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Wikipedia talk:How the Current events page works

Standards / rules
Where was the discussion of this "supposed" standards/rules/etc .... I didn't see it ... a discussion on this need to take place ... otherwise it's rather "unenforceable"; other than by an editor that wants to edit the items other place in CE).

Looks like Maveric149's opinion mostly ... copied by Magnus Manske (and tweaked by Viajero) ...

Sincerely, reddi

 * OK, let's discuss them. Which parts do you have problems with? – Hjr 16:44, 15 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Abbreviations
I have added advice to annotate URLs as per current usage. Should News collections and sources be augmented with canonical abbreviations? --Phil | Talk 13:18, Sep 7, 2004 (UTC)

Deciding on which day a news event occurred
There's currently an editing scuffle--not to become a war, I hope--over which date should be used when listing a certain story. Do we always go by UTC? If so, then something which occurs in U.S. during the evening (local time) could well belong under the following day's heading, especially if it happens on the West coast. Just checking ... DSatz 00:19, August 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * Go with the day it happened in the place it happened. --  user:zanimum

See talk page of Current events concerning highlighting some key words
The actual version does not respect the policy to introduce the context. Beside, because of an abuse of wikilinks, everything is highlighted (this may not be the case just now, as several clean-up have been made this last week - however, it is a recurrent problem), thus nothing is highlighted. It is impossible to scan the page, and thus the user has to read all complete sentences before understanding that the subject doesn't interest him, making him lose time best spend other places. Something should be done; please discuss it on the talk page of Current events concerning highlighting some key words. Tazmaniacs 17:15, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Sidebar relationships
I'm a bit unsure about the intended relationship between sections in the sidebar and the related full articles Deaths in 2006, Ongoing wars, Electoral calendar 2006. Should the sidebar list all (within a certain time period) or only the most important and if the latter then what is the threshold. Can anyone help? AndrewRT - Talk 15:21, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Only the more important things, but there is no agreed threshold. Best name (talk) 21:18, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Stories without links
Some editors seem to be adding stories which don't link into any significant wikipedia articles. Taking an example, Beijing criticises the President of Taiwan for making calls for independence.(The Times) from 6 March, the only links are to Beijing the city (instead of the Peoples Republic of China which is the real subject) and Taiwan the island (instead of Republic of China, President of the Republic of China or Chen Shui-bian). It has no links to the in-depth articles on Political status of Taiwan or Taiwan independence.

I'm not sure the value of these entries. The how-to page states:

''The Current events portal and associated pages are where we list news on a daily basis with a link to background articles ... The current events portal is a news backgrounder''

I would like to propose a new policy: Any items which don't have any links other than trivial ones can be deleted by any another editor. This policy would ensure editors linked into the appropriate backgrounders and remove stories that add nothing to wikipedia.

Any thoughts? AndrewRT(Talk) 20:56, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Why not just use similar guidelines to in-the-news, including only events that merit a change to an article? Night Gyr (talk/Oy) 16:34, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

 * I would skew towards encouraging editors who see an article linked only trivially to link them to significant relevant articles if possible. Other editors may not be aware of the best articles to link them to. Exposing them to those articles, with an enlightening edit summary and a message on their talk page (and Portal talk:Current events) suggesting how to find the more in-depth articles, would help editors search for the best links. --Gotyear (talk) 23:53, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Recent deaths sidebar
How long ago should the least recent deaths be? It varies a great deal; is there an agreed length of time? Best name (talk) 21:18, 19 April 2009 (UTC)


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Breeding back

Breeding back is a form of artificial selection by the deliberate selective breeding of domestic (but not exclusively) animals, in an attempt to achieve an animal breed with a phenotype that resembles a wild type ancestor, usually one that has gone extinct. Breeding back is not to be confused with dedomestication.

It must be kept in mind that a breeding-back breed may be very similar to the extinct wild type in phenotype, ecological niche, and to some extent genetics, but the gene pool of that wild type was different prior to its extinction. Even the superficial authenticity of a bred-back animal depends on the particular stock used to breed the new lineage. As a result of this, some breeds, like Heck cattle, are at best a vague look-alike of the extinct wild type aurochs, according to the literature.

Background
The aim of breeding back programs is to restore the wild traits which may have been unintentionally preserved in the lineages of domesticated animals. Commonly, not only the new animal's phenotype, but also its ecological capacity, are considered in back-breeding projects, as hardy, "bred back" animals may be used in certain conservation projects. In nature, usually only individuals well suited to their natural circumstances will survive and reproduce, whereas humans select animals with additional attractive, docile or productive characteristics, protecting them from the dangers once found in their ancestral environment (predation, drought, disease, extremes of weather, lack of mating opportunities, etc.). In such cases, selection criteria in nature differ from those found in domesticated conditions. Because of this, domesticated animals often differ significantly in phenotype, behaviour and genetics from their wild forerunners. It is the hope of breeding-back programs to re-express, within a new breeding lineage, the wild, ancient traits that may have "lain buried" in the DNA of domestic animals.

In many cases, the extinct wild type ancestors of a given species are known only through skeletons and, in some cases, historical descriptions, making their phenotype poorly understood. Given that situation, there is currently no certainty of achieving success with a back-breeding attempt, and any results must be reviewed with great caution. In order to test genetic closeness, DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear) of the breeding animals must be compared against that of the extinct animal.

Successful breeding back might be possible: humans have selected animals only for superficial traits, and as a rule did not intentionally change less-observable traits, such as metabolic biochemistry. Further, since many domestic species show behaviours derived from their wild ancestors (such as the herding instinct of cattle or the social instincts of dogs), and are fit to survive outside the sphere of human interference (as evidenced by the many feral populations of various domestic animals), it can be presumed that "bred back" animals might be able to function like their wild ancestors. For example, food preferences are assumed to be largely the same in domesticated animals as in their wild type ancestors.

