History of the Johnstones, 1191-1909, with ... - Electric Scotland

276 MONUMENT HOUSE
vacant in 1805, and his wife had pleasant associations with it, and wished to
live there. They moved to it from Ladywood in 1806, just a fortnight before
their second son, James, was born, April 12. It was then two miles out of
Birmingham, which could only be reached across fields or down Sir Harry's
Road into the Bristol Road, part of the old Roman way from Derby, Lichfield,
Birmingham to Worcester and beyond. The adjoining parish was Northfield in
Worcestershire, and the stream which empties into a lake of thirty acres in
Edgbaston Park was the boundary of Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The
situation was unique, planted on the highest tableland in England, the ground
sloping from the house to the lake, and beyond it the Lickey Hills rising
in the distance ; the ancient Church, now enlarged till it is like a little cathedral,
still backed by the old trees of the Hall, as it was in Camden's day, with the
park and its magnificent foliage. The park still covers 120 acres, though
portions have since been detached for villas. The rent was £300 a year, and
Johnstone lived there forty-five years.
Only one house was then in sight between the lake and the Lickey Hills,
and that has given its name to the road. It was a lonely farmhouse, where a
priest lodged before 1780, when it was a felony for a Roman priest to live
in England, and the penalty of death if he celebrated Mass. Everyone in the
neighbourhood knew that he lived there to officiate for the benefit of his
co-religionists, who met on Sundays and festivals, but no one showed him
up; and when the "Catholic Relief Bill" was passed Edward Johnstone and
Dr Withering, who were then in command at the General Hospital, directed
that the Roman priests should be allowed equally with other denominations to
visit members of their Church in the Hospital. In London this privilege
was not granted till eighty years later.
A few years after his marriage John removed from Temple Row to
Monument House, so called from a tower built in the garden to enable a former
owner to see his estate on the other side of the Lickey. A footpath across fields
connected it with Edgbaston Church and Hall, and before the chimneys of
Selly Oak intercepted the view the old grey tower of Northfield Church could
be seen from the stile which stood at the corner of Church Road and the
modern Westbourne Road.
The Johnstones, like their father, were very sociable, and much given to
hospitality. At Edgbaston Hall there were two large dinner parties regularly
every week, and the family on other days seldom dined alone. The list of
guests, who came from all over the county, as well as from Worcestershire, was
long preserved, and the name of young Mr Webster of Penns often occurs. A
few years later his eldest daughter, the beauty of the neighbourhood, married
James, the younger son of Edward Johnstone. They carried on the male line
of the Johnstones of Nevvbie and Galabank.
The John Johnstones at Monument House entertained even more of the
cattle, or observe the sagacious habits of the interesting colony in the rookery in early spring,
or later, when necessary, to reduce the too numerous progeny." Such Edgbaston was, within
the memory of the writer.