the fine organ built by Hill, one of the largest in England, being 45 feet high and 40 wide. It has 4,000 pipes, four sets of keys, and nearly 80 stops. The longest pipe is I in length. This magnificent organ is the property of the General Hospital. The musical festivals have been held in the townhall since its erection. The hall con- tains a bust of Mendelssohn. The Birmingham and Midland Counties Institute is a noble pile of buildings, situate in Paradise-street, near the townhall. It con- tains a museum, lecture-rooms, news and class-rooms, &c. The first stone was laid by the late Prince Consort on the 21st November, 1855. It is governed by a ] dent, vice-president, and court of governors. Of the public buildings not already named must be inrnti.>m .1 the now borough gaol, occupying seven acres of ground inson Green; the large market-hall in the Bull Kinir, 360 feet long, 108 wide, and 60 high, with spa. for 600 stall- xchange, built in 1847; Smithlield mar- ket, a 'f the old manor-house ; cavalry and in- Wintry barracks; the public office, with < <.urt-room and prison, built in 1800 ; the Court of Bankruptcy, County Court, post-office, union poorhousc, &c. There aro also a tin .iti", V.iiixliall pleasure gardens, botanical gardens at Edgbaston, and the Ijadywcll ami nther bal'i blishments. There an 1 thr.<> rcmit.-rirs. The I; crossed by a stone bridge at Dcrilond, which was re- built in 1838. In the centre of the Bull King is a . l.y Vsi! up in 1809. At the top of New-street is the handsome bronze statue rt 1'eol, inaugurated on the 27th of August, 1846. It was designed l.y .Mr. 1'eter Hollins, of Bir- mingham, and cast by Messrs. Elkington and Mason ; and in front of the magnificent railway - is a marble stain Attwood, Esq., to whoso exertions Birmingham is indebted for her political independence. The I the town are administered by a recorder, b borough magistrates, town clerk, clerk of the coroner, and treasurer, with right of qi. Birmingham is the seat of a Poor-law I ing the parish ; of a County Court district ; ol a ] Court for the recu ' . 1 debts und. Bankruptcy Court, the jurisdiction of whic" over the surrounding counties of Warwick, ' 1, Sal..p, 1 ,. i< t UT, and Stafford, and several others. In connection with these courts t small local bar, conveyancers, above two hundred i tors, public notaries, surrogates for gra; s, and law stationers. It is a i trict for births, deaths, and marriages, as are ] and King's Norton. The manor is hcl i 1 ley, who takes the title of baron 1 . 1 newspapers pub Ii the principal are, the Birmingham Daily fait, i journal, with a circulation of about 20, c the Birmingham Journal, also a. Lib dilation of 13,000 copies; Arit'i J: influential Conservative paper; t , a m nti. il puper ; and the Saturday. Pott, addressed to the working classes, wi: of 15,000 copies ; besides many alumna. guides, &c. The principal canals the original Birmingham canal, T., in 1769, and connected, through ti r canal, with the cut in 1790, connecting Birmingham by canal with Manchester and Hull, and by 1 Junction with London ; and the Birmingham I pool canal, 39 miles long, const i the Ellesmere and Chester canal at Acton. remains of antiquity consist of the vestiges of i founded in the reign of Edward I., of :i large Roman camp, with a triple fosse, 6n ] which ran through the parish. M.i have been connected with its history be mentioned John Wilkinson, Joi ley, Watt, Eginton, Murdoch ; besides Mat born in 1748; Bishop Smalbrokc, in < , translator of Dante, in 1772, wb mingham. The eminent printer, Baskurvillc, 1 time a printing-office here. Thursday hasb kct day from the earliest times, and still is I for the com market, though iketsi Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, and a h held on Tuesday. Fairs take place on the ,11 week nnd two following Thursday in September, also lasting three d are w.iki'.N, ami quarterly meetings ni which take place on the second 1 h nf January. April, .In! ' I !" r. BIRMINGHAM, NKV, a vil. in cooley, bar. of Slicveardagh, in the rv. of Munster, Ireland, 12 m . it. d in the neighbourhood of the coal-mines, and was founded by In the name given in th. place the founder his hope of its future manufacturing importan has not been realised. The n lined grants, have been s. .me tin:. village contains a Roman Catln.lic eh i building in the perpendicular 1HKMK, a par. in the co. ..t Elgin, Scotland,* to the S.W. of Elgin. It is on the banks of the river !.--!., and i.- : the Earl of Sealield. Not more thai: under cultivation. The Lassie contains abu Ir.'iit. The living, val. 166, is in and in the patn.n. of the Earl of Moray, of considerable antiquity. It stands on a small e which is supposed to have been the site primitive stone circles called Druidic. It is aa*i

isused.