23 A minute trigonometrical survey of Birmingham 1824 - 1825

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Date:1824 - 1825 (c.)

Description:This Map of Birmingham engraved from a minute trigonometrical survey made in the years 1824 & 1825, J.Pigott Smith, Surveyor & Engineer, Birmingham. Engraved by W.R.Gardner, Harpur Stt. Red Lion Sqe. London. Published March 25th 1828 is dedicated to William, Earl of Dartmouth, Viscount Lewisham &c &c by the publishers Beilby, Knott & Beilby. This, the largest scale map since 1778 and the largest until 1855, was the first Birmingham map surveyed by triangulation.

Map of Birmingham John Pigott Smith 1824-1825 MAP/45209
To The Right Honourable William EARL OF DARTMOUTH, Viscount Lewisham &c. &c. The Zealous Promoter of the Interests of the Town AND Liberal Patron OF ITS Public Institutions THIS Map OF Birmingham Engraved from a minute Trigonometrical survey made in years 1824 & 1825 is with Permission DEDICATED by His Lordship's Much Obliged & Most Obedt. Servants Bielby, Knott & Bielby, March 25th 1828
J. PIGOTT SMITH Surveyor & Engineer, Birmingham,
ENGRAVED BY W. R. GARDNER HARPER STRT RED LION SQE LONDON

This map is reproduced in Plans of Birmingham & Vicinity: Ancient & Modern, 1884, which contains the following note
... Plan of Birmingham, by Pigott Smith. 1825. Reduced. ...
'The above plans were copied, printed, and several of them reduced, by order of the Public Works Committee of the Town Council of the Borough of Birmingham, from plans in the Public Offices and others lent by several gentlemen.'
[n.b. This map has also been reproduced as a facsimile sheet map, A Street Map of Birmingham 1828, 2012, ISBN 978-1-90840-219-6]

The map has 13o west of north at the top and covers an area within the border of 4.67km x 5.0km centred on the intersection of the centre of Great Charles Street and the north-east side of Newhall Street/Mount Street. At ≈ 1:3400 (≈18½ inches to 1 mile) the original issue of this map is the largest scaled map since Thomas Hanson’s Plan of Birmingham of 1778 (≈ 1:1540) and was not surpassed until Smith’s own Survey of the Borough of Birmingham undertaken between 1850 & 1855 (1:528). Consequently, this is the most detailed map since 1778.

John Pigott Smith (1798-1861) worked as a fast coach driver before becoming a surveyor. He had an office in Broad Street from 1828 to 1831. He followed his Birmingham map with county maps of Warwickshire and Gloucestershire and a town plan of Stratford-on-Avon. In 1835 he was appointed surveyor to the Birmingham Street Commissioners From 1839 to 1842 he had an office in Wheeleys Lane. When, on 2 January 1852, he was appointed Borough Surveyor, he moved to the Public Office in Moor Street. On 06 January 1857, after a heated dispute, he was dismissed from the post. He died at the Manor House, Holford on 22 April 1861 aged 63.

Of W.R.Gardner, the talented engraver, little is known other than that in 1829 he left his wife and three children to flee to the United States never to be heard of again taking with him his eight-year-old son and a supposed £10,000 derived from forged banknotes.

Smith seemed to have had access to almost all of the properties for his survey since the map shows the shape of most buildings. Only three properties remain blank, labelled Refused Admittance: The Brittania Nail Company in Brewery Street; William Jenkins & Sons, brassfounders, in Digbeth, and the premises of Mr Elliot, in Islington Row, Edgbaston, appear to have feared industrial espionage.

This is the first Birmingham map to extend into Edgbaston with new roads and houses appearing between Calthorpe Street [later Calthorpe Road] and the Birmingham Worcester canal and next to the new Worcester turnpike road [Bristol Road] with Wellington Road and Sir Harry’s Road already developed and several new streets shown as projected.

The map shows two projected new Anglican churches: St Thomas’s, Bath Row (begun in 1826, consecrated in 1829 and severely damaged by bombing in 1940 the portico and tower remain as part of St. Thomas’s Peace Garden ); and St. Peter’s, Dale End (begun in 1825, consecrated in 1827 it was destroyed by fire in 1831. Rebuilt in 1837 it was closed and demolished in 1897).

On Fazeley Street, two large steam rolling mills are named as Phipson’s Mill [owned by William Phipson] and the New Steam Mill Company [owned at this time by John Whitehouse & Co].

Along Broad Street and Islington [now all Broad Street] the industrial concerns of the Eagle Foundry, the Birmingham Brewery, the Gas Company Works, the Brass Works and the New Union Mill were joined by the Union Rolling Mill by Baskerville wharfs, Rabone & Co [toolmakers] at the top of Bridge Street and Johnson, Berry & Harris [glassworks] on Nelson Street [now Sheepcote Street].

Shown standing alone, on the corner of Watery Lane and the London to Holyhead Mail Road [Now Coventry Road] is the manufactory of Bielby & Knotts, the printer of this map.