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EDGBASTON - Extract from National Gazetteer, 1868

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The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868

"EDGBASTON, a parish and suburb of Birmingham, in hundred of Hemlingford, county of Warwick, distant from Birmingham by 1 mile to the S.W. It is a distinct parish, but within the parliamentary borough. Lord Calthorpe is the principal landowner; and on his estate (which is let on building leases for villas) no manufactories or shops are allowed to be erected. The living is a vicarage* in the diocese of Worcester, value £542. There are three churches - the ancient parish church, which was considerably enlarged and beautified in 1857; and the two district churches of St. George's and St. James's.

The reservoir of the Birmingham canal, an extensive sheet of water covering 19 acres, and having the appearance of a small lake, its banks being planted with trees, is in this parish; and also the Botanic Gardens, the Deaf and Dumb Institution, and the Blind Asylum. Edgbaston Hall, an old residence of the lords of Edgbaston, temp. Henry II., was garrisoned for the parliament in the reign of Charles I., and in 1688 was burned down by the populace of Birmingham, who feared that it might be made a place of refuge for Papists. It was rebuilt on the same site in 1717 by Sir Richard Gough, knight, who had recently purchased the estate. The scenery of the surrounding country is beautifully varied."

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]