Natural selection might serve as an additional tool in creating "authentic" robustness, "authentic" behaviour, and perhaps, the original phenotype as well. In some cases, a sufficient predator population would be necessary to enable such a selection process; in today's Europe, where many breeding-back attempts take place, this predator population is largely absent.

Use
Bred-back breeds are desirable in conservation biology, as they may fill an ecological gap left open by the extinction of a wild type due to human activities. As long as food preference, behaviour, robustness, defence against predators, hunting or foraging instincts and phenotype are the same as in the wild type, the bred-back phenotype will function similarly in the ecosystem. Releasing such animals into the wild would re-fill the previously empty niche, and allow a natural dynamic among the various species of the ecosystem to re-establish. However, not all breeding-back attempts will result in an animal that is closer to the wild type than are primitive domestic breeds. For example, Heck cattle bear less resemblance to the aurochs than do many Iberian fighting cattle.

Aurochs
Ideas for creating an aurochs-like animal from domestic cattle have been around since 1835. In the 1920s, Heinz and Lutz Heck tried to breed an aurochs look-alike, using central European dairy breeds and southern European cattle. The result, Heck cattle, are hardy, but differ from the aurochs in many respects, although a resemblance in colour and, less reliably, horns has been achieved. From 1996 onwards, Heck cattle have been crossed with "primitive" Iberian breeds like Sayaguesa Cattle and fighting cattle, as well as the very large Italian breed Chianina, in a number of German reserves, in order to enhance the resemblance to the aurochs. The results are called Taurus cattle, being larger and longer-legged than Heck cattle and having more aurochs-like horns. Another of the projects to achieve a type of cattle that resembles the aurochs is the TaurOs Project, using primitive, hardy southern European breeds, specifically Limia, Maremmana primitivo, Maronesa, Podolica, Sayaguesa and Pajuna.

European wild horse
The Polish Konik horse is often erroneously considered the result of a breeding-back experiment to "recreate" the phenotype of the Tarpan. The Konik is actually a hardy landrace breed originating in Poland, which was called Panje horse before agriculturist Tadeusz Vetulani coined the name "Konik" in the 1920s. Vetulani started an experiment to reconstruct the Tarpan using Koniks; ultimately, his stock made only a minor contribution to the present-day Konik population.

During the Second World War, the Heck brothers crossed Koniks with Przewalski's horses and ponies, such as the Icelandic horse and the Gotland pony; the result is now called the Heck Horse. During recent decades, Heck horses have been continually crossed with Koniks, making the two phenotypes at present nearly indistinguishable, excepting that the Heck horse tends to have a lighter build.

Pigs
Boar–pig hybrids, which are hybrids of wild boars and domestic pigs and exist as an invasive species throughout Eurasia, the Americas, Australia, and in other places where European settlers imported wild boars to use as game animals, are also used for selective breeding to re-create the type of pigs represented in prehistoric artworks dating from the Iron Age and earlier in ancient Europe. A project to create them, under the name of the Iron Age pig, started in the early 1980s by crossing a male wild boar with a Tamworth sow to produce an animal resembling what Iron Age pigs are believed to have looked like. Iron Age pigs are generally only raised in Europe for the specialty meat market, and in keeping with their heritage are generally more aggressive and harder to handle than purebred domesticated pigs.

Quagga
The Quagga Project is an attempt, based in South Africa, to breed animals which strongly resemble the now-extinct quagga, a subspecies of the plains zebra which died out in 1883. Accordingly, the project is limited to selecting for the physical appearance of the original, as recorded by twenty-three mounted specimens, many contemporary illustrations, and a number of written accounts of the animals.

The two most noticeable characteristics of the quagga, fewer stripes and a darker pelage, are frequently observed to varying degrees in wild plains zebra populations. Animals with these two traits have been sought out for the Quagga Project breeding programme. In its fourth breeding iteration, the Quagga Project has resulted in foals displaying faint to absent striping on the hind legs and body, although the brown background color of the extinct quagga has yet to emerge. The project refers to their animals as "Rau quaggas", after the project founder Reinhold Rau.

The project has been criticized for its focus on the morphological characteristics of the quagga, as the extinct animal may have possessed unrecorded behavioral or non-visible traits that would be impossible to reliably breed back from plains zebras.

Wolf
Although the wolf, the wild ancestor of domestic dogs, is not extinct, its phenotype is the target of several developmental breeds including the Northern Inuit Dog and the Tamaskan Dog. They are all crossbreeds of German Shepherds, Alaskan Malamutes and huskies, selected for phenotypic wolf characteristics. These new breeds may be viewed as breeding-back attempts as well.

Although extinct, Japanese wolf DNA survives in the modern domestic Shikoku Inu. It is thought that crossing this breed with some subspecies of Asian wolves would result in an authentic analogue to fill the ecological niche left empty in the absence of this apex predator.

The Dire Wolf Project, started in 1988, aims to bring back the look of the extinct prehistoric dire wolf by breeding different domestic dog breeds that resemble it.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Breeding back


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Barton-upon-Humber

Barton-upon-Humber or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is 6 mi south-west of Kingston upon Hull and 31 mi north north-east of the county town of Lincoln. Other nearby towns include Scunthorpe to the south-west and Grimsby to the south-east.

Geography
Barton is on the south bank of the Humber Estuary and is at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. The Viking Way starts near the bridge.

Transport connections
The Barton – Cleethorpes Branch Line (opened 1849) via Grimsby terminates at Barton-on-Humber railway station. The A15 passes to the west of the town cutting through Beacon Hill, and has a junction with the A1077 Ferriby Road to South Ferriby. The B1218 passes north–south through the town, and leads to Barton Waterside. Bus services provided by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire link the town with Cleethorpes, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Hull.

