SHOWELL'S
Dictionary of Birmingham.
Kidneys (Petrified).—In olden days our footpaths, where
paved at all, were, as a rule, laid with round, hard pebbles, and many
readers will be surprised to learn that five years ago there still
remained 50,000 square yards of the said temper-trying paving waiting
to be changed into more modern bricks or stone. Little, however, as we
may think of them, the time has been when the natives were rather
proud than otherwise of their pebbly paths, for, according to Bisset,
when one returned from visiting the metropolis, he said he liked
everything in London very much "except the pavement, for the
stones were all so smooth, there was no foothold!"
King Edward's Place.—Laid out in 1782 on a 99
years' lease, from Grammar School, at a ground rent of £28,
there being built 31 houses, and two in Broad Street.
King's Heath.—A little over three miles on the
Alcester Road, in the Parish of King's Norton, an outskirt of
Moseley, and a suburb of Birmingham; has added a thousand to its
population in the ten years from census 1871 to 1881, and promises to
more than double it in the next decennial period. The King's Heath
and Moseley Institute, built in 1878, at the cost of Mr. J.H.
Nettlefold, provides the residents with a commodious hall, library,
and news-room. There is a station here on the Midland line, and the
alterations now in the course of being made on that railway must
result in a considerable, addition to the traffic and the usefulness
of the station, as a local depôt for coal, &c.
King's Norton.—Mentioned in Domesday, and in the
olden times was evidently thought of equal standing (to say the least)
with its five-miles-neighbour, Birmingham, as in James the First's
reign there was a weekly market (Saturdays) and ten fairs in the
twelve months. The market the inhabitants now attend is to be found in
this town, and the half-score of fairs has degenerated to what is
known as "King's Norton Mop" or October statute fair,
for the hiring of servants and labourers, when the Lord of Misrule
holds sway, the more's the pity. The King's Norton Union
comprises part of the borough of Birmingham (Edgbaston), as well as
Balsall Heath, Harborne, Moseley, Northfield, Selly Oak, &c., and
part of it bids fair to become a manufacturing district of some
extent, as there are already paper mills, rolling mills, screw works,
&c., and the Smethwick men are rapidly advancing in its
direction—the Midland Junction with the West Suburban line being
also in the parish. The fortified mansion, known as Hawkesley House,
in this parish, was the scene of a contest in May, 1645, between King
Charles' forces and the Parliamentarians, who held it, the result
being its capture, pillage, and destruction by fire.
Kirby's Pools.—A well-known and favourite resort on
the outskirt of the borough, on the Bristol Road, and formerly one of
the celebrated taverns and tea gardens of past days. The publichouse
(the "Malt Shovel") having been extended and partially
rebuilt, and the grounds better laid out, the establishment was
re-christened, and opened as the Bournbrook Hotel, at Whitsuntide,
1877.
Kossuth.—Louis Kossuth, the ex-dictator of Hungary, was
honoured with a public welcome and procession of trades, &c., Nov.
10, 1851, and entertained at a banquet in Town Hall on the 12th. He
afterwards appeared here May 7 and 8, 1856, in the role of a
public lecturer.
Kyott's Lake.—A pool once existing where now is
Grafton Road, Camp Hill. There was another pool near it, known as Foul
Lake.
Kyrle Society.—So named after the character alluded to by
Pope in his "Moral Essays":
"Who taught that heaven-directed spire to rise?
'The Man of Ross,' each lisping babe replies."
John Kyrle, who died Nov. 11, 1724, though not a native, resided at
Ross nearly the whole of his long and loyal life of close on 90 years,
and Pope, who often visited the neighbourhood, there became acquainted
with him and his good works, and embalmed his memory in undying verse
as an example to future generations. A more benevolent lover of his
fellowman than Kyrle cannot be named, and a society for cultivating
purity of taste, and a delight in aiding the well-being of others, is
rightly called after him. The Birmingham Kyrle Society was established
in 1880, and frequent paragraphs in the local papers tell us of their
doings, at one time cheering the inmates of the institutions where the
sick and unfortunate lie, with music and song, and at another
distributing books, pictures, and flowers, where they are prized by
those who are too poor to purchase. The officers of the society will
be pleased to hear from donors, as let contributions of flowers or
pictures be ever so many, the recipients are far more numerous. Mr.
Walliker, our philanthropic postmaster, is one of the vice-presidents,
and the arrangements of the parcel post are peculiarly suited for
forwarding parcels.
