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This section contains an archive of the late Roger Lea's History Spot articles, first published in the Sutton Observer local newspaper.
Click the column headings to change the order of these articles.
Page 28 of 50
Sutton Coldfield covers twenty square miles, and some parts of it are remote from most residents. To the south, a short stretch of the boundary is formed by the river Tame – perhaps the first settlers arrived by water thousands of years ago,...
Mr. Harris, making his tour of the parish boundary of Sutton Coldfield in 1824, arrived at the point where it turned away from the River Tame near Minworth Mill. He noted that the other side of the river lay in Aston Parish while land further alon...
When Miss Bracken came to live in Sutton with her widowed mother and two sisters, Sutton was still very much an agricultural town with a very rural aspect. This was about 1820, and being well-off they were able to move into Vesey House, no. 5, Hig...
Jane Pudsey was a very wealthy widow in 1680 when she married the 40-year-old architect William Wilson. Wilson had been accustomed to earn his living from commissions for his work as a sculptor and stonemason, and is said to have spent time in Lon...
Moat House in Lichfield Road was built in the 1680s as a prestige house by the architect Sir William Wilson on his marriage to the wealthy and well-born widow Jane Pudsey. His marriage elevated him to gentry status, so the Wilsons lived in style a...
The death of Joseph Duncumb of Moat House, Sutton Coldfield, in April 1793 no doubt cast a blight over his daughter Elizabeth’s plans, as she was on the point of getting married. However, only one month later, on May 21st 1793 Elizabeth Duncumb wa...
Alwin of Arden was the Saxon Sheriff of Warwickshire at the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, and his son Turchil continued to be a powerful lord in the new reign. In the twelfth century the family was known as Arden of Wigginshill, and at the ...
Jane Harman was engaged to be married to George Middlemore of Haselwell (near Stirchley on the other side of Birmingham). A marriage settlement document was drawn up on 14th December 1525. George’s father agreed to give the Haselwell estate to the...
Ralph Sponer lived at the stone house known as Moor Hall Farm in 1550. It was conveyed to him in that year by Bishop Vesey - Sponer had married Elizabeth, a relative of the Bishop. Sponer was not a farmer - hardly any land was conveyed with the ho...
Colonel Edward Ansell of Rigby Hall, Bromsgrove, wanted to move to Sutton. He was a wealthy man, a Birmingham alderman and owner of Ansell’s Brewery, and in 1903 he bought Moor Hall. Moor Hall, with its Regency frontage and fine portico, was vaca...