Personal Recollections of Birmingham and Birmingham Men | Page 8

very large house, where
Mr. Barker, the solicitor, lived. Further on again, the "General"
Cemetery looked much the same as now, except that the trees were
smaller, and there were not so many monuments.
Soho Park, from Hockley Bridge, for about a mile on the road to West
Bromwich, was entirely walled in. The old factory built by Boulton and

Watt was still in operation. I saw there at work the original engine
which was put up by James Watt. It had a massive oak beam, and it
seemed strange to me that it did not communicate its power direct, but
was employed in pumping water from the brook that flowed hard by, to
a reservoir on higher ground. From this reservoir the water, as it
descended, turned a water-wheel, which moved all the machinery in the
place. It is not, perhaps, generally known that the same machine which
was employed here in 1797 in making the old broad-rimmed copper
pennies of George the Third is still at work at Messrs. Heaton's, coining
the bronze money which has superseded the clumsy "coppers" of our
forefathers.
Coming towards the town, from Hockley Bridge to the corner of Livery
Street, many of the houses had a pretty bit of garden in front, and the
houses were mostly inhabited by jewellers. It was in this street that I
first noticed a peculiarity in tradesmen's signboards, which then was
general through the town, and had a very curious appearance to a
stranger. Few of the occupiers' names were painted on the faciæ of the
shop windows, but in almost every case a bordered wooden frame,
following the outline of the window, was fixed above it. Each of these
frames stood upon three or four wooden spheres, generally about the
size of a cricket ball, and they were surmounted by wooden acorns or
ornaments. The boards were all black, and the lettering invariably gilt,
as were also the balls and the acorns. This, however strange, was not
inconsistent; but there were hundreds of frames in the town stretched
across the fronts of houses, and fixed to the walls by iron spikes. Every
one of these signboards, although altogether unnecessary for its support,
had three gilt balls underneath. There was another peculiarity: the
capital letter C was invariably made with two "serifs"--thus, C--and for
a long time I invariably read them as G's.
Coming up Livery Street, which then was filled on both sides of its
entire length by buildings, it was pointed out to me that the warehouse
now occupied by Messrs. T. Barnes and Co. was built for a show-room
and warehouse by Boulton and Watt, and here their smaller wares had
been on view. Where Messrs. Billing's extensive buildings now stand,
was an old chapel, built, I believe, by a congregation which ultimately

removed to the large chapel in Steelhouse Lane. It was used as a place
of worship until about 1848, when Mr. Billing bought it, pulled it down,
and utilised its site for his business. The whole area of the Great
Western Railway Station was then covered with buildings, and one, if
not more, small streets ran through to Snow Hill. Monmouth Street was
very narrow. Where the Arcade now is, was the Quakers' burial ground.
Opposite was the warehouse of Mr. Thornley, the druggist, who had a
small and mean-looking shop at the corner, fronting Snow Hill. At the
opposite corner was a shaky-looking stuccoed house, used as a draper's
shop, the entrance being up three or four steps from Steelhouse Lane.
Mr. George Richmond Collis had recently succeeded to the business, at
the top of Church Street, of Sir Edward Thomason, who was dead. It
was then the show manufactory of Birmingham. The buildings--pulled
down seven or eight years ago--were at that time a smart-looking affair;
the parapet was adorned with a number of large statues. Atlas was there,
bending under the weight of two or three hundred pounds of Portland
cement. Hercules brandished a heavy club, on which pigeons often
settled. A copy of the celebrated group of the "Horses of St. Mark" was
over the entrance. Several branches of Birmingham work were
exhibited to visitors, and it was here I first saw stamping, cutting-out,
press-work, and coining.
There were then I think only ten churches in Birmingham. Bishop
Ryder's was being built. The Rev. I.C. Barrett had just come from Hull
to assume the incumbency of St. Mary's; the announcement of his
presentation to the living appeared in Aris's Gazette, October 8th, 1837.
I was one of his first hearers. The church had been comparatively
deserted until he came, but it was soon filled to overflowing with an
attentive congregation. There was an earnest tone and a poetical grace
in his sermons which were fresh to Birmingham in those