Breweries.—­In the days of old nearly every publican and innkeeper was his own brewer, the fame of his house depending almost solely on the quality of the “stingo” he could pour out to his customers.  The first local brewery on a large scale appears to have been that erected in Moseley Street in 1782, which even down to late years retained its cognomen of the Birmingham Old Brewery.  In 1817 another company opened a similar extensive establishment at St. Peter’s Place, in Broad Street, and since then a number of enterprising individuals have at times started in the same track, but most have come grief, even in the case of those whose capital was not classed under the modern term “limited.”  The principal local breweries now in existence are those of Messrs. Holder, Mitchell, and Bates, in addition to the well-known Crosswells Brewery of Messrs Walter Showell and Sons, noted in next paragraph.  The principal Vinegar Brewery in Birmingham is that of Messrs. Fardon and Co.  (Limited), in Glover Street, which was formed in 1860, and is well worthy of the stranger’s visit.  The annual output is about 850,000 gallons, there being storage for nearly a million gallons, and 36,000 casks to send the vinegar out in.

Brewery at Crosswells.—­Though by far the most extensive brewery supplying Birmingham, the Crosswells cannot claim to be more than in the infancy of its establishment at present, as only twelve years ago the many acres of ground now covered by its buildings formed but part of an unenclosed piece of waste land.  Nevertheless, the spot was well-known and often visited in ancient times, on account of the wonderful and miraculous cures said to have been effected by the free use of the water gushing up from the depths of the springs to be found there, and which the monks of old had christened “The Wells of the Cross.”  Be its medicinal qualities what they might in the days before Harry the Eighth was king, the Cross Wells water retained its name and fame for centuries after the monks were banished and the burly king who drove them out had himself turned to dust.  It has always been acknowledged as one of the purest waters to be found in the kingdom; but its peculiar and special adaptability to the brewing of “good old English cheer” was left to be discovered by the founder of the firm of Messrs. Walter Showell and Sons, who, as stated before, some twelve years back, erected the nucleus of the present extensive brewery.  Starting with the sale of only a few hundred barrels per week, the call for their ales soon forced the proprietors to extend their premises in order that supply should meet demand.  At first doubled, then quadrupled, the brewery is now at least ten times its original size; and a slight notion of the business carried on may be gathered from the fact that the firm’s stock of barrels tots up to nearly 60,000 and is being continually increased, extensive cooperages, blacksmiths’ shops, &c., being attached to the brewery, as well