Prehistoric
Cropmarks and the discovery of polished handaxes in the area surrounding Barton-upon-Humber suggest that the area was inhabited at least as far back as the Neolithic (circa 4000 to circa 2,500 BCE).

Roman
No Roman settlement has been found in Barton-upon-Humber, though individual discoveries dating to the Roman period have been made: in 1828 a Roman cremation and an inhumation were discovered, in 1967 part of a Roman road was excavated near Bereton school (now Baysgarth school), and other finds of coins, potteries, querns, and other Roman objects have been made. The Deepdale Hoard was discovered in the vicinity in 1979.

Anglo-Saxon

An Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery was discovered at Castledyke South during the construction of air raid shelters in 1939. The cemetery,   believed to have been in use from the late 5th or early 6th century until the late 7th century, was investigated and partially excavated during 1975 to 1990. The skeletal remains of 227 individuals were identified, including one who had undergone (and survived) trepanning.

The Castledyke South area has been suggested to be the site of the Battle of Brunanburh (AD 937), one of the most defining battles in the history of the British Isles. Historical sources tell of a huge fleet of warships entering the Humber led by Olaf Guthfrithsson. Olaf and a coalition force were overwhelmed in battle by King Æthelstan and his army, after which the defeated warriors and their leaders were said to have escaped in their ships.

Medieval
Barton is mentioned as a Medieval borough in documents dating from 1086, 1216–1272 and 1298. A ferry to Hull was first recorded in 1086. The oldest residential building in Barton is 51 Fleetgate: it dates back to 1325 with the majority of the front of the building dating to 1425. The Medieval manor in Barton was Tyrwhitt Hall which dates to at least the 15th century.

Churches
There are two Medieval churches extant in Barton-upon-Humber, St Peter's and St Mary's, located only about 170 yards apart.

St Peter's is a large, mostly Anglo-Saxon church. The Church of England made it redundant in 1972, after which the remains of some 2,750 people were removed. The significance of the human remains lies in their representing the pathology of an isolated community over the period ca. 950-ca. 1850. The church was reopened in May 2007 as a resource for medical research into the development of diseases and ossuary practices. An excavation report on this, one of England's most extensively investigated parish churches, was published in 2007.

St. Peter's predates St. Mary's, which may have originated as a chapel on the original market place. St. Mary's was enlarged and increased in importance as the town's trade thrived in the 12th and 13th centuries.

18th century

 * William Hall's Barton Ropery opens in 1767.

19th century

 * The United Reformed Church (originally the Providence Chapel) was opened in 1806.
 * A Temperance Hall was opened in 1843 and latterly converted into the Assembly Rooms in 1906.
 * The Police Station and Magistrates Court was opened in 1847.
 * The Wilderspin National School opened in 1844.
 * The first public train arrived in Barton-upon-Humber on 1 March 1849; this fact is commemorated by a blue plaque at the modern railway station.
 * The Corn Exchange, which was later converted into a private club, opened in 1854.
 * The Trinity Methodist Church was built in 1860–1861.
 * The Oddfellow's Hall was constructed in 1864. It latterly served as Barton's first cinema, a roller skating rink, a dance hall during the Second World War, and as offices and private accommodations.
 * What is now the Salvation Army Citadel was first opened as a Primitive Methodist Chapel in 1867.
 * In 1880 Fred Hopper started a bicycle repair business in a former blacksmith's shop in the town. He soon began manufacturing bicycles, and after buying the Elswick Cycle Company of Newcastle, Northumberland in 1910, developed the renamed Elswick Hopper into a major manufacturer.

20th century

 * The war memorial records the deaths of 165 men from Barton who died fighting in the First World War. The memorial was unveiled on 3 April 1921 and is a Grade II listed structure.
 * A further 48 men and women who died fighting in the Second World War are also recorded on the memorial.
 * In 1922 the Oxford Picture Theatre opened on Newport. It was subsequently renamed as the 'Oxford Cinema', and closed in 1966. The building has since been used as a bingo hall and sports centre.
 * The Star Theatre was opened on Fleetgate around 1934. By 1953 it had been renamed the Star cinema. It closed in June 1957 and was subsequently demolished.

Education
Baysgarth School, on Barrow Road, is a comprehensive school for ages 11–18. There are also three primary schools: St Peter's Church of England, on Marsh Lane; the Castledyke Primary School (formerly Barton County School), on the B1218; and Bowmandale Primary School, in the south of the town.

Barton Grammar School, which opened in 1931, used to be on Caistor Road. Henry Treece, the poet and author, was a teacher at the grammar school.

Industry
The clay pits on the Humber foreshore were the focus of a tile and cement industry from 1850 to 1959. The industrial sites were abandoned in the early 20th century once supplies of clay began to run out. The clay workings filled with water and became colonised by species of reeds. The reserve was acquired by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust in 1983, who opened it as Far Ings National Nature Reserve in the same year.

For 20 years, Barton-upon-Humber was home to a 750000 sqft site for Kimberly-Clark. The site closed in March 2013 and more than 200 jobs were lost. Wren Kitchens bought the site and moved to a new head office, 'The Nest', on the site, initially employing 429 people. Wren extended the site in 2016, creating an additional 600 jobs. In 2019 Wren announced successful plans to build a £120million extension to the site. The new site was expected to employ an additional 535 people.

Events
An annual 'Bike night', a social event in the town celebrating motorcycles, has been held since 1997. An annual arts festival has been held in Barton-upon-Humber since 1998.

Museums
Since 1981, there has been a local history museum based in Baysgarth House, within Baysgarth Park. In 2009, the Wilderspin National School museum opened following a £1.9 million funding investment. The school focuses on the life and works of Samuel Wilderspin. In September 2020 an archive and exhibition centre dedicated to Ted Lewis was opened on Ferriby Road.

