For almost 40 years Sutton Coldfield boasted a nationally-known scientific and cultural society. It was called the Vesey Club, and it first met in July 1886. The club survived until after the First World War. The prime mover behind the esta...

In the later decades of the 19th century Birmingham was arguably the most progressive place to live in Britain. The town - it became a city in 1889 - embraced civic improvement, the council taking over the supply of water and gas and opening an ...

William Kirkpatrick Riland Bedford was rector of Sutton Coldfield for 42 years. His family had long filled the incumbency in Sutton, and he played a leading role in the affairs of the town. Riland Bedford was the founder of the Sutton Coldfield ...

In summer 1860 'History of the Forest and Chase of Sutton Coldfield' was published, without the author being identified, by Simpkin, Marshall & Co. This publisher specialised in bringing out the work of unknown writers, and expected them to ...

The railway line that linked Sutton with Birmingham opened on June 2, 1862. The first engine to arrive in Sutton was met by a party of leading townsmen, induding the warden Josiah Wright, who was headmaster of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School. The ...

Big Big Train are the most successful rock band that you have never heard of. In October 2019 they sold out Birmingham Town Hall; in March 2022 they will perform at the Symphony Hall. Their new album 'Common Ground' is steadily climbing the char...

It is to be hoped that at some point in the not-too-distant future the Library of Birmingham’s rare copy of the First Folio will pay a visit to Sutton Coldfield Library. The First Folio, published in 1623, is the first printed collection of Shak...

I recently took a stroll along High Street at the top of Sutton so that I could gaze at the edifices which adorn it. As is always the case when I am studying old buildings, I thought of the people who lived in them. As I examined the Three Tuns,...

Last week two things happened that brought to my mind the eminent Suttonian George Bodington (1799-1882). The first was when I found myself pausing to admire the magnificent flower beds at Bodington Gardens in Maney. A day or two later, when ...

When you think about it, clues about the history of Sutton Coldfield are all around us. You only need to look. For example, whilst walking past St Peter's Church in Maney the other week, I decided to pause and read the inscription on the foundat...