Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

“Sutton Park Town & Promenade Gardens” by Absalom Peers was published in 1869.  It is a short book of 32 pages with a further 28 pages of advertisements.  To a large extent it copies details contained in Agnes Bracken’s “History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield” of 1860, but it also gives accounts of some of the events which occurred between 1860 and 1869, as well as introducing new stories from the past.  This article contains the whole text of the book, including the fascinating advertisements, with a commentary intended to supplement, and in some places, to correct the text. There is also an index to the Guide.

In April 2005, what initially appeared to be a simple hobby of collecting garden sprayers and spraying machines made in Birmingham has led me on a fascinating journey into the history of, and to some extent the people behind, these varied products.  My particular interest, however, is the Four Oaks Spraying Machine Company which was situated in the Mere Green area of Sutton Coldfield.  Hopefully this article will be of equal interest to you.

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the Headmasters of Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School. The Reverend Albert Smith M.A. was Headmaster for nearly 40 years between 1863 and 1902. An intelligent and kindly man, he was in charge during periods of great change at the School.  At one stage it looked possible that the School would move to the old Royal Hotel, later to become the offices of Sutton Town Council, but this did not prove to be a practical proposition.  Later, a move to Moat House was contemplated, but again this did not come to fruition.  He did, however, oversee a large extension to the south side of School House in 1887. Throughout his time at Bishop Vesey’s he constantly strived to increase the number of pupils at the School but, in the end, he was not successful.  This was mainly due to the fact that two schools, forming part of the King Edward VI Foundation, proved to be more popular, due in part to their close proximity to the newly created railway line between Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield in 1862.  The schools in question were King Edward’s High School in New Street, Birmingham, situated just a few hundred yards away from New Street Station and King Edward’s School in Aston. Albert Smith eventually retired on the 30th April 1902 and took up a ‘small living’ as Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene’s Church at Duns Tew in Oxfordshire.

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.

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 History of Sutton-Coldfield, with the continuation, and an addenda, not before published, by an impartial hand was printed at London in 1762.  It contains three pseudonymous essays written by ‘Incola’, ‘W.H.’ and ‘Agricola’.  The copy of the work in the Sutton Coldfield Library (SH97SUT) also contains a second book, printed in 1763 and written by Thomas Bonell, a Sutton Coldfield attorney.  This article contains the text of both books (apart from a section of the 1763 book which is omitted in the Library copy), together with a commentary and notes on the books and some biographical details for Thomas Bonell.

‘Bleak House’ is situated on the main Lichfield Road between Tamworth Road and Little Sutton Lane. The property has a rich history, being Georgian in origin. Well known Sutton names, associated with either the land or the house, were the Addyes and Hacket families, James Pipe, Thomas Hayward and Henry Butler. It has led a charmed life, as it once stood unoccupied for over 30 years and it barely survived demolition on numerous occasions, never more so than when it became the subject of a Compulsory Purchase Order when the Sutton Coldfield Town Centre Relief Road was being planned in the early 1970’s. ‘Bleak House’ is situated on the main Lichfield Road between Tamworth Road and Little Sutton Lane. The property has a rich history, being Georgian in origin. Well known Sutton names, associated with either the land or the house, were the Addyes and Hacket families, James Pipe, Thomas Hayward and Henry Butler.

This is a miscellany of 13 maps kept in a red folder within the NG Evans Collection in Sutton Coldfield Library Archives.  Some are his own reproductions of 19thc maps but all are very interesting to the local historian.

It is time that people knew more of this talented pioneer photographer who lived in one of the most familiar buildings in Sutton Coldfield’s High Street. This collection of papers may inspire others to seek out further facts about him.

“Trees can assist us to understand the history of their environment and this is true of the American red oaks that were planted in Sutton Park in the late 19th century. The research also introduces us to the first two Foresters, an office first created in 1889 and the establishment of a tree nursery on the north-western edge of Upper Nut Hurst.”