Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

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 Station up-line platform to the new entrance gate into the Park. In the early years the Midland Railway provided ticket inspectors at the entrance to the Park.

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:-

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 not far off the Chester Road’, the book seeks to explore the many changes made to the buildings and the curriculum over its first 140 years. The influence that the early Masters and their successors who helped guide the school through the Victorian era, two World Wars and many other external factors is also woven into the account.

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

A reason for why Tudor Road is so called has yet to be established. However, for many years, Richard Morris has been researching its early history, including the houses, tennis courts and bowling green. One of his earlier accounts is to be found in the Group’s publication of ‘Proceedings, Volume 6’. This updated article goes into greater detail, using the 1901 and 1911 Census to ascertain far more about the residents of the houses.