ouse and tea gardens in
1775, the first landlord, Mr. Barron, dying in 1792, his widow keeping
it till her death in 1817. Of late years it has been a favourite resort
of all classes of athletes, though from being so closely built to it has
lost much of the attraction which drew our grandfathers to its shady
arbours when on country pleasure bent. The park wall extended to the
corner of and along the side of Park Lane, opposite the tavern.

~Aston Hall and Park.~--This building was commenced by Sir Thomas Holte
in April, 1618, and finished in April, 1635, Inigo Jones being
accredited with the design. King Charles I., in his days of trouble,
paid a short visit to the Hall, his host being punished afterwards by
some of Cromwell's soldiers and the malcontents of Birmingham besieging
the place in the week after Christmas, 1643. The brick wall round the
park, nearly three miles long, but of which there are now few traces
left, was put up by Sir Lister Holte about 1750, and tradition says it
was paid for by some Staffordshire coal-masters, who, supposing that
coal lay underneath, conditioned with Sir Lister that no mines should be
sunk within [word missing--presume "its"] boundary. The Hall and Park
were held by the various generations of the family till the death of the
late Dowager Lady Holte. (For an accurate and interesting description of
the edifice see Davidson's "Holtes of Aston.") The Act authorising the
sale of the Aston estates received the royal sanction on July 10, 1817,
and the sale of the furniture and effects in the Hall was commenced by
Messrs. J. and C. Robins on September 22. The sale lasted nine days,
there being 1,144 lots, which realised L2,150; the farming stock, &c.,
being sold afterwards for L1,201. The Hall and Park was put up on April
15, 1818, and was bought by Messrs. Greenway, Greaves, and Whitehead,
bankers, of Warwick, the estate of 1,530 acres being let off by them in
suitable lots. The herd of deer, reduced to 150 head, was sold December
21. The Hall was rented by Mr. James Watt, son of _the_ James Watt, and
for many years it was closed to the public. At his death, in 1848, the
changes which had been going on all round for years begin to make
themselves seen in the shape of huge gaps in the old wall, houses
springing up fast here and there, and a street being cut through the
noble avenue of chestnut trees in 1852. By degrees, the park was reduced
to 370 acres, which, with the Hall, were offered t