St. Philip’s Church, which occupies a fine site fronting on Colmore Row, has an importance other than its architecture from the fact that it is now the pro–Cathedral. Finely situated, this handsome building has an added grace and importance from its elevated and isolated position. The church stands upon ground which was originally part of a farm called Horse Close, afterwards Barley Close, and the land was given by one Robert Phillips and the church named after the saint and also the founder. It was commenced in 1711 from designs by Thomas Archer, a pupil of John Vanbrugh, who was also the architect for the church of St. John, at Westminster. The building was consecrated in 1715, although not finished till four years later. It is said to have cost only £5000. The church of St. John at Deritend possesses a somewhat remarkable history. It is a chapel in the parish of Aston, and was the one referred to by Leland as “a propper chappel” in 1538. At that date it was a picturesque and interesting Early English building, which unhappily was demolished about a century ago, and re–erected in the form of an uninspiring structure of Georgian plainness in brick. It contains the bust of John Rogers, a native of the district, who was the first martyr in the days of the Marian persecution. The original church was founded in 1375 by thirteen persons, who had found themselves on many occasions unable to reach the mother church at Aston owing to floods. These provided between them a handsome endowment in lands, worth at that time ten marks (about £6 : 13 : 4, and nowadays some £450), the original Charter and Licence in Mortmain are in the Reference section of the Public Library, and bear dates 1381 and 1383. The chaplain was formerly strangely elected by household suffrage, both men and women voting. The last election was in 1889, when a fierce contest was waged and continued for over a month in thoroughgoing electioneering style, ultimately thinning out the candidates to two in number, who went to the final poll, which lasted a day. Roman Catholicism has a strong following in the city, and the Roman Catholic Cathedral, dedicated to St. Chad, a seventh–century Bishop of Lichfield, is a large and handsome though modern building. Erected from designs by A. W. Pugin in 1839–41 in the Decorated style, it forms one of the principal churches of Birmingham. In it are some fine modern stained glass; a sixteenth–century carved oak pulpit brought from Louvain; and the remains of its dedicatory saint, which are traditionally stated to have been removed from Lichfield Cathedral at the time of the Reformation, and more or less miraculously preserved, and ultimately brought here. The new era of the town’s history, progress, and wealth began in 1875, when the late Joseph Chamberlain was elected Mayor.