Online Gutenberg Library: Showell’s Dictionary of Birmingham

[Lloyd]

Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham by Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell


Fascinating reading! A small excerpt below.
Get a free download at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14472

"~Streets.~--It is not every street that is a street in Birmingham, for,
according to the Post Office Street List, besides a dozen or so to which
distinctive names have been given, like Cheapside, Deritend, Digbeth,
Highgate, Islington, &c., and 726 streets called Streets, there are in
the borough 178 Roads, 86 Lanes, 69 Rows, 19 Squares, 11 Crescents, 2
Quadrants, 5 Arcades, 1 Colonnade, 5 Parades, 484 Terraces, 1,572
Places, 26 Passages, 20 Yards, 47 Courts (named, and twenty times that
number numbered), 16 Mounts (twelve of them Pleasant), 24 Hills, 5
Vales, 2 Valleys, 23 Groves, 4 Retreats, 11 Villas, 14 Cottages, 2
Five-Dwelling, 179 Buildings, 14 Chambers, 12 Walks, 4 Drives, 3
Avenues, 5 Gullets, 1 Alley (and that is Needless), 1 Five-Ways,
1 Six-Ways, 6 Greens, 2 Banks, 2 Villages, 3 Heaths, 3 Ends, and 1 No
Thoroughfare."

 

[Michael_Ingram]

Great book, thanks for the tip LLoyd

 

[RobertS]

To be commended, just been 'lost' in it for an hour.

 

[maggieuk]

Don't know if this has already been posted ..found some really interesting things on it.
https://www.archive.org/stream/showellsdictiona14472gut/14472.txt

 

[TOPSYTURVEY]

Came across a book in the charity shop called. Dictionary of Birmingham by Walter Showell .Very interesting!! Would anyone like it.

 

[gingerjon]

would be very interested in browsing it if no one else as asked for it

 

[TOPSYTURVEY]

John, you are welcome to have it.What would be the best way for me to get it to you.

 

[Thylacine]

TOPSYTURVEY, Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885) is a very useful resource. It is available at archive.org as an "e-text" (just click on the blue title; you can click on the left-hand or right-hand page to turn the page, or you can use the "search" window). The book was compiled by Thomas T Harman, and contains a wide variety of Brum "trivia" (some not so trivial), alphabetically arranged and expressed very succinctly and wittily. Highly recommended. You've done well, John!

 

[Carolynn]

What a good book - thanks for the info

 

[The Baron]

One more for my "FAVORITES" great book Thanks for posting.

 

[BernardR]

Superb free download of The Project Gutenberg EBook of Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham can be found here

 

[DavidGrain]

A valuable reference book which I have used in other research

 

[Vivienne14]

Just for info - the date the dictionary was first published was 1885. It's not immediately obvious from looking at the document. Agree it makes really fascinating reading. Thanks Bernie. Viv.

 

[Ann Steiner]

My Great-great grandfather is the Thomas T. Harman who helped compile that. That was a fun discovery when I learned of it. Agreed, there's a great deal of interesting information included in it, and I wish I could find copies of the other books he complied that it makes mention of. I inquired at the Birmingham library, but they couldn't find anything.

Ann