658 BIRKENIIEAD BIRMINGHAM very recent period. Originally a poor fishing village, numbering in 1818 scarcely 60 inhabi- tants, it grew with a rapidity seldom witnessed in the old world, and its population has nearly trebled since 1851. This increase is mainly owing to its docks. In 1824 largo ship-build- ing docks were erected on Wallasey pool, on the N. W. side of the town, and in 1844 a series of splendid works, embracing a sea wall from Woodsjde to Seacomb, docks at Bridge- end, a tidal basin, and a great float with a minimum depth of 22 ft., were commenced. The first dock was opened in 1847. The prin- cipal works now include two gigantic wet docks or floats on Wallasey pool, embracing with subsidiary basins a water area of 165 acres, with 10 or 11 m. of quays, and three graving docks with a length of 1,928 ft. Other im- mense works have been planned ; but the original undertakers of the Birkenhead docks were heavy losers by the speculation, and the unfinished structures were bought and con- tinued by the corporation of Liverpool. Ware- houses on a large scale have been erected in connection with the docks. The town is well laid out, well lighted, paved, and drained, and well supplied with water. The streets are wide and regular, the main thoroughfares, five in number, running nearly east and west, and the shorter streets crossing them at right angles. On Conway street, one of the princi- pal avenues, is a public park, with an area of 180 acres. A market 430 ft. long by 131 ft. wide, is a notable feature of the town. There are numerous churches and chapels, a the- ological college (St. Aidan's, established in 1846), a court house, gas and water works, an infirmary, a mechanics' institute, and many free schools in connection with the different churches and chapels. There is no custom house, the entries being made at Liver- pool. Manufactures are carried on with ac- tivity, and embrace pottery, varnish, boilers, guns, &c. There are also extensive iron founderies. Birkenhead returns one member to the house of commons. A priory was founded here by Harris de Massey in 1150, and richly endowed. It was occupied by the royal- ists in 1644, and taken from them by the parlia- mentary troops. In 1843 it was demolished, and nothing now remains bnt a portion of the gable and one Gothic window, which formerly belonged to the refectory. BIRKENHEAD, Sir John, an English satirical and political writer, born at Northwich, Che- shire, 1615, died in Westminster, Dec. 4, 1679. He was educated at Oxford, and appointed secretary to Archbishop Land. In 1642 he commenced the publication of the "Mercurius Aulicus " or court journal, through which dur- ing the civil war the court communicated with the rest of the kingdom. He satirized the Presbyterians in "The Assembly Man" (1662-'3), and wrote also "Two Centuries of St. Paul's Churchyard" (1649), "The Four- legged Quaker," &c. He was persecuted dur- ing the commonwealth. At the restoration he was knighted and received several offices. BIKKKT-EL-KEROON (Arab., lake of the horn), a lake in Fayoom, central Egypt, so named from its shape, or perhaps from the shape of the projecting spouts of a castle which stands on its banks; length about 30 m., greatest breadth 6m. Its shores are bluft', except on the S. side, where they are low and sandy. The lake communicates with the Nile and with the canal which popular tradition ascribes to Joseph. In antiquity it was connected by ca- nals with the artificial lake Mceris, with which it has often been erroneously identified. (See MOZRIS.) It abounds with fish, and is farmed out to fishermen. BIRMINGHAM, a manufacturing and market town, municipal and parliamentary borough of Warwickshire, England, 17 in. N. W. of War- wick and 100 m. N. W. of London ; pop. in 1851, 232,841; 1861, 296,076; 1871,343,696. It is situated in the N. W. portion of the coun- ty, and stands on undulating ground sloping down to the river Rea. The railway lines cen- tring here are the London and Northwestern, the Great Western, the Midland, the Birming- ham and Oxford, the Birmingham, Dudley, and Wolverhampton, and the Birmingham, Wol- verhampton, and Shrewsbury. Several canals, radiating from Birmingham, communicate with other towns and with the mines in the vicinity. The town is divided into 13 wards, and its gov- ernment is administered by a mayor, record- er, 15 aldermen, and 48 common-councilmen. There are three public parks, viz. : Adderley park, triangular in shape and' prettily laid out, which was opened in 1856; Calthorpe park, near the Rea, opened in 1857 ; and Aston Peo- ple's park, dedicated in 1858, which contains 43 acres and is covered with fine trees. The older portion of the town is on low ground, and exhibits some good specimens of ancient do- mestic architecture, while the modern portion, on high ground, contains many fine and cost- ly buildings, principally of brick, and spacious streets. The town hall, of brick, faced with Anglesea marble, 160 ft. long, 100 ft. wide, and 83 ft. high, is built on the model of the temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome ; and the public hall, 145 ft. long. 65 ft. wide, and 65 ft. high, contains one of the most powerful organs in England, with 4,000 pipes and 78 stops. The free grammar school was founded by Ed- ward VI. Its present building, a beautiful structure, erected in 1834 at a cost of 50,000, is 174 ft. in front, 125 ft. deep, and 60 ft. high. The school contains a classical and a commer- cial department, and has an income of 12,000 a year. There are about 470 pupils in the main establishment, and 1,000 in the four branches that have been established for the children of artisans, &c. The parish church of St. Martin, a very ancient edifice, with a massive tower and handsome spire 210 ft. high, recently re- built, contains some curious monuments of the De Berminghams, the ancient lords of the place.
