Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

Helen Holbeche was one of seven sisters: Sarah, Jane, Elizabeth, Catherine, Frances, Helen and Mary. In their later years, apart from Mary, they all lived together at 58 High Street, Sutton Coldfield. In 1998, I discovered a small notebook containing Helen's recollections amongst other Holbeche family memorabilia kept by Mrs Helen Springall (her great gre...

In examining the 1841 Census for unusual occupations in Sutton Coldfield, I noticed some entries that indicated canal based employment. From this small amount of information, I set out to discover what happened to some of the families who lived alongside the ‘Cut’ on the southern boundary of the Royal Town.

Anyone driving regularly up Wylde Green Road from Walmley between September 1965 and September 1966 would have been able to witness the step-by-step unfolding of an important educational development in Sutton Coldfield – the building of the first Catholic secondary school in the borough.

On December 11th,1875, the trial began in Wolverhampton Crown Court of 2 persons, Frederick Musson (b. 1852) and Anna Maria Hillman (b. 1854). They had been charged with the murder of a young girl, Elizabeth Lowke (b. 1868).

Collet’s Brook Farm is located on the western side of the A453 Tamworth Road in Sutton Coldfield adjacent to its junction with Fox Hill Road and is Grade II (Statutory List) listed. It once belonged to the Birmingham to Watford Gap Turnpike Trust before being sold to John Sutherland Valentine on September 9, 1831. It probably dates from before 1815.

Midland Lodge is a Victorian residential property situated within Sutton Park and owned by Birmingham City Council. It lies adjacent to the Midland Gate entrance to the Park which is at the western end of Midland Road. This private road, built by the Midland Railway Company in 1879, provided pedestrian access for their passengers to and from Sutton Park S...

Situated in Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield, this school has a fascinating story to tell, using the many sources to be found in the Royal Town’s archives and original School Log Books. These have been supplemented by the memories and photographs of staff and pupils in the 20th century. From a small village school built in ‘an out of the way sort of place n...

Thomas Vincent Holbeche, Sutton Coldfield’s First Town Clerk, may not be one of Sutton’s better known characters, but his influence on the town in the late 1800s seems to have been remarkable and he deserves to be remembered.  This is his story:-

Richard Holbeche wrote his 'diary' in 1892. It is a recollection of the places he knew and the people he met during his childhood whilst living in the company of family, relatives and friends, in and around the quiet rural town of Sutton Coldfield.

In this Translation, every page equates as far as possible to the same page in Twamley’s original manuscript (in Sutton Coldfield Local History Reference Library, Ref: SH97SUT). Therefore, the Index can be used for both copies.