hundred more in Deritend, reputed part of Birmingham, though not in
the parish.

This little journey, nearly of an oval form, is about seven miles. The
longest diameter from Shirland brook to Deritend bridge is about three,
and the widest, from the bottom of Walmer Lane to the rivulet, near the
mile-stone, upon the Bromsgrove road, more than two.

The superficial contents of the parish may be upwards of four miles,
about three thousand acres.

Birmingham is by much the smallest parish in the neighbourhood, those of
Aston and Sutton are each about five times as large, Yardley four, and
King's-Norton eight.

When Alfred, that great master of legislation, parished out his kingdom,
or rather, put the finishing hand to that important work; where he met
with a town, he allotted a smaller quantity of land, because the
inhabitants chiefly depended upon commerce; but where there was only a
village, he allotted a larger, because they depended upon agriculture.

This observation goes far in proving the antiquity of the place, for it
is nine hundred years since this division took effect.

The buildings occupy the south east part of the parish; perhaps, with
their appendages, about six hundred acres.

This south east part, being insufficient for the extraordinary increase
of the inhabitants, she has of late extended her buildings along the
Bromsgrove road, near the boundaries of Edgbaston; and actually on the