The peal of ten bells in St. Philip’s were first used August 7, 1751, the weight being 9 tons 10 cwt. 22 lbs., the tenor weighs 30 cwt.

A new peal of eight bells were put up in Aston Church, in May, 1776, the tenor weighing 21 cwt.  The St. Martin’s Society of Change Ringers “opened” them, July 15, by ringing Holt’s celebrated peal of 5040 grandsire triples, the performance occupying 3 hours 4 minutes.

Eight bells and a clock were mounted in the tower of Deritend Chapel, in 1776, the first peal being rung July 29.

The eight bells in Bishop Ryder’s Church, which weigh 55 cwt., and cost L600, were cast in 1868, by Blews and Sons, and may be reckoned as the first full peal founded in Birmingham.

There are eight bells in Harborne Parish Church, four of them bearing date 1697, two with only the makers’ name on, and two put in February, 1877, on the 24th of which month the whole peal were inaugurated by the ringing of a true peal of Stedman triples, composed by the late Thomas Thurstans, and consisting of 5,040 changes, in 2 hours and 52 minutes.  The St. Martin’s ringers officiated.

The six bells of Northfield Church were cast by Joseph Smith, of Edgbaston, in 1730.

St. Chad’s Cathedral has eight bells, five of which were presented in 1848 as a memorial to Dr. Moore; the other three, from the foundry of W. Blews and Sons, were hung in March, 1877 the peculiar ceremony of “blessing the bells” being performed by Bishop Ullathorne on the 22nd of that month.  The three cost L110.  The bells at Erdington Catholic Church were first used on February 2, 1878.

Bellows to Mend.—­Our townspeople bellowed a little over their losses after Prince Rupert’s rueful visit, but there was one among them who knew how to “raise the wind,” for we find Onions, the bellows-maker, hard at work in 1650; and his descendants keep at the same old game.

Bennett’s Hill.—­There was a walled-in garden (with an old brick summer-house) running up from Waterloo-street to Colmore-row as late as 1838-9.

Benefit and Benevolent Societies.—­See “Friendly Societies.”

Bellbarn Road, or the road to Mr. Bell’s barn.

Bermingham.—­The Irish family of this name descended from Robert, son of Peter de Bermingham, who left here and settled in Connaught about the year 1169.

Bibles and Testaments.—­In 1272 the price of a Bible, well written out, was L30 sterling, and there were few readers of it in Birmingham.  The good book can now be bought for 6d., and it is to be hoped there is one in every house.  The Rev. Angell James once appealed to his congregation for subscriptions towards sending a million New Testaments to China, and the Carrslaneites responded promptly with L410 8s., enough to pay for 24,624 copies—­the publisher’s price being 4d. each.  They can be bought for a penny now.—­A local Auxiliary Bible Society was commenced here May 9, 1806.