Before the advent of the internal combustion engine, the only reliable means of getting about on Birmingham's roads was by walking or by horse. Many businesses ran fleets of horses and wagons to deliver goods around the city, horse trams carried the burgeoning population of the metropolis to and from work, while hansom cabs carried the well-off to the Theatre or to the city's parks. Within the pages of Birmingham's Horse Transport, Eric Armstrong takes us on a tour of the city, using images of horses at work to tell the story of the growth of the city's road transport network. From the city centre to suburbs such as Aston, Birchfield, Bourneville, Handsworth, Harborne, Lozells, Perry Barr, Saltley and Sparkhill he gives us a flavour of a time long gone, when horses, carts, coaches and trams were a common sight on the city's streets.
