Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham - A History and Guide Arranged Alphabetically by Thomas T. Harman;Walter Showell
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page 61 of 741 (08%)
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a beating, the Loyals returning home in triumph with the bull as a
trophy. The last time this "sport" was indulged in in this neighbourhood appears to have been early in October, 1838, at Gib Heath, better known now as Nineveh Road. ~Bull Lane~ was the name once given to that part of the present Colmore Row between Livery Street and Snow Hill, though it has been better known as Monmouth Street. ~Bull Street.~--Once called Chapel Street, as leading to the chapel of the ancient Priory; afterwards named from the old inn known as the Red Bull (No. 83). ~Burial Grounds.~--See "_Cemeteries_." ~Burns.~--Excisemen, when Robert Burns was one of them, were wont to carry pistols, and those the poet had were given him by one of our gunmakers, Mr. Blair. They were afterwards bought by Allan Cunningham, who gave them back to Burns' widow.--Birmingham lent its rill to the great river of homage to the genius of Burns which flowed through the length and breadth of the civilised world on the occasion of the Burns' centenary in January, 1859. The most interesting of the three or four meetings held here was one of a semi-private nature, which took place at Aston Hall, and which originated, not with Scotchmen, but with Englishmen. Some forty-five or fifty gentlemen, only some half-dozen of whom were Scotch, sat down to an excellent supper in the fine old room in which the Queen lunched the previous year. The chairman was Mr. Samuel Timmins, and the vice-chairman was Mr. Ross. ~Cabs, Cars, and Carriages.~--The hackney carriages, or four-wheelers, |
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