try village, though now a
well-populated suburb of Birmingham. The name is to be found in the
"Domesday Book," but the ancient history of the parish is meagre indeed,
and confined almost solely to the families of the lords of the manor,
the Wyrleys, Stanfords, &c., their marriages and intermarriages, their
fancies and feuds, and all those petty trifles chroniclers of old were
so fond of recording. After the erection of the once world-known, but
now vanished Soho Works, by Matthew Boulton, a gradual change came o'er
the scene; cultivated enclosures taking the place of the commons,
enclosed in 1793; Boulton's park laid out, good roads made,
water-courses cleared, and houses and mansions springing up on all
sides, and so continuing on until now, when the parish (which includes
Birchfield and Perry Barr, an area of 7,680 acres in all) is nearly half
covered with streets and houses, churches and chapels, alms-houses and
stations, shops, offices, schools, and all the other necessary adjuncts
to a populous and thriving community. The Local Board Offices and Free
Library, situate in Soho Road, were built in 1878 (first stone laid
October 30th, 1877), at a cost of L20,662, and it is a handsome pile of
buildings. The library contains about 7,000 volumes. There is talk of
erecting public swimming and other baths, and a faint whisper that
recreation grounds are not far from view. The 1st Volunteer Battalion of
the South Staffordshire Regiment have their head-quarters here. Old
Handsworth Church, which contained several carved effigies and tombs of
the old lords, monuments of Matthew Boulton and James Watt, with bust of
William Murdoch, &c., has been rebuilt and enlarged, the first stone of
the new building being laid in Aug, 1876. Five of the bells in the tower
were cast in 1701, by Joseph Smith, of Edgbaston, and were the first
peal sent out of his foundry; the tenor is much older. The very
appropriate inscription on the fourth bell is, "God preserve the Church
of England as by law established."

~Harborne~ is another of our near neighbours which a thousand years or
so ago had a name if nothing else, but that name has come down to
present time with less change than is usual, and, possibly through the
Calthorpe estate blocking the way, the parish itself has changed but
very slowly, considering its close proximity to busy, bustling
Birmingham. This apparent stagnation, however, has endeared it to us
Brums not a little, on account of