Canal, ....................................... 265
Navigation Office, ........................... 267
Brass Works, ................................. 329



AN

HISTORY &c.

* * * * *

_Some account of the derivation of the name of Birmingham_.

The word Birmingham, is too remote for certain explanation. During the
last four centuries it has been variously written _Brumwycheham,
Bermyngeham, Bromwycham, Burmyngham, Bermyngham, Byrmyngham_, and
_Birmingham_; nay, even so late as the seventeenth century it was
written _Bromicham_. Dugdale supposes the name to have been given by the
planter, or owner, in the time of the Saxons; but, I suppose it much
older than any Saxon, date: besides, it is not so common for a man to
give a name to, as to take one from, a place. A man seldom gives his
name except he is the founder, as Petersburg from Peter the Great.

Towns, as well as every thing in nature, have exceedingly minute
beginnings, and generally take a name from situation, or local
circumstances. Would the Lord of a manor think it an honour to give his
name to two or three miserable huts? But, if in a succession of ages
these huts swell into opulence, they confer upon the lord an honour, a
residence, and a name. The terminations of _sted_, _ham_, and _hurst_,