Public Houses
Barton-upon-Humber has at least seven extant public houses, including The Volunteer Arms, The George Hotel, and The Wheatsheaf. At least thirteen former public houses have been recorded from Barton, including the Steam Packet (on Fleetgate) which was demolished in 1848 in advance of the new railway here, and the Whitecross Tavern which closed in 1926. Former pubs which have recently closed and since been redeveloped include The Blue Bell, which was redeveloped in 2016 into a housing complex named Blue Bell Court, and the Carnival Inn, which was demolished in 2013.

Local media
Regional TV news is provided by BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and ITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from the Belmont TV transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Humberside, Greatest Hits Radio East Yorkshire & Northern Lincolnshire, Hits Radio East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire, Nation Radio East Yorkshire, Capital Yorkshire and Barton FM, a community based radio station.

Barton-upon-Humber is served by the weekly local newspaper, Grimsby Telegraph.

title: Barton-upon-Humber


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Buckfastleigh

Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway (A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery. It is 18 miles (29 km) east-northeast of Plymouth, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Exeter and has a population of 3,661. It is a centre of tourism and is home to Buckfast Abbey, the South Devon Railway, the Buckfastleigh Butterfly Farm and Otter Sanctuary, the Tomb of Squire Richard Cabell and The Valiant Soldier.

With 13 letters, Buckfastleigh is one of the longest place names in England with no repeated letters, tied with Buslingthorpe, Leeds and Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire, but exceeded by Bricklehampton in Worcestershire with 14 letters.

Geography
Geographically, Buckfastleigh straddles the confluence of two small streams from Dartmoor which feed into the River Dart just to the east of the town. About one mile to the north lies Buckfast, home of Buckfast Abbey. To the northwest lie Holne and Scorriton on the southern breastwork of the Dartmoor upland. Pridhamsleigh Cavern is nearby and is neighboured by Ashburton and Lower Dean.

History
Historically Buckfastleigh has grown as a mill town known for its woollen mills, corn and paper mills and a tannery supported by the rivers Dart, Mardle and the Dean Burn – water being an essential natural resource used in the manufacturing of wool and other products.

Buckfastleigh is medieval in origin, as is still evident in the original layout of the town. By the seventeenth century, most of the properties had been rebuilt, but the medieval layout, particularly in Fore Street, is still visible today.

The name "Buckfast" means "stronghold" – traditionally a place where deer and buck were held, and "Leigh" would have been the pasture belonging to Buckfast – hence the meaning deer held in a pasture (buck-fast-leigh).

Buckfast probably existed before Buckfastleigh as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book and in 1018 a Benedictine Abbey was founded and endorsed by King Canute at Buckfast.

Buckfastleigh town centre is now an area of mostly late eighteenth- to early twentieth-century buildings with an interesting collection of private dwellings, commercial and retail properties and public houses which retain many, if not all, of their original features, styles and character.

The town centre during the first half of the twentieth century was a lively almost self-sufficient community with locally based employment and a large building programme of local authority housing initiated by Buckfastleigh Urban District Council which commenced in the 1920s and extended the town to the south west and the north west. Census data shows that in 1801 the population was 1,525, and 2,781 in 1901.

The Hamlyn family were the owners of the largest of the woollen mills in the town. In 1880 the Hamlyn family built Bossell - a large country house with 8 acres of land - as their family home in the town. The Hamlyn family monogram still adorns the front of the house. In 1887 they were instrumental in the building Buckfastleigh Town Hall to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.

Land was also made available at this time for further public facilities which included Victoria Park, the tennis courts and the swimming pool. The new primary school was built in 1875, while the railway line from Buckfastleigh and Ashburton to Totnes had been opened in 1872 (it lost its passenger trains in 1958; and the goods service in 1962). Links to Ashburton and Totnes are maintained by Country Bus service 88 and which continues to Newton Abbot.

Pennywell Farm is an organic farm and tourist attraction just outside the town.

Brook manor house and Sherlock Holmes
To the west of the town is the manor house of Brook, a grade II* listed building, built in 1656 by Richard Cabell (d. 1677), lord of the manor of Brook. He was the subject of a local legend which relates that on the night of his death, black hounds breathing fire and smoke raced over Dartmoor and surrounded Brook House, howling. Cabell's unusual tomb was allegedly designed to keep his restless spirit from roaming Dartmoor. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based his Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901–1902) on this legend. The story's description of Baskerville Hall, however, is based on Cromer Hall in Norfolk.

South Devon Railway Trust
The South Devon Railway Trust is a charitable organisation that operates a heritage railway from Totnes to Buckfastleigh in Devon, alongside the River Dart. The heritage railway itself is known as the South Devon Railway, named in honour of the South Devon Railway Company that originally built much of Devon's railway infrastructure, although its previous name of the Dart Valley Railway is sometimes still heard.

The line was built by the Buckfastleigh, Totnes and South Devon Railway and first opened on 1 May 1872. Originally the line connected Totnes with Ashburton but in recent years the line passing between Buckfastleigh and Ashburton was demolished to make way for the A38 expressway. The line was worked by the larger South Devon Railway Company until 1 February 1876 when this was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway.

Vintage steam locomotives and carriages in the tradition of a bygone age are used; it offers unique scenery only seen from the railway. The South Devon Railway has an interesting collection of both steam and diesel locomotives. There are many former Great Western engines and industrial locomotives, the South Devon Railway Trust work with National Railway Museum.

Buckfast Abbey
Buckfast Abbey was founded by Earl Aylward in the reign of King Canute in 1018. In 1147 it became a Cistercian abbey and was rebuilt in stone. In medieval times, the abbey became rich through fishing and trading in sheep wool, although the Black Death killed two abbots and many monks – by 1377 there were only fourteen monks at Buckfast.

