Although the town in Leland’s day is spoken of as having its chief beauty in “one streete going up alonge from the left of the brook, up a meane hill, by the length of a quarter of a mile,” and could have then been but a comparatively small village, Hutton argues that even in the days of the ancient Britons the smiths of Birmingham supplied implements of war and husbandry. It may even be possible, according to this historian, that the scythes fixed to Boadicea’s chariot wheels had their genesis at a Birmingham forge. In support of this theory he quotes that “upon the borders of Aston parish stands Aston furnace, appropriated for melting iron–stone, and reducing it into ‘pigs’; this has the appearance of great antiquity. From the melting ore in this subterraneous region of infernal aspect is produced a calx, or cinder, of which there is an enormous mountain. From an attentive survey the observer would suppose so prodigious a heap could not accumulate in a hundred generations; however, it shows no perceptible addition in the age of man.” [Illustration: LITTLE WOLFORD MANOR–HOUSE.] Before Birmingham became famous for its manufactures it was known for the great number of tanners resident there; and the hides which furnished a supply for the rest of the county were laid out in the High Street in piles on fine days; and in wet weather were deposited in the Leather Hall. This Leather Market was identified with Birmingham in the tenth or eleventh century, and continued until the beginning of the eighteenth century; and it was in this ‘High’ or main street that early settlers manufactured coarse ironware, nails, and similar articles. Hutton is inclined to believe that in quite ancient times carpenters’ tools as well as spades, forks, and other implements of husbandry were made here; and that the worn hollow ways in the roads that proceeded from Birmingham form additional evidence of the town’s antiquity and commercial importance. He goes on to observe concerning these rutted roads, “Though modern industry, assisted by various Turn–pike Acts, has widened the upper part and filled up the lower, yet they were all visible in the days of our fathers, and are traceable even in ours.” This painstaking historian places the ancient centre of the town at Old Cross from the number of streets which lead towards it, and the fact of the position of St. Martin’s Church. It is difficult, indeed, when contemplating modern Birmingham with its fine streets, magnificent public buildings, and general appearance of wealth, industry, and prosperity, to realise that the ancient houses were of a type similar to those at Shrewsbury and Chester. Built principally of timber, with the space between the beams wattled and plastered over with mortar; others of slightly more recent date being of bricks and plaster.