T 
House 
VoL. XIV 
and Garden 
SP 2 PTEMBER, 1908 No. ^ 
Birmingham and Highbury 
By ELIZABETH PRESCOTT LAWRENCE 
IRMINGHAM is a city ol many interests, 
both for its various manufactories and 
because it is the home of the Right Honorable 
Joseph Chamberlain, M. P. 
The exact date of the earliest settlement is not 
known, but research proves that this metropolis of 
the midlands was in existence during the Saxon 
period, and if we could look hack through all the cen¬ 
turies, we should probably find that the first clearing 
had been made on the outskirts of that great forest 
whose depths no conquerors dared penetrate—the 
Forest of Arden. History has it that m the middle 
of the seventh century the town was started by the 
Beormingas or Bermings, and from them originated 
the present name of Birmingham, as Ham means 
home, and Bermings is a patronymic or family name. 
Therefore the translation would signify the “home 
of the Bermings,” which seems to make the name of 
the town far more interesting than when it first strikes 
the eye or ear of visitor and tourist. 
The last Saxon to hold the town was Ulwine, in the 
time of Edward the Confessor, and from him it was 
taken by the conquering Normans. 
The Forest of Arden lav between Leicestershire on 
the east, the Severn valley on the west, Cannock 
chase on the north, and Evesham and Rugby on the 
south. 
There is much romance and history connected 
HIGHBURY, THE RESIDENCE OF THE RIGHT HONORABLE JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, M. P. 
Vovyriylit, 1908, by The John G. Winston Co. 
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