Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham. Walter Showell
and chemical produce. The streets are ill-built, ill-paved, always flimsy in their aspect—often poor, sometimes miserable. Not above one or two of them are paved with flagstones at the sides; and to walk upon the little egg-shaped, slippery flints that supply their places is something like a penance. Yet withal it is interesting for some of the commons or lanes that spot and intersect the green, woody, undulating environs to view this city of Tubal Cain. Torrents of thick smoke, with ever and anon a burst of dingy flame, are issuing from a thousand funnels. 'A thousand hammers fall by turns.' You hear the clank of innumerable steam engines, the rumbling of cars and vans, and the hum of men interrupted by the sharper rattle of some canal boat loading or disloading, or, perhaps, some fierce explosion when the cannon founders [qy: the proof-house] are proving their new-made ware. I have seen their rolling-mills, their polishing of teapots, and buttons and gun-barrels, and lire-shovels, and swords, and all manner of toys and tackle. I have looked into their ironworks where 150,000 men are smelting the metal in a district a few miles to the north: their coal mines, fit image, of Arvenus; their tubes and vats, as large as country churches, full of copperas and aqua fortis and oil of vitroil; and the whole is not without its attractions, as well as repulsions, of which, when we meet, I will preach to you at large."
Carr's Lane.—Originally this is believed to have been known as "Goddes Cart Lane," and was sufficiently steep to be dangerous, as evidenced by accidents noted in past history.
Carr's Lane Chapel, the meeting house of the old Independents, or as they are now called, the Congregationalists, will be noticed under "Places of Worship."
Cartoons.—If some of our fore-fathers could but glance at the illustrations or the portait caricatures of local public men and their doings, now given us almost daily, we fear they would not credit us moderns with much advancement in the way of political politeness, however forward we may be in other respects. Many really good cartoons have appeared, and neither side can be said to hold a monopoly of such sketchy skilfulness, but one of the best (because most truthful) was the cartoon issued in October 1868, giving the portrait of a "Vote-as-you're-told" electer, led by the nose by his Daily Post.
Castle.—Birmingham Castle is named in an ancient document as being situated a "bowshot southwestward of the church," but the exact site thereof has never been traced. It is supposed to have been erected about the year 1140, and to have been demolished by order of King Stephen, in 1176.
Castle Street takes its name from the hostlery once so famous among our coach officers.
Catacombs.—There is a large number of massively-built stone vaults underneath Christ Church, each divided into tiers of catacombs, or receptacles for the dead. It is in one of these that the remains of Baskerville at last found a resting place.—The catacombs at the General Cemetery are many, being cut out of the sandstone rock known as Key Hill, and a large number have been and can be excavated underneath the church in the Warstone Lane Cemetery.
Cathedral.—See "Places of Worship—Catholic."
Cat Shows.—The first Cat Show held here was opened November 29th, 1873, and was a very successful speculation; but the exhibitions of the two following years did not pay and since then the grimalkins have been left at home.
Cattle Show.—As first started (in 1849, when it was held near Kent Street), and at Bingley Hall in the following year, this was an annual show of cattle, sheep, and pigs only, but after years has made it a gathering place for specimens, of nearly everything required on a farm, and the "Show" has become an "Exhibition," under which heading full notice will be found.
Cemeteries.—The burial grounds attached to the Churches were formerly the only places of interment save for suicides and murderers—the former of whom were buried at some cross-road, with a stake driven through the body, while the latter were frequently hung in chains and got no burial at all. In 1807 the first addendum to our churchyards was made by the purchase of 13,192 square yards of land in Park Street, which cost £1,600. Having been laid out and enclosed with substantial railed walls at a further outlay of £764, the ground was duly consecrated July 16, 1813, and for some years was the chief receptacle for decaying humanity of all classes, many thousands of whom were there deposited. By degrees the ground came to be looked upon as only fit for the poorest of the poor, until, after being divided by the railway, this "God's Acre" was cared fir by none, and was well called the "black spot" of the town. Since the passing of the Closed Burial Grounds Bill (March 18, 1878) the Corporations have taken possession, and at considerable expense have re-walled the enclosure and laid it out as a place of health resort for the children of the neighbourhood. The burial grounds of St. Bartholomew's, St. Martin's, St. Mary's, and St. George's have also been carefully and tastefully improved in appearance, and we can now venture to look at most of our churchyards without shame.
The General Cemetery at Key Hill was originated at a meeting held Oct. 18, 1832, when a proprietary Company was formed, and a capital fixed at £12,000, in shares of £10 each. The total area of the property is about twelve acres, eight of which are laid out for general burials, in a edition to the catacombs cut into the sandstone rock.
The Church of England Cemetery in Warstone Lane is also the property of a private Company, having a capital of £20,000 in £10 shares. The area is nearly fifteen acres, the whole of which was consecrated as a burial ground for the Church on August 20, 1848.
The Catholic Cemetery of St. Joseph, at Nechell's Green, received its first consignment in 1850.
The introduction and extension of railways have played sad havoc with a number of the old burial grounds belonging to our forefathers. As mentioned above the London and North Western took a slice out of Park Street Cemetery. The Great Western cleared the Quakers' burial ground in Monmouth Street (where the Arcade now stands) the remains of the departed Friends being removed to their chapel yard in Bull Street, and a curious tale has been told in connection therewith. It is said that the representative of the Society of Friends was a proper man of business, as, indeed, most of them are, and that he drove rather a hard bargain with the railway directors, who at last were obliged to give in to what they considered to be an exorbitant demand for such a small bit of freehold. The agreement was made and the contract signed, and Friend Broadbrim went on his way rejoicing; but not for long. In selling the land he apparently forgot that the land contained bones, for when the question of removing the dead was mooted, the Quaker found he had to pay back a goodly portion of the purchase money before he obtained permission to do so. In clearing the old streets away to make room for New Street Station, in 1846, the London and North Western found a small Jewish Cemetery in what was then known as the "Froggery," but which had long been disused. The descendants of Israel carefully gathered the bones and reinterred them in their later-dated cemetery in Granville Street, but even here they did not find their last resting-place, for when, a few years back, the Midland made the West Suburban line, it became necessary to clear out this ground also, and the much-disturbed remains of the poor Hebrews were removed to Witton. The third and last of the Jewish Cemeteries, that in Betholom Row, which was first used in or about 1825, and has long been full, is also doomed to make way for the extension of the same line.—During the year 1883 the time-honoured old Meeting-house yard, where Poet Freeth, and many another local worthy, were laid to rest, has been carted off—dust and ashes, tombs and tombstones—to the great graveyard at Witton, where Christian and Infidel, Jew and Gentile, it is to be hoped, will be left at peace till the end of the world.
In 1860, the Corporation purchased 105 acres of land at Witton for the Borough Cemetery. The foundation stones of two chapels were laid August 12, 1861, and the Cemetery was opened May 27, 1863, the total cost being nearly £40,000. Of the 105 acres, 53 are consecrated to the use of the Church of England, 35 laid out for Dissenters, and 14 set aside for Catholics and Jews.
Census.—The numbering of the people by a regular and systematic plan once in every ten years, only came into operation in 1801, and the most interesting returns, as connected with this town and its immediate neighbourhood, will be found under the heading of "Population."
Centre of Birmingham.—As defined by the authorities