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Sutton-Coldfleld in Warwick County England History and GeographySUTTON-COLDFLELD, a market town and parish, having separate jurisdiction, though locally in the Birmingham division of the hundred of Hemlingford, county of WARWICK, 26 miles (N.W. by N.) from Warwick, and 110 (N.W. by N.) from London, containing 3466 inhabitants. This town, formerly called Sutton-Colville, and King's Sutton, is of considerable antiquity, having been of some note in the Saxon times. During the reign of Edward the Confessor, the manor was in the possession of Edwin, Earl of Mercia, but subsequently William the Conqueror held it in his own hands, and Henry I. exchanged it with the Earl of Warwick for other manors. In later times, the town having nearly fallen into decay, it was indebted to the attachment of Vesey, Bishop of Exeter, and chaplain to Henry VIII., who was a native of this place, for that munificence which led to its revival, and laid the foundation of its future prosperity. It occupies a bleak and exposed situation on rising ground of steep acclivity, and consists principally of one long street; the houses are mostly modern, well built, and of handsome appearance, and the inhabitants are well supplied with water from springs. Adjacent to it is a very extensive and finely-wooded park, in which the inhabitants have the privilege of pasturage, for a small payment to the corporation: it is crossed by the Iknield-street, which is distinctly traceable for two miles, entering the park near a small artificial mount, called King's Standing on the Coldfield, from the circumstance of Charles having harangued his troops from Shropshire on this spot, and taking thence a direction into the Lichfield road. Here is a medicinal spring, called Rounton Well; another, possessing sulphureous qualities, is now disused. The principal occupation is the manufacture of spades, saws, axes, and other implements: mills for grinding gun-barrels are worked by streams of water issuing from pools in the park, of which one covers from thirty to thirty-five acres. The Birmingham and Fazely canal passes through the parish. The market is held on Monday; and fairs are on Trinity-Monday and November 8th, for cattle, sheep, and pedlary. The town is governed by a corporation, which obtained its charter from Henry VIII., at the instance of Bishop Vesey, consisting of a warden, two capital burgesses, and twenty-two other corporate members. The warden, who is chosen annually, and the capital burgesses, for life, by the corporation, from their own body, are justices of the peace by virtue of their office: the warden acts as coroner for the town, manor, and lordship of Sutton. The corporation are lords of the manor, and elect a lord high steward and park-keepers: the former appoints his deputy, who must be a lawyer, and presides at the courts leet and baron. The other members are also chosen by the corporation; the inhabitants are free and eligible by residence. Under the charter they were empowered to hold courts of Oyer and Terminer, and of gaol delivery, which, from disuse, have been transferred to the county town, the corporation paying a quota towards the county rate: they hold a petty session at the town hall, on the Friday in the week of general quarter sessions. A court of record was formerly held, but it has been discontinued since 1727. In the town hall, a neat brick building, are the arms of Bishop Vesey, emblazoned on a shield surmounted with a mitre. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Coventry, and diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, rated in the king's books at £33. 9. 2., and in the patronage of William Bedford, Esq. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a fine ancient structure, built probably in the thirteenth century, though combining different styles of English architecture: the aisles were added by Bishop Vesey, whose effigy, in a recumbent posture, with a mitre on his head and crosier in his right hand, is in the chancel: part of the nave fell down about seventy years ago, and was rebuilt by the corporation, at the expense of £1500. The free grammar school was founded, in the reign of Henry VIII., and endowed with land in the parish, by Bishop Vesey: the salary of the master is from £300 to £400 per annum, and a handsome house was erected for him, chiefly at the expense of the corporation, on the condition of his teaching twenty-four poor boys additionally in reading, writing, and arithmetic. National schools, in which about two hundred and forty children of both sexes are educated and clothed, are supported from funds belonging to the corporation. Almshouses for five aged men and five aged women, with gardens attached, were built and are supported by the corporation. Among various charitable benefactions, four marriage portions, of £24 each, are allowed annually to four poor maidens, natives or long resident. Near Driffold house, so called from the custom of driving and folding the cattle of the parishioners, a farm-house occupies the site of the old manor-house, formerly an episcopal palace of great strength, of which a few remains are still visible. At the north-west extremity of Sutton, near the Chester road, is a pool called the Bowen, at the extremity of which are the remains of a fortification, called Loaches Banks, enclosing a quadrangular area of nearly two acres, surrounded by three large mounds and three narrow trenches, supposed to be an ancient British camp, from the neighbouring heath being named Drude heath (i. e. Druids' heath): it is defended on three sides by a morass, and accessible only on the side from the Coldfield, where it is protected by a larger mound. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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