Bellbarn Road, or the road to Mr. Bell's barn.
Bermingham.—The Irish family of tlii-s name descended from Robert, son of Peter de Bermingham, who left here and settled in Connaught about the year 1169.
Bibles and Testaments.—In 1272 the price of a Bible, well written out, was £30 sterling, and there were few readers of it in Birmingham. The good book can now be bought for 6d., and it is to be hoped there is one in every house. The Rev. Angell James once appealed to his congregation for subscriptions towards sending a million New Testaments to China, and the Carrslaneites responded promptly with £410 8s., enough to pay for 24,624 copies—the publisher's price being 4d, each. They can be bought for a penny now.—A local Auxiliary Bible Society was commenced here May 9, 1806.
Bingley Hall.—Takes its name from Bingley House, on the site of which it is built. It was erected in 1850 by Messrs. Branson and Gwyther, at a cost of about £6,000, the proprietary shares being £100 each. In form it is nearly a square, the admeasurements being 224ft, by 212ft., giving an area of nearly one acre and a half. There are ten entrance doors, five in King Edward's Place, and five in King Alfred's Place, and the building may be easily divided into five separate compartments. The Hall will hold from 20,000 to 25,000 people, and is principally used for Exhibitions and Cattle Shows; with occasionally "monster meetings," when it is considered necessary for the welfare of the nation to save sinners or convert Conservatives.
Bird's-eye View of the town can be best obtained from the dome of the Council House, to which access may be obtained on application to the Curator. Some good views may be also obtained from some parts of Moseley Road. Cannon Hill Park, and from Bearwood Road.
Birmingham.—A horse of this name won the Doncaster St. Leger in 1830 against 27 competitors. The owner. John Beardsworth, cleared £40,000. He gave Connolly, the jockey, £2,000.
Birmingham Abroad.—Our brethren who have emigrated do not like to forget even the name of their old town, and a glance over the American and Colonial census sheet shows us that there are at least a score of other Birminghams in the world. In New Zealand there are three, and in Australia five townships so christened. Two can be found in Canada, and ten or twelve in the United States, the chief of which is Birmingham in Alabama. In 1870 this district contained only a few inhabitants, but in the following year, with a population of 700, it was incorporated, and at once took rank as a thriving city, now proudly called "The Iron City," from its numerous ironworks, furnaces, and mills. Last year the citizens numbered over 12,000, the annual output of pig-iron being about 60,000 tons, and the coal mines in the neighbourhood turning out 2,000 tons per day. The city is 240 miles from Nashville, 143 miles from Chattanooga, and 96 miles from Montgomery, all thriving places, and is a central junction of six railways. The climate is good, work plentiful, wages fair, provisions cheap, house rent not dear, churches and schools abundant, and if any of our townsmen are thinking of emigrating they may do a deal worse than go from hence to that other Brummagem, which its own "daily" says is a "City of marvellous wonder and magic growth," &c., &c.
Birmingham Begging.—Liberal to others as a rule when in distress, it is on record that once at least the inhabitants of this town were the recipients of like favours at the hands of their fellow-countrymen. In the churchwardens' books of Redenall. Norfolk, under date September 20, 1644, is an entry of 6s, paid "to
