Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire

Historical Description

Sutton Coldfield, a town, a municipal borough, and a parish in Warwickshire. The town stands on an eminence, 7½ miles NNE of Birmingham, and 117 by railway from London. It has stations on the Birmingham and Lichfield section of the L. & N.W.R., and on the Birmingham and Walsall section of the M.R., and a post, money order, and telegraph office under Birmingham. The town took its name of Coldfield from a bleak adjacent tract on the W. It dates from at least the Saxon times, and was an ancient royal manor which passed to the Earls of Warwick. John Vesey, bishop of Exeter, obtained for Sutton Coldfield, his native place, not only a charter from Henry VIII., but also the gift of the manor for the corporation. He also built a town-hall and market-house, enlarged the church, founded and endowed the grammar school, and established various charities. Handsome new buildings were erected for the grammar school in 18 87, and it is now conducted on the most approved modern principles. The corporation was reconstituted in 1885, and now consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors. The town has become a residential suburb of Birmingham and Walsall, and has undergone enlargement and improvement in recent years. The town-hall was erected in 1859. The police station, in which petty sessions are held, was built in 1888. The literary institute and library are accommodated in the town-hall. The parish church is partly Early English and partly Late Perpendicular. It contains an altar-tomb with a recumbent mitred effigy of Bishop Vesey, a Norman font, and a fine old oak screen. The church was restored and a new aisle was added in 1879. There are Roman Catholic, Congregational, and Wesleyan chapels, a cemetery, a dispensary, and alms-houses. A weekly newspaper is published. There are no manufactures of any importance, the inhabitants being chiefly engaged in agriculture. Sutton Park is an extensive in-closure, lying to the W and S of the town, over 2000 acres in extent. It is available for the grazing of the inhabitants' horses and cattle at a small fee, and at that portion nearest the town has a crystal palace and promenade grounds. A large portion, however, exhibits wild picturesque scenery, containing much woodland and several fine sheets of water. The municipal borough is divided into the six wards of Boldmere, Hill, Maney, Trinity, Walmley, and Wylde Green, and has a commission of the peace. The parish is conterminate with the borough. Acreage, 12,828; population, 8625. It is divided into the ecclesiastical parishes of Holy Trinity (population, 3852), Boldmere (constituted 1857, population 2592), Hill (constituted 1853, population 1321), and Walmley (constituted 1840, population 771). It has five stations on the L. & N.W.R., Chester Road, Wylde Green, Sntton Coldfield, Four Oakes, and Blake Street; and three on the M.R., Penns, Sutton Town, and Sutton Park. The living of Holy Trinity is a rectory in the diocese of Worcester; gross value, £1800. The vicarages of Boldmere, Hill, and Walmley are separate benefices.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The Warwickshire County Record Office hold the following registers for Sutton Coldfield:

Most of the records prior to 1911 have been digitised and are available on Ancestry.co.uk

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Sutton Coldfield from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Sutton-Coldfield (Holy Trinity))

Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Warwickshire is available to browse.

Maps

Online maps of Sutton Coldfield are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Warwickshire papers online:

• Leamington Spa Courier

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Warwickshire 1619 is available on the Heraldry page.