Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

The barn at New Shipton Farm is a very old timber-framed structure. The main supports are crucks, giant A-frames made from the two halves of a single oak tree split down the middle. So far it is the only building in Sutton where the method of dati...

Knowing he was dying, Thomas Clifton of Sutton Coldfield made his will on the eighth of November 1684, and he was buried five days later, on November thirteenth 1684. Francis Clifton, son of Thomas, was the executor of the will, and in order to pr...

“In 1869 a weekly newspaper entitled the Sutton Coldfield and Erdington News was started by a few gentlemen who thought that a local organ of public opinion would be useful.” So wrote W.K.Riland Bedford, neglecting to mention that he himself was o...

Most of the houses in Sutton in 1500 were single-storey buildings. The main room had a central hearth, and the smoke from the fire escaped through vents in the thatched roof. There was not much furniture - benches and a table, and a bed with curta...

Prehistoric travellers made pathways through the countryside, finding the firmest routes to cross marshy valleys. One such, the valley of the E brook in Sutton Coldfield (where The Mall now stands) was a morass of quicksands and bogs, and the old ...

The “Old Sun” public House stood in Coleshill Street, and was demolished in 1938 to make way for Vesey Gardens. It was on the opposite side of the road from the childhood home of Richard Holbeche, and he mentions it in his Diary of 1...

For most people wishing to go from Sutton to Birmingham in 1814 the choice was either to walk or to ride in someone’s cart. Sarah Holbeche noted “1814 the carter’s cart became a caravan (i.e. a covered wagon) - the only conveyanc...

In the 1530s John Harman alias Vesey, Bishop of Exeter, bestowed many gifts on his native town, Sutton Coldfield. One of these gifts, the pair of organs he gave to the Parish Church, suggests that he had an ear for music, hardly surprising in view...

Oughtons Mill in Sutton Coldfield closed down about 150 years ago when Mr. John Jerome transferred its gun-barrel making business to his main factory in Birmingham’s Gun Quarter. The gun barrel mill had been built nearly 300 years ago by Jos...