Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group

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

May 2020 was the sunniest calendar month on record, so much so that Sutton Park’s grassland was distinctly yellow because of the lack of rain. Dr. Mike Hodder alerted the author to the emergence of parchmarks on the old Civil Defence Camp site at Powell’s Pool in Sutton Park. This has resulted in a history of the camp site from 1942 to 1958.

Unlike modern town "Histories", this one printed in 1762 is a collection of three short essays by different people, each coming forward with facts about Sutton Coldfield that can still surprise to the new reader.  The whole book is available for you to read here.

Here you will find a copy of Sutton Coldfield Trades Directories for the years 1830 to 1940.   These are a useful tool when tracing ancestors who carried on business in the town or its immediate surroundings.  The originals books are available in Sutton Coldfield Library under Reference SH.06 SUT. × Warning! While this page works with most modern browsers, for the best experience we recommend: Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari or Edge Browser.Internet Explorer is known to have problems viewing the enlarged images in this section.Due to the large image size, this section is not recommended for mobile devices, other than when using WiFi.

This is Part 4of research into Church Hill, Coleshill Street and Mill Street inSutton Coldfield and the people who lived there. It centres around how and why the Vesey Memorial Garden first came into being, how the money was raised for the scheme, who was the architect, the properties that had to be demolished to make way for the development when it was completed and finally provides details about the official opening ceremony itself.

This is Part 3of research into Church Hill, Coleshill Street and Mill Street, Sutton Coldfield and the people who lived there. It centres around the ‘Old Sun’ Inn, which was situated in Coleshill Street, almost directly opposite the Holbeche residence. It traces its history until it was demolished in 1937 to make way for Vesey Gardens.Included also isa List of Licensees from 1809, a Chronology of Parties involved in a legal nature with the ‘Old Sun’ and also information obtained from two boxes of legal papers issued between 1751 and 1899, held inthe Local Studies Section of Sutton Coldfield Library under Ref: QSH 34.4.

This is Part 2 of research into Church Hill, Coleshill Street and Mill Street, Sutton Coldfield and the people who lived there. It centres around the ‘Royal Oak’ Public House, which was situated at the top of Mill Street. It traces its history until it was demolished in 1937 to make way for Vesey Gardens. Also included is a List of Licensees from its inception in 1866 until George Edward Stanier said “Time, gentlemen, please” on the 14th April 1937.

How many readers have travelled along Somerville Road, seen this old “lamp post” but never noticed it. The lamp post in question is, in fact, not a lamp post but a Victorian stench pipe. Why itwas positioned in this particular spot and the story associated with it is unravelled in this research work. Note that readers with a sensitive disposition might be shocked at some of the descriptionsof Victorian Sutton Coldfield.

This is Part 1of research into Church Hill, ColeshillStreet and Mill Street, Sutton Coldfield and the people who lived there. The first part includes the Census Returns from 1841-1911, together with observations based on the information contained therein.

You will be surprised to see a Round-about in Sherifoot Lane, Four Oaks, but it was a feature of the area 200 years ago. Read on and all will be made clear!