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Sutton Coldfield

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But if you hunt around remnants of the past can still be found - wooden sleepers on the bay platform buffer stop:-
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Remnants of the old trackwork still remain:-
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Broken wooden sleeper on the bay platform line:-
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Platform 2 & 3 buildings are wonderfully preserved:-
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Metal plates on concrete platform footbridge:-
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And on the roadbridge:-
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Birmingham Archives & Collections have just posted, on Twitter, 'A map of Sutton Coldfield Town Centre and Adjoining Farm Land circa 1760 drawn by J H Hill in 1977 from various old plans and private surveys.'

I noticed a reference to the Hart Inn, roughly where the Royal is now. This is not mentioned by Roger Lea in his note on the Royal and I wondered if anyone had any information?


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Fascinating. I was brought up in Rectory Rd which didn't exist then, but appears to be where the footpath leads from the Church down to the Glebe and what became Rectory Park. Am I correct? Interesting that The Three Tuns and the Kings Arms were there.
 
Hi Ornette,

Thank you for posting the map. It may have been that the Hart Inn information wasn't available when Roger wrote about The Royal. Lots of things have come to light about Sutton and I expect more will be discovered in the future.

I'm going to the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group this afternoon and will see if anyone has any information for you. It's very sad but Sutton Library closes on Saturday so this is our last meeting there. We are effectively homeless and all the archives are being transferred to Birmingham (which is the right place for them). They need careful, expert handling and in some cases restoration.

We were hoping that the information in the reference section, on the open shelves, would be left in Sutton but unfortunately this isn't the case. We only had a month's notice of the closure date as did the staff. As you can see from the name we are primarily a research group and after Saturday we will have nothing to research and nowhere to do it!
 
Ornette said:
Birmingham Archives & Collections have just posted, on Twitter, 'A map of Sutton Coldfield Town Centre and Adjoining Farm Land circa 1760 drawn by J H Hill in 1977 from various old plans and private surveys.'

I noticed a reference to the Hart Inn, roughly where the Royal is now. This is not mentioned by Roger Lea in his note on the Royal and I wondered if anyone had any information?


View attachment 204431
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fantastic map thank you

lyn
 
just looking again at the map on post 98 ...its says workhouse land so does anyone know if there was already a workhouse there or was it vacant land ready to build one on ?

lyn
 
Ornette said:
Birmingham Archives & Collections have just posted, on Twitter, 'A map of Sutton Coldfield Town Centre and Adjoining Farm Land circa 1760 drawn by J H Hill in 1977 from various old plans and private surveys.'

I noticed a reference to the Hart Inn, roughly where the Royal is now. This is not mentioned by Roger Lea in his note on the Royal and I wondered if anyone had any information?


View attachment 204431
Click to expand...

June 1849 Freehold and Lease hold Auction includes two substantially built tournaments situated at Blabs, near town of Sutton and in the occupation of Edward Pattison and William Ingley.

Also…Excellent Meadow, called Blab’s Meadow and Great Blab’s Meadow.
 
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The workhouse was built ("The story of Sutton Coldfield" by Roger Lea) in 1737 on the site of the original Bishop Vesey Grammar School/It closed in 1837, and inhabitants then went to Edington.
 
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Ornette, as promised I went to the library this afternoon and asked the question.
JH Hill was a former member of the group some years ago.
The inn was called The White Hart rather than The Hart. It wasn't exactly on the site of the Royal but just a little further up. Probably approximately where Butco used to be in a 1960's building set back from the road.
The coming of the railway disturbed several properties and this may have been one.
It became a domestic property lived in by Miss Bracken, a notable Sutton resident and later by Mr Shirley Perkins. These names may help you pinpoint the property.
I still have one more avenue to explore and ŵill let you know any findings.
 
Lady Penelope said:
Hi Ornette,

Thank you for posting the map. It may have been that the Hart Inn information wasn't available when Roger wrote about The Royal. Lots of things have come to light about Sutton and I expect more will be discovered in the future.

I'm going to the Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group this afternoon and will see if anyone has any information for you. It's very sad but Sutton Library closes on Saturday so this is our last meeting there. We are effectively homeless and all the archives are being transferred to Birmingham (which is the right place for them). They need careful, expert handling and in some cases restoration.

We were hoping that the information in the reference section, on the open shelves, would be left in Sutton but unfortunately this isn't the case. We only had a month's notice of the closure date as did the staff. As you can see from the name we are primarily a research group and after Saturday we will have nothing to research and nowhere to do it!
Click to expand...
sorry to hear that you have lost the libary pen...sadly they are becoming a thing of the past :mad:and ok the archives are going to be transferred to birmingham library but its not always possible or convenient for people to get there

lyn
 
Exactly Lyn. I can get on the train and then the tram which sounds easy but with creaking limbs and very little get-up-and-go I view the prospect with dismay. I think we're going to try to go to the Wolfson Centre once a month but of course that depends on how things are at home. Some of Sutton's records are already in Birmingham.

I just wish we'd been given more notice.

Pen
 
Lady P, thanks for investigating further. Some thoughts.

Roger Lea references a pub called the White Hart, on the site of what is now the N-Legal building but this burned down in 1621. Perhaps a coincidence. It is a common pub name.

Roger Lea also states that Miss Bracken lived at Vesey House, 5 High Street, that is adjacent to the building which was the White Hart.

My impression, from what I have read (I am very much a beginner in this) is that Mr Shirley Perkins lived in the Moat House, up the road.

I agree about the location as the building which eventually became the Royal was previously a private house with large formal gardens, shown on the map, just to the south. (Kerry Osbourne (People and Buildings of SC vol 3, p10).

On the face of it the map is accurate, given the known location of buildings. The mapmaker seems to be meticulous.

Given our knowledge of the other pubs on the map it seems strange that there is no evidence of its existence (under either name) between the date of the map and its presumed demolition by the railway cutting.
 
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On the map in post 98, can see Shoulder of Mutton, Kings Arms, Three Tuns, Hart, the Swan:
But where was the Old Inn called the White Horse ?
(Mentioned in 1869)
 
Pedrocut said:
On the map in post 98, can see Shoulder of Mutton, Kings Arms, Three Tuns, Hart, the Swan:
But where was the Old Inn called the White Horse ?
(Mentioned in 1869)
Click to expand...
From the typeface the Shoulder of Mutton is a piece of land, not a building.

Does anyone know what the abbreviations E.C. L.H. V.S.L. and A.H. mean?
 
Ornette, from what I was told yesterday Miss Bracken lived in a least two homes on the High Street. It was a little chaotic yesterday as there was so much to get through and we're not meeting for some weeks. I've made a note and if anything else comes to light I'll keep you posted.

Shirley Perkins did live at Moat House but moved to the White Hart Building. I will add this to my queries list for when we get organised.
I'm not sure that it was demolished for the railway but definitely must have been affected.

Glad you found Kerry Osbourne's book useful. Very meticulously written. Unfortunately I probably won't see him again now that the library has closed.
 
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