PART I.
HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES.
1086—1800.
BY SAM: TIMMINS.
Origin of Name.—Eight hundred years ago the name of Birmingham first appeared in history, and almost exactly with the present name of the town. In the famous Domesday Book (1083-1086), compiled for William the Norman, the name is spelled “Bermingeha’,” but the varieties of spelling, from the conquest, have been remarkable. Some curious collector has summed up one hundred and forty variations, but most of these may be resolved into two forms of pronunciation—either Birmingham or Bromicham. It is curious that no other town or village in England seems to have a similar name to that of Birmingham, and hence its etymology is somewhat obscure. Hutton’s favourite origin was Broom from the plant, Wych, a dwelling or a descent, and Ham a home, so that Bromwycham was supposed to be the original name indicating local details; but Hutton had forgotten to look at Domesday Book, or to explain how Bromwycham had been turned into Birmingham. Still more, he had neglected Dugdale’s remark that while “ham,” for home, explained the final syllable, the other two syllables certainly denoted some personal name. All later researches have tended to confirm this suggestion, and modern philologists, including Prof. E. A. Freeman, are almost unanimous in agreeing that “Berm,” or “Beorm,” or some similar form represents the name of some Saxon tribe or people, and that Bermingham would be a patronymic or family name, with the “ing” or “iung” denoting some progeny or tribe, and giving the name to the “de Berminghams,” who flourished in the place, as Dugdale fully shows.
Early History.—As to the ante-Norman holders, Dugdale says on the authority of Domesday Book, that in “Edward the Confessor’s days (Birmingham was) the freehold of one Ulvvine,” but the history begins with the Domesday Book which gives the following details:—“Richard holds of William (Fitz Ausculf) four hides in Bermingha’. The arable employs six ploughs; one is in the demesne. There are five villeins and four bordars with two ploughs. Wood half a mile long, and four furlongs broad. It was, and is worth 20s.” These few facts compare very favourably with the description of other places, and show that Birmingham was then a place of some importance. No church is mentioned, and no priest, but those omissions do not necessarily prove that the place had neither, and probably it had both. The extent of the “hide” is very uncertain and it seems to have varied from sixty to one hundred acres. This entry obviously relates to Birmingham only, and Edgbaston, Aston, and other places are similarly described. This extract is merely given to show that some sort of town existed long before 1083-1086, and that its name was nearly as we spell and sound it now.
After Domesday Book a long blank occurs, except as to certain documentary evidence as to Fairs, (1166 and 1251), and the help given to Simon de Montfort against Henry III., by William de Bermingham. But a little light is thrown on the condition of Birmingham by further examination of a curious and unique old map of England and Scotland now in the Bodleian Library, but which was known to Gough and included in his Topography, (Vol. I., p. 77,) with an engraving by Basire, which, however, is very imperfect and inaccurate. A photo-zincograph of this ancient map was produced by the Ordnance Office in 1875, with a description by Mr. W. Basevi Saunders, who settles the date of the map as circa 1286-1300. In this map, which is remarkably interesting but ludicrously wrong in many parts, especially as to Scotland, Birmingham distinctly appears. Cathedral cities and large churches are generally indicated, rivers are marked, and even miles on roads, while a large number of single houses are marked to show towns, when no names are given. In the portion marked “Ardene” one house, with “Brmynghā,” clearly appears between Worcester and Lichfield, and is the only town in Warwickshire which is described by name, not even Coventry or Warwick being named. This seems to show that Birmingham was a place of some importance even six hundred years ago, and that its name was then spelled nearly as now, the abbreviations probably indicating “Bermyngham.”
As Dugdale’s Warwickshire is generally limited to the territorial and family history, which is difficult to condense, and rarely refers to the existence or state of the buildings in his time, there is very little material for the history of the town for several centuries. He mentions, however, that Peter de Bermingham “had a Castle here which stood nearre a Bow-shoot from the Church south-westwards” (12 Henry II., 1166), doubtless on the site of Smithfield market, which had buildings and moat till 1815. A market was granted by the same king, and on Thursdays, and was probably largely frequented and helped the progress of the town. From this de Bermingham family, Dugdale says, “doubtless came the de Berminghams of Ireland, who settled there very antiently: perhaps in Hen. II. days on the first conquest of that realm by Ric. Strongbow:” but the family connection with Birmingham ended with Edward and his tragic story in 1545.
The Priory.—The Hospital or Priory of St. Thomas the Apostle has had its name and site preserved by the names “Upper and Lower Priory,” “Minories,” &c., but the exact site of the buildings and the date of the foundation are uncertain. The grounds occupied a large space along Bull Street, Dale End, John Street, and Steelhouse Lane; but even in the recent excavations for new streets scarcely a fragment has been found. A century ago the pseudo-antiquarian William Hutton, who did his best to write a History of Birmingham, records that in 1775 he removed “twenty waggon loads of old stones, great numbers of which were highly finished in the Gothic taste; parts of porticos, windows, arches, ceilings—some fluted, some ciphered, yet complete as the day they left the chisel,” and that after letting the builders destroy the greater portion, he used some in making a fire-place in “an under-ground kitchen.” There is little hope now of finding any of these relics or of settling the site on which the Priory buildings stood. Even Dugdale failed to find its origin, and simply records that the first mention occurs in 13 Edwd. I. (1285), and that the Commissioners of Henry VIII. (1545) valued it at £8. 8s. 10d., and that it was duly dissolved.
St. Martin’s Church.—The Mother Church, St. Martin’s, claims great antiquity, but its exact date has not been found. During the recent restoration some early wall-paintings were discovered, with the still more valuable remains which formed part of a Norman Church, very evidently on the same site, but all traces of whose history have been lost. The existing Church has, however, some highly interesting monuments of some of the de Berminghams of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, one in alabaster, representing an ecclesiastic, being well known as an almost unique example of fifteenth century art. The present restored church has replaced an ugly brick casing which covered the decaying portion of an earlier church supposed to have been of the latter part of the thirteenth century with later alterations. The Registers begin in 1555, and have been carefully preserved, as well as various Church Books which have been used in the History of St. Martin’s by Mr. J. Thackray Bunce.
St. John’s Chapel.—Another ecclesiastical relic, in name only, is to be found in the ugly last century brick building, St. John’s Chapel, Deritend, which has replaced the “propper chappel,” which Leland saw in 1538, an early English building among the trees by the river side. This “chapel” was founded in 1375, by some of the inhabitants of Deritend and Bordesley, who found the floods often preventing access to their Parish Church at Aston. Thirteen of the inhabitants of the hamlets contributed the funds, and acquired the right of “appointing one Chaplain” for the services, and such Chaplain is appointed to this day by the parishioners’ votes. Tradition records that John Rogers, one of the early translators of the Bible, and the first Martyr of the reign of Mary, was born in Deritend near this Chapel, and a marble slab records his fame, but the tradition is doubtful, and has not been fully confirmed.