This document was discovered at Birmingham Library Archives and Collections Department under reference“Collection: Sutton Coldfield Documents, Bundle No. 23(a-n), 1723-1826, Estreats: Abstracts or Lists of Fines, etc Taxed, Imposed by Jury at Courts Leet”. It bears such a remarkable similarity to this group of attached Corporation Rentals that I believe it can be classed as a forerunner to it.
The Rentals were paid to Sutton Coldfield Corporation and can be useful when trying to identify owners of houses or pieces of land. As the format remains basically the same throughout the group, one can often work out the positioning of a house or follow the ancestry of specific families.
The following notes on the structure of this early edition may help to explain the layout of the whole group. It is helpful to know that Sutton Coldfield was divided into Quarters (several of them, not just four).
Notes
- No. of Photo
- 01. Shows a remaining scrap of the first page of a Rental booklet.
- 02. Annual fines on Millers and Bakers. This type of list is not continued on the following Rentals.
- 03. This appears to be a reused sheet.
- 04. Just a note, but it confirms the date of 1734
- 05. Same note as above.
- 06. First page of the Rental. This always starts with the quarter of Great Sutton. The phrase “Sometimes Customary” is used a few times herein and is difficult to describe. It is believed to mean that an owner’s proof of their tenancy is the local court roll rather than a legal deed, such as a lease or tenancy agreement.
- 07. Another reused sheet
- 12. Rental for Hill
- 14. Rental for Little Sutton
- 16. Rental for Moor & Ashfurlong
- 19. Rental for New Shipton & Langley
- 20. Rental for Wishaw & Wiginshill
- 21. Rental for Pedymoor, Curdworth & Greaves
- 22. Rental for Warmley & Minworth
- 24. Lands & Tenements granted out of the Park
- 25. Erdington & The Wild Maney and Winley
- 28. Rental of the Cottages: Great Sutton
- 29. Hill & Hill Hook
- 31. Little Sutton
- 33. Beyond the Wood
- 34. Maney and the Wild
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