On 25 February 1539, William Petre arrived at Buckfast and declared the abbey to be dissolved by the order of King Henry VIII. The Dissolution of the Monasteries left monks compelled to leave and the buildings were looted and then destroyed. The abbey then stood in ruins for over two hundred years.

On 28 October 1882, six Benedictine monks arrived at Buckfast having been exiled from France. The land had been leased by monks from the St. Augustine's Priory in Ramsgate and it was later bought for £4,700. The first new abbot was Boniface Natter, who died in a shipwreck in 1906. His travelling companion Anscar Vonier became the next abbot and pledged to fulfil his dying wish, namely to rebuild the abbey.

Buckfastleigh Rangers Football and Social Club
Buckfastleigh Rangers is a Football and Social Club based in Buckfastleigh, Devon. They were established in 1903, playing in the South Devon League. During recent years Rangers has enjoyed league promotion and cup success. The teams have won the Lidstone, Greenaway, Harry Treeby and the Devon Senior Cups. Over the years Buckfastleigh Rangers Football Club have played hosts to other league clubs including Torquay United, Plymouth Argyle, Watford F.C and Leyton Orient.

From Buckfastleigh
Through the ages several residents of Buckfastleigh families have earned a place in history, scholarship or commerce. One such person is Professor William Hosking, who became, in 1840, the first Professor of Architecture at King's College in London.

The curly-coated Devon Rex cat breed was first discovered in Buckfastleigh in the 1960s and is named after the county in which the town is situated.

Caves
Caves in Buckfastleigh include:
 * Bakers Pit
 * Joint Mitnor Cave (containing unfossilised remains of bison, hippopotamus, hyaena, elephant and others)
 * Reed's Cave

title: Buckfastleigh


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Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham, 9 miles south of Lichfield, 7 miles southwest of Tamworth and 7 miles east of Walsall.

Sutton Coldfield and its surrounding suburbs are governed under Birmingham City Council for local government purposes but the town has its own town council which governs the town and its surrounding areas by running local services and electing a mayor to the council. It is in the historic county of Warwickshire, and in 1974 it became part of Birmingham and the West Midlands metropolitan county under the Local Government Act 1972.

Etymology
The etymology of the name Sutton appears to be from "South Town". "The name 'Sutton Coldfield' appears to come from this time, being the 'south town' (i.e. south of Tamworth and/or Lichfield) on the edge of the 'col field'. 'Col' is usually derived from 'charcoal', charcoal burners presumably being active in the area."

Prehistory
The earliest known signs of human presence in Sutton Coldfield were discovered in 2002–2003 on the boundaries of the town. Archaeological surveys undertaken in preparation for the construction of the M6 Toll road revealed evidence of Bronze Age burnt mounds near Langley Mill Farm, at Langley Brook. Additionally, evidence for a Bronze Age burial mound was discovered, one of only two in Birmingham with the other being located in Kingstanding. Excavations also uncovered the presence of an Iron Age settlement, dating to around 400 and 100 BC, consisting of circular houses built over at least three phases surrounded by ditches. Closer to Langley Brook (a tributary of the River Tame), excavations uncovered the remains of a single circular house surrounded by ditches, dating from the same period.

Near to Langley Mill Farm is Fox Hollies, where archaeological surveys have uncovered flints dating from the New Stone Age. Amongst the finds in the area were flint cores and a flint scraper, which had been retouched with a knife. The presence of flint cores suggest that the site was used for tool manufacture and that a settlement was nearby. Additionally, a Bronze Age burnt mound was also discovered in the area.

In his History of Birmingham, published in 1782, William Hutton describes the presence of three mounds adjacent to Chester Road on the extremities of Sutton Coldfield (although now outside the modern boundaries of the town). The site, southwest of Bourne Pool (named "Bowen Pool" by Hutton ), is called Loaches Banks and was mapped as early as 1752 by Dr. Wilks of Willenhall. Hutton interpreted the earthworks as a Saxon fortification but further archaeological work led Dr. Mike Hodder, now the Planning Archaeologist for Birmingham City Council, to believe that the site was an Iron Age hill-slope enclosure. Centuries of agriculture on the land has severely affected the visibility of the features, with the earthworks now only apparent in aerial photography.

Further evidence of pre-Roman human habitation are preserved in Sutton Park. A major fire in the park in 1926 revealed six more mounds near Streetly Lane, excavations of which uncovered charred and cracked stones within them and pits below the two largest mounds. Although their date of origin is unknown, claims they were of Bronze Age origin were disproved. The mounds are now covered in rough heathland. The area around Rowton's Well has been the source of many archaeological discoveries such as flint tools, and in the 18th century, worked timbers were discovered near the well, suggesting a possible Iron Age timber trackway built across wet land, similar to others discovered elsewhere in the country. A burnt mound was also discovered in New Hall Valley.

Roman period
The presence of Romans in the area is most visible in Sutton Park, where a 1.5 mi long preserved section of Icknield Street passes through. Whilst the road ultimately connects Gloucestershire to South Yorkshire, locally, the road was important for connecting Metchley Fort in Edgbaston with Letocetum, now Wall, in Staffordshire. The road is most visible from near to the pedestrian gate on Thornhill Road (OS Grid Reference SP 08759 98830), where the 8 m wide bank that formed the road surface is most prominent. Excavations at the road have showed that it was made from compacted gravel, never having a paved surface. Along each side are intermittent ditches, marked by Roman engineers, and beyond these are hollows where gravel was excavated to make the road surface. At least three Roman coins have been found along the course of Icknield Street through Sutton Park, as well as a Roman pottery kiln elsewhere in the town.

