Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

The Plough and Harrow public house lies on Slade Road to the east of Little Sutton, a 1960s building surrounded by modern housing estates. In spite of appearances, this pub replaced an earlier Plough and Harrow which occupied a site which is now t...

The first mention of Simon Parratt in the Sutton Coldfield archives is in the record of the Court Leet of September 30th 1579, when the servant of “Simon Perott Esquire” was fined 10d for brawling. At that time the honorific “Esquire” denoted the ...

The 1540s were a time of great upheaval in England. One result of the dissolution of the monasteries, the turmoil in the church, and increasing population, was an increase in vagrancy, with men who were unable to make a living in their home parish...

In the fifteenth century most of the houses and cottages in the Sutton area were timber-framed buildings with thatched roofs; perhaps there were a few houses built of cob, known locally as mud houses, but bricks were unheard of. Many of the timber...

Sarah Holbeche was born in 1802 at Ivy House, now no. 20 High Street, Sutton Coldfield. Then, Sarah recalled, in 1804 “My father and mother with their one child moved to what is now Mrs. Sadler’s House (now 36 High Street) where Mary, Vincent, Tho...

News received on Monday May 7th 1945 of the German High Command’s unconditional surrender put the people of Sutton Coldfield “in joyous mood”. The following morning newspapers announced that Tuesday May 8th was Victory in Europe ...

The first official census in Britain took place in 1801, when the number of people living in Sutton Coldfield was found to be 2,847. Earlier estimates of the population are less reliable, although a census of Sutton taken by the Rector in 1771 was...

Sutton Library, on Lower Parade, is on the site of an earlier building, the Empress Cinema, which opened on January 1st 1923 and closed in July 1971. In a recent article, local historian Don McCollam has listed all the films screened at the cinema...

New Hall Mill in Wylde Green Road, Sutton’s only surviving watermill, is run by the volunteer group “The Friends of New Hall Mill”. As well as maintaining and working the historic mill, the Friends look after the Miller’s g...

William Croxall of Little Sutton made his will on June 8th 1569. Two months earlier a survey of his farm had been made, showing that he was the tenant of thirty-seven strips of land in three open fields. This distribution of his holding is consist...