Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

Speculators burned their fingers. The London and North Western Railway opened its Sutton Coldfield Branch in 1862. This five-mile-long railway from Aston to Sutton was first promoted by a group of local businessmen - they made a good profit when ...

The old town of Sutton Coldfield ceased to exist in 1883, and the Borough of Sutton Coldfield was established in its place when the new Charter was received from Queen Victoria in April 1886. The new corporation had more responsibilities than the ...

John Sutherland Valentine had a successful business as a chapman and dealer in the Ashted area of Birmingham. In 1826 he bought a plot of land on the Sutton commons - at the time parts of the commons were being auctioned to help pay for the costs ...

For most of Sutton’s history the main recreation of the upper classes was hunting. The common people also enjoyed catching wild creatures for the pot and poaching, but there were other diversions as well. Not all these pastimes were innocent...

When the Earl of Warwick became Lord of the Manor of Sutton in 1126 he was allowed to have his own court there where he could try minor cases including infangthief (Sutton thieves) and outfangthief (outsiders). Most of the business of the courts w...

Canwell Priory had been a small religious house until it was abolished in 1524, when the property came into the possession of Bishop Vesey. Between Bishop Vesey’s mansion at Moor Hall (built c.1525) and his estate at Canwell lay the London t...

Woodland was carefully managed in the Middle Ages, when woodland products were in great demand. Different tree species were grown for specific uses, and while our native holly was not a timber tree, it used to be encouraged because its foliage was...

Claudius, the Emperor of Rome, ordered his army to invade Britain in the year AD43. Four years later, most of England was pacified, and the network of Roman roads was in place, built for military and official use. As the empire expanded northwards...

Bishop Vesey intended that his native town of Sutton Coldfield should thrive. On his travels throughout England, he saw that the cloth trade was the most profitable industry in the 1520s, and accordingly he set about establishing weaving in Sutton...

A controversial decision faced the Warden and Society of Sutton Coldfield in the 1780s - “to whom of the neighbouring masters of hounds the privilege of drawing the park coverts should be conceded”. Some members of the Warden and Socie...