An History of Birmingham (1783) | Page 5

right, keeping
the course of a drain in the form of a sickle, through John a Dean's hole,
into Digbeth, from whence we set out. In marching along Duke-street,
we leave about seventy houses to the left, and up the river Rea, about
four hundred more in Deritend, reputed part of Birmingham, though not
in the parish.
This little journey, nearly of an oval form, is about seven miles. The
longest diameter from Shirland brook to Deritend bridge is about three,
and the widest, from the bottom of Walmer Lane to the rivulet, near the
mile-stone, upon the Bromsgrove road, more than two.
The superficial contents of the parish may be upwards of four miles,
about three thousand acres.
Birmingham is by much the smallest parish in the neighbourhood,
those of Aston and Sutton are each about five times as large, Yardley
four, and King's-Norton eight.
When Alfred, that great master of legislation, parished out his kingdom,
or rather, put the finishing hand to that important work; where he met
with a town, he allotted a smaller quantity of land, because the
inhabitants chiefly depended upon commerce; but where there was only
a village, he allotted a larger, because they depended upon agriculture.
This observation goes far in proving the antiquity of the place, for it is
nine hundred years since this division took effect.
The buildings occupy the south east part of the parish; perhaps, with
their appendages, about six hundred acres.
This south east part, being insufficient for the extraordinary increase of
the inhabitants, she has of late extended her buildings along the
Bromsgrove road, near the boundaries of Edgbaston; and actually on
the other side planted three of her streets in the parish of Aston. Could
the sagacious Alfred have seen into futurity, he would have augmented
her borders.
As no part of the town lies flat, the showers promote both cleanliness
and health, by removing obstructions.
The approach is on every side by ascent, except that from Hales-Owen,
north west, which gives a free access of air, even to the most secret
recesses of habitation.
Thus eminently situated, the sun can exercise his full powers of
exhalation.

The foundation upon which this mistress of the arts is erected, is one
solid mass of dry reddish sand.
The vapours that rise from the earth are the great promoters of disease;
but here, instead of the moisture ascending to the prejudice of the
inhabitant, the contrary is evident; for the water descends through the
pores of the sand, so that even our very cellars are habitable.
This accounts for the almost total extinction of the ague among
us:--During a residence of thirty years, I have never seen one person
afflicted with it, though, by the opportunities of office, I have
frequently visited the repositories of the sick.
Thus peculiarly favoured, this happy spot, enjoys four of the greatest
benefits that can attend human existence--water, air, the fun, and a
situation free from damps.
All the past writers upon Birmingham have viewed her as low and
watery, and with reason; because Digbeth, then the chief street, bears
that description. But all the future writers will view her on an eminence,
and with as much reason; because, for one low street, we have now
fifty elevated.
Birmingham, like the empire to which she belongs, has been, for many
centuries, travelling _up hill_; and, like that, rising in consequence.

SOIL.
The soil is rather light, sandy, and weak; and though metals, of various
sorts, are found in great plenty, above the surface, we know of nothing
below, except sand and gravel, stone and water. All the riches of the
place, like those of an empiric, in laced cloaths, appear on the outside.
The northern part of the parish, for about four hundred acres, to the
disgrace of the age, is yet a shameful waste.
A small part of the land near the town, is parcelled out into little
gardens, at ten or twenty shillings each, amounting to about sixteen
pounds per acre.
These are not intended so much for profit, as health and amusement.
Others are let in detached pieces for private use, at about four pounds
per acre. So that this small parish cannot boast of more than six or eight
farms, and these of the smaller size, at about two pounds per acre.
Manure from the sty brings about 16s. per waggon load, that from the
stable about 12, and that from the fire and the street, five.

WATER.
I think there is not any natural river runs through the parish, but there
are three that mark the boundaries of it, for about half its circumference,
described above; none of these supply family use. After penetrating
into a body of sand, interspersed with a small strata of soft Rock, and