Birmingham Manor House

There was a bridge over the river at Deritend, and in the summer the rich would hire boats from there and go for trips down the river. The park which lay alongside the river had many deer in it, and some people who lived in the bigger houses on Bradford Street could actually feed the deer from their long back gardens.

1731 Plan of Birmingham (the whole town)

To get to Deritend Will had to walk down Digbeth Hill from the centre of the town. It was an important road which led to Warwick and Stratford and beyond that to London.

Digbeth

This part of the town was very old and quaint, and Will liked to stop at the old smithy and watch the blacksmiths at work in their open forge. There were some very old shops there in Digbeth too.

The Old Smithy & Forge

The Old Tripe House

View of St. Martin's Church from the Old Moat

As Will turned back from Digbeth to reach the town centre, he came to the noisiest and oldest part of the town, around St. Martin's. Here were the narrow, winding streets which gradually rose uphill. On either side there were tall, overhanging black and white timbered Tudor houses.

Street in the poor end of the town.

There were many signs and tavern posts which hung out across the streets. The footpaths were in a very bad condition and badly repaired. The cobblestones here were always wet and slippery with water from the many pumps and from the piles of rubbish and filth which lay everywhere.

In the alleys off these streets lived some of the poorest people in Birmingham. It was along these very narrow streets around St. Martin's that Birmingham's markets were held.Here in the Bull Ring on market days confusion reigned. Stalls lined the sides of the narrow streets two deep. Old women and tinkers had their wares spread out on the pavements.

Almost everything anyone could want was sold here - corn was sold by sample, fruit and vegetables were here, whilst chickens scurried around the streets and had to be caught to be sold. Meat was sold here and down Spiceal (Spicer) Street. In hot weather the whole market area smelt badly and buzzed with flies.

Bull Ring Market area (non-market day)

Besides the Bull Ring there were several other markets scattered around the narrow streets.

Old Woman Selling apples

Selling clothes & rags

The Bull Ring was not big enough for all of them. In one street second-hand clothes and rags were sold. When the poor died their families promptly sold their clothes to make a little money. The people who bought them often also bought the disease which killed the previous owner as they were rarely cleaned before being offered for sale.

Welsh Cross

Further up High Street there was the Welsh (Welch) Cross. Like the Market Cross, it too had been built as a symbol of a market and it also had a room over the top of it that could be used for meetings. In this market at Dale End fish, cheese, and a few cows were sold.

However, the market which stood in the worst place of all was the Swine Market which was held at the point where New Street joined High Street.
Here, where a row of houses made it almost impossible to pass from one street to another on market days, stood a market of pigs, sheep and horses which milled around on the pavements.

Grammar School

Will liked to look at these animals, but he sometimes felt a little sad, for many of these would be sold and soon slaughtered and would end up on the butcher's stalls down Spiceal Street. The Grammar School stood on New Street, exactly opposite the Swine Market. Will often grinned to himself, wondering how the scholars inside could work with all the squealing and grunting of the pigs just
outside !