Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

A map of Sutton made in 1824 shows that Powells Pool was outside the boundary of Sutton Park, and that fields belonging to Stonehouse Farm lay between the pool and the Park. A public road led past the dam of Powells pool and through the yard of th...

Before 1824 the whole area now known as Boldmere was a featureless expanse of gorse, heather and grass, common land where countless sheep grazed. When Sutton commons were enclosed in 1825 and the land was parcelled out to private owners it was bad...

Although John James was only an agricultural labourer, by the time he was 40 years old he had been able to buy a piece of land and build himself a cottage. The 1861 census gives John James, 48, his wife Mary, 43 and daughter Celia, a 22-year-old d...

Two roads lead eastwards out of Sutton, Coleshill Road leading towards Coleshill and Rectory Road leading towards Middleton. Both climb out of the valley up a steep hill, Coleshill Road becomes Reddicap Hill, and Rectory Road, according to Victori...

When the boundary of Sutton Coldfield was surveyed by the Enclosure Commissioner in 1824, he found that it passed from “the centre of the door of the Cock public house occupied by John Sandon and thence through the kitchen and house in an ob...

The Victorian Rector of Sutton Coldfield, the Rev. W.K.Riland Bedford, was an antiquarian. His History of Sutton Coldfield is a standard work, but his other books, Blazon of Episcopy and The Woodmen of Arden are rarities. The Woodmen of Arden is a...

The Earl of Warwick granted a lease of Sutton Manor House and Park to Sir Ralph Bracebridge in 1419, possibly renewing an earlier lease. A bank and ditch earthwork in Sutton Park, believed to date from about 1400, can still be traced, and indicate...

Bracebridge Pool in Sutton Park has changed in appearance over the years. Early maps show that the pool extended to include Little Bracebridge Pool, which is now separated from the main pool by a stretch of swampy ground. One possiblity is that Li...

W.K Riland Bedford, in his History of Sutton Coldfield, published in 1890, gives a great deal of information about Victorian Sutton from his own personal experience. He commented on the contribution of the ladies to the intellectual life of the to...

The Medieval Manor of Sutton Coldfield was well-supplied with woodland, meeting the needs of the population for fuel, building, fencing, tools and furniture. The woodland needed careful management to make it productive. Trees were felled so that n...