Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/799

Moseley, and Yardley in the latter. The borough itself, however both parliamentary and municipal, the bound aries being identical is wholly in the county of ^^ 7 arwick. It covers an area of 8420 acres (of which 5900 are built upon), and includes the whole of the parishes of Birming ham and Edgbaston, and about one-third of the parish of Aston. It is nearly 6 miles long, has an average breadth of 3 miles, is 21 miles in circumference, and has 190 miles of streets and roads. The population, at the census of 1871, was 343,000; and in June 1875 it was estimated by the registrar-general at 360,000. Birmingham was enfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832, when two repre sentatives were assigned to it and Mr Thomas Attwood and Mr Joshua Scholefield (leaders of the Political Union) were elected; by the Reform Act of 18G7 this number was raised to three. A grant of incorporation was made to tho town in 1838, when the first municipal council was elected. In 1870 a School Board of fifteen members was elected,

under the Elementary Education Act passed in that year.

The town is built upon the New Red Sandstone, on a

boldly undulated site, varying from 200 to GOO feet above the sea-level, steadily rising towards the north and west, so that when looked at from the heights on the south-east side it presents the appearance of a vast semicircle, pic turesquely disposed, the masses of houses being broken by spires and lofty chimneys, and the south and west sides being thickly wooded on the slopes. The plan of the town is irregular, and the streets are mostly winding, and many of them somewhat narrow. In the centre, however, is a large open space, known as the Bull Ring and High

Plan of Birmingham.

Street, at the foot of which stands the mother church of St Martin, and in which is situated the Market-Hall, one of the largest buildings of its kind in the kingdom. From this centre access is obtained to the principal streets, New Street and High Street ; the former, about a quarter of a mile in length, derives a most picturesque appearance from its slightly curved form, and from the effective manner in which the sky-line is broken by lofty buildings alternating with others of lower altitude. This street contains the Exchange, the Grammar School, the Theatre Royal, the rooms of the Royal Society of Artists, which have a fine Corin thian portico stretching across the pavement. At the tipper end of the street is the Town-Hall, and close to this are the corporate buildings and the Post-Office. The last quarter of a century has seen a great advancement in the style and accommodation of the public and commercial edifices ; streets have been widened and new roads opened, and the place has altogether put on a livelier and wealthier look. Excepting in some of the older and poorer districts, the private houses have undergone a corresponding im provement. The richer classes live chiefly in the parish of Edgbaston, which belongs almost entirely to Lord Calthorpe, and in which strict rules as to the description, position, and area of the houses are enforced. The streets inhabited by the working-classes are, of course, more crowded, and many of the houses are built in enclosed courts, access to which is gained from the street, either by openings between the houses, or by narrow entries, too commonly built over, and thus impeding the free passage of air. Many of the courts, however, are wide enough to allow of small gardens in front of the houses, while in the suburbs almost every house is provided with a garden of some kind; and in a considerable number of cases the

houses, through means of building societies, have become