The Union, in Cherry Street, was built in 1790, but much enlarged in 1825.  It was one of the principal coaching houses, but will be remembered mostly as furnishing the chief saleroom in the town for the disposal of landed property.  The site being required for Corporation Street, the building was “knocked down” on the 21st April, 1879.

The Woolpack, in Moor Street, saw many strange events, and had in its olden days undergone some few changes for there are not many sites in Birmingham that can compare with this in regard to its recorded history, but at last it is being cleared to make way for a more modern structure.  It is believed there was a tavern called the Green Tree here close upon 500 years ago, and even now there is still to be traced the course of an ancient “dyche” running through the premises which was described as the boundary dividing certain properties in 1340, and forming part of that belonging to the Guild of the Holy Cross.  The house itself was the residence of William Lench, whose bequests to the town are historical, but when it was turned into a tavern is a little uncertain, as the earliest notice of it as such is dated 1709, when John Fusor was the occupier.  It was the house of resort for many Birmingham worthies, especially those connected with the law, even before the erection of the Public Offices, and it is said that John Baskerville used to come here for his tankard of ale and a gossip with his neighbours.  In the time of the Reform agitation it was frequented by the leaders of the Liberal party, and has always been the favourite shelter of artists visiting the town.

The Woolpack, in St. Martin’s Lane.—­Some eighty odd years ago the tavern standing at the corner of Jamaica Row and St. Martin’s Lane was known as the Black Boy Inn, from the figure of a young negro then placed over the door.  Being purchased in 1817 by the occupier of a neighbouring tavern called the Woolpack, the two names were united, and for a time the house was called the “Black Boy and Woolpack,” the first part being gradually allowed to fall into disuse.  Prior to its demolition it was the noted market hostelry for cattle dealers and others, the respected landlord, Mr. John Gough, who held the premises from 1848 till his death in 1877, being himself a large wholesale dealer.  When the Town Council decided to enlarge and cover in the Smithfield Market, the old house and its adjuncts were purchased by them, and a new hotel of almost palatial character has been erected in its place, the frontage extending nearly the entire length of St. Martin’s Lane, and the Black Boy and the Woolpack must in future be called St. Martin’s Hotel.

Hothouses.—­Those at Frogmore, comprising a range of nearly 1,000 feet of metallic forcing houses, were erected in 1842-3, by Mr. Thomas Clark, of this town, his manager, Mr. John Jones, being described by the celebrated Mr. London, as “the best hot-house builder in Britain.”