Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

A Selection of Corporation Rentals (otherwise known as 'Chief Rents') from 1742 to 1924. These have been copied by Janet Jordan, Member of Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group, from the originals deposited at Sutton Coldfield Library.  These can be useful in tracing the owners of some of the older properties in the area. (View the photos in sequence.)

This updated selection of Corporation Rentals (otherwise known as 'Chief Rents') from 1742 to 1924 has been copied by Janet Jordan, Member of Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group, from the originals stored at Sutton Coldfield Library and Birmingham Archives Library. These can be useful in tracing the owners of some of the older properties in the area.

In June 2025, the Local Studies material and Archives formerly kept in Sutton Coldfield Library were transferred to Birmingham Central Library. The following set of documents are designed to help you find material in Birmingham Archives, particularly that formerly kept in Sutton Coldfield Library, and to be able to order it online for viewing in the Wolfson Centre via the Eventbright system.

This History of Sutton Coldfield was written by Reverend William Kirkpatrick Riland Bedford, the longest-serving of any Rector of Holy Trinity Parish Church (forty-two years), who retired in 1892.  It was not the only book he wrote as he is also well known for the popular Three Hundred Years of a Family Living, being a History of the Rilands of Sutton Coldfield.  Less well known was his collaboration with Richard Holbeche as joint authors of The Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem published in 1902.

Are you searching for the planning application of your old house in Sutton Coldfield? If it was built after 1887, you may be able to find it in these books. They will give you theplanning application number so that you can request this from Sutton Library who hold the collection. All pages of Books 1 to 27 have been copied and cover the years 1887 to 1967.

When the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group met at Sutton Coldfield Library, prior to its closure in June 2025, they occasionally made use of a collection of folders kept in a filing cabinet there.  These covered a multitude of local studies subjects and one could find all sorts of old and interesting research papers in the folders that could be useful in a given project.  These are now stored in the Heritage Research Area of Archives and Collections in the Library of Birmingham.  Here is an up to date List of Subject Folders 2025, which you can peruse at your leisure.

It would appear that in 1978 Andrew MacFarlane, later to become a Head Teacher in Sutton Coldfield, was already involved in Local History Research and was an early member of one of the Groups in this respect to be set up in the Town.  This is one of his first written articles, based on a building that was used for education purposes for many years.  

Using details from these maps and books you can find out who owned land in Sutton Coldfield at the time of the Corn Rent in 1824 and Enclosure in 1851.  (With thanks to Sutton Coldfield Library for allowing us to make these available on the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group website (www.sclhrg.org.uk)

This very useful little book contains a wealth of interesting information about Sutton Coldfield, its notable people and places, and its park at the beginning of the 20th century.

Here you will find a copy of Sutton Coldfield Trades Directories for the years 1830 to 1940.   These are a useful tool when tracing ancestors who carried on business in the town or its immediate surroundings.  The originals books are available in Sutton Coldfield Library under Reference SH.06 SUT. × Warning! While this page works with most modern browsers, for the best experience we recommend: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari or Edge Browser.Internet Explorer is known to have problems viewing the enlarged images in this section.Due to the large image size, this section is not recommended for mobile devices, other than when using WiFi.