ne erected contiguous to it, and is now used as a paper mill. From
an adjacent hill there is a good view over the town of Birmingham.

[Footnote 9: See Hockley abbey, on the road to Wolverhampton.]

A lofty brick wall now presents itself to view, by which the park
belonging to Aston hall is surrounded: it being by computation three
miles in circumference; within which there is a great abundance of
valuable timber, and it is also well stocked with deer. When the wall
recedes from the high road, keep by the side of it, which leads you to
the parish church, and also to the mansion house or hall, which is a
brick building, erected by Sir Thomas Holt, about the year 1636, at
the same time that he enclosed the park. He also erected alms houses,
for five men and five women, which he endowed, with eighty-eight
pounds per annum, out of the manor of Erdington. The hall has of late
years been in the possession of Heneage Legge, Esq. but is at present
unoccupied, and the whole estate is upon sale.[10]

[Footnote 10: Since writing the above, the mansion of Aston, together
with the park, has been purchased by Messrs. Greenway and Whitehead,
of Warwick, who have converted the house into two tenements, disposed
of the deer, turned the park into enclosures, and fallen the timber.]

The church which is dedicated to St. Peter and Paul, is a stone
building, with a lofty spire, and contains several monuments of the
Holt family; it is also ornamented with two windows of stained glass,
by Eginton. In the church-yard there is a remarkable grave stone,
which is fixed east and west.[11] The present incumbant is the Rev.
Benjamin Spencer, L.L.D.

Sir Lister Holt, the late proprietor of this estate, not having any
children, and being at variance with his only brother, (who succeeded
to the title), he entailed the estate upon four different families,
none of whom had or are likely to have any children, although they
have been in possession of it for the space of near forty years.

[Footnote 11: It is a thick stone, about two foot in height, on which
is the following inscription:--

EAST SIDE;

HERE
LIETH THE
BODY OF
REBECKAH
PEMBORTON
WIF OF ISAAC
PEMBORTON
BVRI 27 OF
DECEM 1660

HERE
LIETH THE
BODY OF
ISAAC PEM-
BERTON HE
DEPARTED
DECEM 4: 1697
AGED 76

WEST SIDE.

THO I AM
HERE LAID
LOW IN GRAVE
THINK ON THE
COVNSEL WICH
I GAVE THO TRO
VNLES MAY TO Y
DECEND: A GRAC