(then spelt Saluteleye) for the “endowment” of the Hospital of St. Thomas the Apostle, but that rather goes to prove the previous existence of a religious edifice instead of dating its foundation.  In 1310 the Lord of Birmingham gave an additional 22 acres, and many others added largely at the time, a full list of these donors being given in Toulmin Smith’s “Memorials of old Birmingham.”  In 1350, 70 acres in Birmingham parish and 30 acres in Aston were added to the possessions of the Priory, which by 1547, when all were confiscated, must have become of great value.  The principal portions of the Priory lands in Aston and Saltley went to enrich the Holte family, one (if not the chief) recipient being the brother-in-law of Sir Thomas Holte; but the grounds and land surrounding the Priory and Chapel appear to have been gradually sold to others, the Smallbroke family acquiring the chief part.  The ruins of the old buildings doubtless formed a public stonequarry for the builders of the 17th century, as even Hutton can speak of but few relics being left in his time, and those he carefully made use of himself!  From the mention in an old deed of an ancient well called the “Scitewell” (probably “Saints’ Well"), the Priory grounds seem to have extended along Dale End to the Butts (Stafford Street), where the water was sufficiently abundant to require a bridge.  It was originally intended to have a highly-respectable street in the neighbourhood named St. Thomas Street, after the name of the old Priory, a like proviso being made when John Street was laid out for building.

Prisons.—­Before the incorporation of the borough all offenders in the Manor of Aston were confined in Bordesley Prison, otherwise “Tarte’s Hole” (from the name of one of the keepers), situate in High Street, Bordesley.  It was classed in 1802 as one of the worst gaols in the kingdom.  The prison was in the backyard of the keeper’s house, and it comprised two dark, damp dungeons, twelve feet by seven feet, to which access was gained through a trapdoor, level with the yard, and down ten steps.  The only light or air that could reach these cells (which sometimes were an inch deep in water) was through a single iron-grated aperture about a foot square.  For petty offenders, runaway apprentices, and disobedient servants, there were two other rooms, opening into the yard, each about twelve feet square.  Prisoners’ allowance was 4d. per day and a rug to cover them at night on their straw.  In 1809 the use of the underground rooms was put a stop to, and the churchwardens allowed the prisoners a shilling per day for sustenance.  Those sentenced to the stocks or to be whipped received their punishments in the street opposite the prison, and, if committed for trial, were put in leg-irons until called for by “the runners.”  The place was used as a lock-up for some time after the incorporation, and the old irons were kept on show for years.—­The old Debtors’ Prison in 1802 was in Philip Street, in a little back courtyard,