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This section contains an archive of the late Roger Lea's History Spot articles, first published in the Sutton Observer local newspaper.
Click the column headings to change the order of these articles.
Page 29 of 50
Moot Halls Sutton Coldfield became a self-governing town in 1528 by virtue of a Charter granted by King Henry VIII. The Charter stipulates that the Town Council comprise twenty-five men, to be known as the Warden and Society. Every man in Sutton ...
More and Ashfurlong Quarter, or More et Asshforlong as it appears in the 1416 Court Roll, is shaped like a lamb chop. Whereas the other four Quarters include ancient settlements with open fields dating back to Saxon times, the houses and fields of...
In 1920, when bus services were only just beginning to operate, most journeys between Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham were made by railway train. There were two railway companies offering passenger services, the London and North Western Railway wi...
In the late eighteenth century seven packs of hounds were kept within five miles of Sutton, and the favourite occupation of the local gentry was hunting. The Warden and Society of Sutton decided each year which master of foxhounds should have the ...
In the middle of the nineteenth century, when this picture was painted, some of the houses in High Street were still occupied by gentry families. To the left, the two-storey house with dormer windows and an archway is no. 38, and the three-storey ...
In the Middle Ages all the corn grown in Sutton had to be taken to the Manor Mills at the bottom of Mill Street to be ground into flour. This milling monopoly continued after Sutton became an independent town in 1528, but by the 1570s change was o...
Shortly after Charles Chadwick inherited the New Hall Estate a survey was taken. The property surveyed included three farms, some cottages, and New Hall Mill. This was in February 1795, when William Twamley held the lease of the mill, the third of...
New Hall in Sutton Coldfield has the reputation of being the oldest continuously inhabited house in England. The Earl of Warwick found the old manor house on Manor Hill unsuitable as a headquarters for his hunting parties in his Chase of Sutton, a...
The E Brook flows in an artificial channel all the way from Upper Holland Road to Eachelhurst Road, where it crosses the old boundary of Sutton. In the Middle Ages, when the brook followed its natural course, there were no bridges over this stretc...
The account of Robert Kelynge, the bailiff of Sutton, for the year 1433 survives in the Stratford upon Avon Record Office. He recorded all the income and expenditure for the year for the Lord of the Manor, who was Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwic...