Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

Roger Lea was one of the founders of the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group in the 1980s.  He set up a course which new members could attend to equip them with a sound knowledge of the history of the area.  These walks were an invaluable part of the course, leaving members with a visual knowledge that would  remain for ever.  Of course, some things have changed since then, but these notes can still be used as a guide to finding out more about the surroundings of area

(The Men who died during the Great War)   This project, edited by Yvonne Moore (a member of the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group), assisted by Paul Harrison, Rob Rolfe and Dave Phillips, commemorates all those men listed, plus others who are not listed, on the Royal Sutton Coldfield War Memorial. However, this particular document sets out details of the project’s sponsorship and contributors, together with a key to the genealogy abbreviations and an interesting history of the Royal Sutton Coldfield War Memorial.  There are also two very moving war poems chosen by members of the project and an alphabetical index of the names to be researched. Volume One, follows and features those who died with surnames beginning A to C.

Sarah Holbeche (1803-1882) was a Victorian lady who lived in High Street, Sutton Coldfield. This is the record of a talk given in 2001 in Sutton Coldfield Library about her life, the facts of which were gathered together from the many interesting recollections contained in her diary, which itself was only discovered in 1999 at the home of one of her descendants. A copy of the diary can be found in the Library under Reference: BCOLQ942.496081HOL

This collection of Newsletters and Ancillary Papers were sent out to the members of the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group between the years of 1989 and 2020.  The accompanying Index is very useful in locating specific activities that were offered to the group in order to increase and enhance their knowledge of Sutton Coldfield’s fascinating history.

Does this article prove that the Old Rectory occupied the same space as the new Rectory built by Rev. John Riland in 1701?  Perhaps a more thorough search of this area of Rectory Park might reveal further evidence?

Research published in Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society Transactions for 2013, Volume 117.  Submitted by Mike Hodder.

This article is about the men listed on the War Memorial at St Peter’s Church, Little Aston.  Although it is just outside the Sutton border, some of the men lived within the boundary and for that reason they deserve to be included on this website.

The purpose of this research is to establish the extent of the mail and stagecoach services that travelled from Birmingham through Sutton Coldfield to Lichfield, Tamworth and destinations northwards during the late 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries so that an accurate picture can be built up of the effect that this form of transport had on the local population and how it helped to shape the pattern of their lives. Coach traffic has not been treated in isolation so to put the subject into its historical context I have attempted to ascertain the state of the local road systems and to define as far as possible the network of coaching inns that supported the deployment of coaches on the routes from Birmingham connecting Sutton Coldfield to Lichfield, Tamworth and Burton-upon-Trent and all points north.

The Birmingham historian Eliezer Edwards (1815-91) published his Sutton Coldfield A History and A Guide in 1880.  It is not as well-known as the other 19th century accounts of Sutton Coldfield, written by Agnes Bracken in 1860 and Rev W.K. Riland Bedford written in 1891, but it gives modern readers a lively picture of life in Sutton in 1880, with particular emphasis on Sutton Park, the Crystal Palace, the Royal Hotel and the Railway Stations.  This article contains the complete text of Edwards’ book together with Notes which amplify and in some places correct Edwards’ account.

A recently completed woodcarving of the coat-of-arms of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield by Roy Billingham, a member of the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group. Roy studies woodcarving under Master Carver, Michael Painter, at his woodcarving studio in Austrey, North Warwickshire.