----------------------+------------+---------+-------------------------- NAME. | Date of | AREA. | GIFT OR PURCHASE. |Acquisition.| A. R. P.| ----------------------+------------+---------+-------------------------- Adderley Park | 1856 | 10 0 22|Gift of Mr. C. B. Adderley | | |(now Lord Norton). | | | Calthorpe Park | 1857 | 21 1 13|Lease by Lord Calthorpe | | |at a nominal rent. | | | Aston Park and Hall | 1864 | 43 0 0|Purchased for £26,000, of | | |which £7,000 was raised | | |by subscriptions. | | | Aston Park and Hall | 1873 | 6 2 8|Purchased for £4,750. | | | Cannon Hill Park | 1873 | 57 1 9|Gift by Miss Ryland. | | | Highgate Park | 1876 | 8 0 28|Land purchased for £8,000 | | |and £7,000 expended in | | |laying out. | | | Summerfield Park | 1876 | 12 0 20|Land purchased for £8,000 | | |£3,857 expended in | | |laying out. | | | Burbury St. Recreation| | | Ground | 1877 | 4 1 3|Gift by Mr. William | | |Middlemore. | | | Small Heath Park | 1879 | 41 3 34|Gift by Miss Ryland. | | | Park St. Gardens | 1880 | 4 1 35|}Disused burial grounds | | |}laid out at cost of St. Mary’s Gardens | 1882 | 2 2 0|}£12,099. | +---------+ | |221 3 12| ----------------------+------------+---------+------------------------ In 1860 the Free Libraries Act was adopted, and the first branch library was opened in Constitution Hill, on the 3rd of April, 1861. The first Central Lending Library and Art Gallery were opened on the 6th Sept., 1865, on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association. (See for the subsequent history of the Free Libraries p. 69 _et seq._) In 1863 the Borough Cemetery at Witton was completed. (See p. 117.) In 1874, a Fire Brigade was established, which now consists of thirty well-trained men, with six engines, and all suitable apparatus.