Next to the Iron Age property at Langley Brook, the remains of a timber building and field system were discovered. Pottery recovered from this site was dated to the second and third century, indicating the presence of a Roman farmstead.

Anglo-Saxon establishment, c. 600–1135
Upon the Roman withdrawal from Britain to protect the Roman Empire on the continent in the fifth century, the area of Sutton Coldfield, still undeveloped, passed into the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Mercia. It is during this period that it is believed Sutton Coldfield may have originated as a hamlet, as a hunting lodge was built at Maney Hill for the purpose of the Mercian leaders. The outline of the deer park that it served is still visible within Sutton Park, with the ditch and bank boundary forming the western boundary of Holly Hurst, then crossing Keepers Valley, through the Lower Nuthurst and continuing on south of Blackroot Pool. Due to the marshy ground at Blackroot Valley, a fence was probably constructed to contain the deer, and the ditch and bank boundary commence again on the eastern side, on towards Holly Knoll.

This became known as Southun or Sutton; "ton" meaning the town stead to the south of Tamworth, the capital of Mercia. Middleton is situated between the two. "Coldfield" denotes an area of land on the side of hill that is exposed to the weather.

Sutone, as the manor became known, was held by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, during the reign of Edward the Confessor. Upon the death of Edwin in 1071, the manor and the rest of Mercia passed into the possession of the Crown, then ruled by William the Conqueror, resulting in Sutton Chase becoming a Royal Forest.

The manor of Sutone was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it was rated at eight hides, making it larger than all surrounding villages in terms of cultivated land.

Possession of the manor
The manor remained in the possession of the Crown until 1135, when King Henry I exchanged it for the manors of Hockham and Langham in Rutland, with Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick. The manor remained in the possession of the earldom of Warwick for around 300 years, with numerous exceptions. As Sutton Forest was no longer in the possession of the Crown, it became Sutton Chase.

In 1242, when the manor was passed to Ela Longespee, the widow of Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick, it was named as Sutton-in-Coldfield, and again noted as such in 1265 when Ela married her second husband Philip Basset. The manor of Sutton-in-Coldfield was once again in the possession of the earldom of Warwick when Ela exchanged it with William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick, for the manor of Spilsbury in Oxfordshire. The first mention of a manor house attached to the manor of Sutton was mentioned in 1315 on a site named Manor Hill, west of the parish church.

During the 15th century, Sutton Coldfield underwent a process of change due in part to the turbulent ongoings with the Earls of Warwick and their possession of the manor house. In 1397, Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick, was punished by King Richard II for being a member of the Lords Appellant. All his possessions were confiscated, including the land at Sutton, which was transferred to Thomas Holland, 3rd Earl of Kent. Upon King Richard II's death in 1400, Thomas de Beauchamp was returned his possessions, although he died the following year. In 1446, Henry de Beauchamp, 14th Earl of Warwick, died and the earldom was passed to his two-year-old daughter Anne; however, King Henry VI collected the profits of the land whilst Anne was in her infancy. Anne died in 1448, and the estate and earldom passed to her aunt Anne Neville, although this was contested by her three older half-sisters. In his Itinerary, John Leland mentions that Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and his wife, Anne Neville, are believed to have built a new manor of timber-frame construction, with a lease given by King Henry VI in 1460 to Edward Mountfort, suggesting that the manor was then occupied by the Mountfort family.

Despite being occupied by Mountfort family, Richard Neville regained his power and land, but died in 1471. Normally, the land would have remained in the possession of his wife, but instead they were given to his two daughters and their husbands. However, the eldest daughter, Isabella, contested and obtained the remainder of the interests from her sister. Isabella died in 1476, leaving the manor in the possession of her husband, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence. However, in 1478, he was attainted and executed, meaning that the manor was passed to his only surviving son, Edward Plantagenet, who was still an infant. The Crown held the lands due to Edward's age, but in 1487 granted the lands back to Anne Neville, 16th Countess of Warwick, since both of her daughters were now dead. She immediately gave the lands back; however, Sutton and other manors were given back to her in 1489. She died in 1492, with all the land returning to the possession of the Crown, with whom it remained until it was incorporated in 1528.

Growth and military influence
The manor of Sutton was not the only manor house within Sutton, as the manor of Langley was noted as being in the possession of the de Bereford family of Wishaw as early as the mid-13th century. New Hall Manor is said to date to the 13th century also, and was mentioned in 1327 as being passed from William de Sutton to Robert de Sutton. It is believed to have originally been a hunting lodge. In 1281, Peddimore Hall was first mentioned when it was sold to Hugh de Vienna by Thomas de Arden. It is presumed that the land was given to the Arden family by one of the Earls of Warwick.

It is not known exactly when the village of Sutton began to develop but in 1300, Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick, was granted a charter by King Edward I to hold a market on each Tuesday and an annual fair on the eve of Holy Trinity in the village. Sutton did not establish itself as a market town like Birmingham was able to, and the market appears to have fallen out of use, as a new charter was later granted to Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, for a market to be held on the same day, as well as fairs on the eve of Holy Trinity and the eve of St. Martin.

During the 12th and 13th centuries, religious activities were carried out at the free chapel of Saint Blaise, constructed within the Sutton manor grounds. In the late 1200s, the town constructed its own parish church, the first incumbent of which was ordained in 1305. This later became Holy Trinity Church, and the only remaining features of the original church survive below the east window, where clasping buttresses are visible, a method of construction from the mid-13th century.

