t half built. Frederick
Street and George Street--for they were not "Roads" then--were being
gradually filled up. There were some houses in the Church Road and at
Wheeleys Hill, but the greater portion of Edgbaston was agricultural
land.

The south side of Ladywood Lane, being in Edgbaston parish, was pretty
well built upon, owing to its being the nearest land to the centre
of the town not burdened with town rating. There was a very large and
lumbering old mansion on the left, near where Lench's Alms-houses now
stand. Mr. R.W. Winfield lived at the red brick house between what are
now the Francis and the Beaufort Roads. Nearly opposite his house was
a carriage gateway opening upon an avenue of noble elms, at the end of
which was Ladywood House, standing in a park. This, and the adjoining
cottage, were the only houses upon the populous district now known
as Ladywood. At the right-hand corner of the Reservoir "Lane" was
the park and residence of Mr. William Chance. Further to the east, in
Icknield Street, near the canal bridge--which at that time was an iron
one, narrow and very dangerous--was another mansion and park, occupied
by Mr. John Unett, Jun. This house is now occupied as a bedstead
manufactory. Still further was another 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coining the bronze money which has superseded the clumsy "coppers" of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 inhabit