Throughout the 15th century, Sutton Coldfield developed a military connection, due in part to Sir Ralph Bracebridge who obtained a lease for his lifetime from the Earl of Warwick for the Manor and Chase of Sutton Coldfield. In return, Bracebridge was required to assist the Earl with nine lances fournies and seventeen archers in strengthening Calais from French attack. As a result, Sutton Coldfield became an important training location for English soldiers during the wars between England and France. Butts were assembled within the town for archery training, and marks can still be seen in the sandstone wall on 3 Coleshill Street where archers sharpened their arrows. It is believed that 3 Coleshill Street is of medieval origin despite having a Georgian façade. Bracebridge is remembered as having dammed Ebrook to form Bracebridge Pool, now in Sutton Park, which he used for fishing.

Influence of Bishop Vesey
By the beginning of the 16th century, the town of Sutton Coldfield had started to decay as a result of the War of the Roses. The markets had been abandoned and the manor house itself was becoming dilapidated. Around 1510, the manor house was demolished by an officer to the Crown, who sold the timbers for a profit to Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, who used them in the construction of Bradgate House in Leicestershire. It was during the period of decay that John Harman grew up, working at Moor Hall Farm in Sutton and then studying at Magdalen College, Oxford. He formed a friendship with Thomas Wolsey and started a career in the church, beginning with his appointment as chaplain at the free chapel of St. Blaize in his hometown in 1495. Harman continued to be promoted and became Chaplain to King Henry VIII, with whom he became friends. In 1519, Harman was appointed Bishop of Exeter and changed his surname to Vesey, thus becoming John Vesey.

It was Vesey's respected position within the church and his friendship with the King that set about the start of a revival for Sutton Coldfield, spearheaded by Vesey. He had returned to the town in 1524 for the funeral of his mother to discover the town had further deteriorated. He decided to set up residence in the town again and in 1527 obtained two enclosures of land named Moor Yards and Heath Crofts, as well as 40 acre of land for him to construct his own home named Moor Hall. In the same year, he established a grammar school in the southwest corner of the parish churchyard, where 21 people were appointed Trustees to maintain the building and employ a teacher. On 16 December 1528, through the interests of Vesey, Henry VIII granted Sutton Coldfield a Charter of Incorporation, creating a new form of government for the town which was named the Warden and Society of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield. The society consisted of 25 of the most prominent local inhabitants who elected a new Warden from within them. Vesey's brother-in-law, William Gibbons, became the first Warden. All the town's inhabitants over the age of 22 were permitted to elect members to the Society. The charter had also given the inhabitants permission to hunt and fish freely in the manor grounds, as well as build a house, enclosing up to 60 acre, within the manor grounds. Throughout the length of the Society's existence, it was dogged by claims of corruption and malpractice from the town's residents.

The donation by King Henry VIII of his hunting land to the residents of the town set the foundations for the preservation of the area now known as Sutton Park. Vesey cleared large tracts of the land of trees to allow residents to graze their cattle there for a small fee. He then enclosed wooded areas within the land, added gates and fencing around the park, and then arranged for the transfer of horses to the park at his own expense. Bishop Vesey also paid for the whole town to be paved, which in turn helped revive the markets. In 1527, he set about working on Holy Trinity Church, donating an organ in 1530 and then paying for the construction of two new aisles in 1533. In 1540, he approved the transfer of control of the grammar school to the Warden and Society, and gave the school land for its own use the following year. To help expand the town and protect its extremities, he constructed 51 cottages for the poor, including one at Cotty's Moor which was a hotspot for robberies of people using the roads. The stone walls of the former manor house were removed to assist in the construction of a bridge at Water Orton and another in Curdworth, at his own expense. In 1547, he purchased from the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and in 1549, from the Crown, numerous church properties including the chantry lands of Sutton Coldfield, and those in Deritend, Birmingham, before dying at Moor Hall in 1555. Vesey's legacy is clearly visible today, with Sutton Park largely unchanged since its enclosure, some stone cottages remaining, and the grammar school he established still operating under the name of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School. His tomb at Holy Trinity Church is accompanied by memorial gardens to the west of the church named Vesey Gardens.

Moor Hall, Bishop Vesey's residence, was inherited by his nephew John Harman after Vesey's death. He sold the mansion to John Richardson, who died in 1584, leaving an infant son. A manor by the name of Pool Hall is first mentioned as being in the town in 1581, and in the following year, William Charnells leased it for 20 years to Henry Goodere, who transferred the rights to John Aylmer, Bishop of London, in 1583. Upon the Aylmer's death in 1594, the manor was passed on to his sons, who sold it to Robert Burdett in 1598. It is believed that the properties at 62 and 64 Birmingham Road were constructed around 1530, making it one of the oldest surviving buildings in the town. Nearby 68 Birmingham Road dates to the end of the 1500s.

Emergence of industry
During the 16th century, the waters and pools within Sutton were exploited for industrial purposes and, following the death of Vesey, the town continued to prosper and expand. In 1510, two watermills under the ownership of William Weston were recorded, and upon the establishment of the park, he was forced to pay rent on them. Three other mills were recorded in 1576 after they were sold to two unnamed local men. In 1585, John Bull sold a water-fulling mill and two blade-mills, which would have been powered by water, to Edward Sprott. Four additional mills were recorded in 1588, and another two in 1595. A blade mill was constructed at Bracebridge Pool in 1597, on a site now occupied by Park House. Despite the growth of industry here, five pools in total were drained in the 16th century, although some were recreated later, including Bracebridge Pool and Keeper's Pool.

Civil war, unrest and governance
The outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 saw the Battle of Camp Hill at nearby Birmingham, which resulted in Birmingham being pillaged by Royalist forces. Despite the nearby action, Sutton Coldfield emerged unscathed, although it is known that it was visited by both Parliamentary and Royalist soldiers. It is claimed that during his escape from England in 1646, Charles II stayed for a night at New Hall Manor.

On 26 July 1664, King Charles II renewed the royal charter for Sutton Coldfield, with the additional provision being made for the appointment of two members of the Society as capital burgesses and also as justices of the peace alongside the Warden.

Following his trial and three-year suspension from preaching, the violently anti-Presbyterian Henry Sacheverell retired to New Hall, the home of his once-removed first cousin, George Sacheverell. Henry Sacheverell preached a vitriolic sermon at Sutton Church on Sunday 17 October 1714, which fuelled Birmingham's contribution to the nationwide rioting the following Wednesday, the day of King George I's coronation. It also appears that, whilst residing in New Hall, he helped ferment the anti-Presbyterian "Church in danger" riots of July 1715, when, according to a correspondent of George Berkeley, up to 4000 rioters gathered in Birmingham, twenty-eight rioters died, and no more than three Dissenters’ meeting-houses survived in Birmingham, Worcestershire and Staffordshire. The town became a temporary refuge in 1791, following the "Priestley Riots" in Birmingham. William Hutton, for example, whose house was attacked by protesters, decided to spend the summer in Sutton. However, local residents' fears of further rioting forced him to move permanently to Tamworth. Joseph Priestley is said to have stayed at the 'Three Tuns' following the destruction of his home in the riots, and his initial flight to Heath-forge, Wombourne.

Industrial growth
The manufacture of blades, gun barrels, spades, and spade handles, as well as the grinding of knives, bayonets, and axes, mainly at mills constructed at pools in Sutton Park and on the banks of Ebrook, became an important contributor to the town's economy in the 17th century. The blade mill at Bracebridge Pool fell out of use by 1678 and was destroyed; however, it was reconstructed by 1729. The creation of Longmoor Pool, caused by the damming of Longmoor Brook in Longmoor Valley, was approved in 1733 and carried about by John Riland, who built a mill there in 1754 with his co-tenant for the manufacture of buttons. Blackroot Pool was also constructed in around 1757 by Edward Homer and Joseph Duncomb. In 1772, the Warden and Society of the town gave a lease of 30 years to Thomas Ingram at the pool. The mill at Blackroot Pool was originally used for leather dressing, although later became a sawmill.

Powell's Pool was created in 1730 as a millpond for Powell's Pool Mill, a steel-rolling mill. In 1733, a cotton-spinning machine was tested at the mill by John Wyatt with the help of Lewis Paul, helping to kickstart the creation of the UK's cotton industry in the 18th century. In total, Sutton Coldfield has had 15 watermills, 13 of which were powered by Plants Brook, and the remaining two using an independent water supply. There were also two windmills in the town, at Maney Hill and at Langley.

A heavy storm caused the collapse of the dam holding back the waters of Wyndley Pool, which swept downstream and broke the banks of Mill Pool at Mill Street in July 1668, subsequently flooding and destroying many homes within Sutton Coldfield. Bracebridge Pool also broke its banks as a result of the storm on 24 July, causing lesser damage. Wyndley Pool was subsequently drained, although there is another pool within Sutton Park with the same name.

Much of the damming in Sutton Coldfield was carried out using stone and gravel quarried from within the town. These quarries also supplied stone for construction elsewhere in the town, proving to be particularly profitable. The quarry that supplied material for the construction of Blackroot Pool in 1759 was in use until 1914.

Financial prosperity and town growth
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the town prospered from the growth of industry and this led to improvements in the quality of life for the residents. They were now able to experience new luxuries such as seafood. Products were 10% more expensive in Sutton Coldfield than in neighbouring towns and villages. The town also grew, due in part to the wealthy industrialists of Birmingham seeing Sutton Coldfield as a suitable location for their country houses, away from the pollution of the larger town. A survey of the parish in 1630 reported that there were 298 houses, and this number had increased to 310 when another survey was conducted in 1698. Of these houses would have been 20 High Street, which was built around 1675. A survey of the parish in 1721 noted that the number of houses in Sutton Coldfield had increased to 360. In 1636, King Charles I imposed the ship money tax of £80 on the town, compared to £100 for Birmingham and Warwick, £266 for Coventry, and £50 for Stafford, reflecting the wealth of the town at the time. In 1663, an Act was passed to order and collect "Hearth Duty", which led to a subsequent survey of all houses in the country and the noting of all properties with hearths and stoves. The survey of Sutton Coldfield found that there were 67 hearths and stoves, of which 30 were attributed to two houses owned by the Willoughby family.

Some of Sutton Coldfield's most prominent buildings were constructed or underwent changes during this time. For example, the current Peddimore Hall was constructed in 1659 by William Wood to a design by William Wilson, who took up residence in the town and married the widowed landowner, Jane Pudsey, in 1681. Her daughters disapproved of the relationship and she was forced out of her home at Langley Hall, resulting in Wilson constructing Moat House for the couple in 1680. Another of his works in the town was Four Oaks Hall, designed for Henry Folliott, 1st Baron Folliott, who was the husband of Wilson's stepdaughter. Along with the hall, Lord Folliott enclosed 60 acre of woodland.

In 1610, New Hall Manor was purchased by Henry Sacheverell, the family of which were prominent landowners throughout the country. Upon his death in 1620, the hall was inherited first by Valence Sacheverell, and then by George Sacheverell, his eldest son. Notable buildings that were constructed in the town during the 18th century include the Royal Hotel on High Street, which dates to circa 1750. The 'Three Tuns' public house, also on High Street, dates to the late 18th century, although it retains the cellars and foundations of an earlier building.

Municipal projects and change of government
The 1800s would prove to be another century of major change for the town, built upon the wealth it had generated in years before and the power that the Sutton Coldfield Corporation had. Dealing with a growing town, they sought to improve the quality of life for residents. The corporation was forced to fell trees within the town and sell the timber as means to fund the construction of schools and almshouses. In 1826, timber worth £1,116 3s. was sold. The first of these schools were founded during the 1820s. The corporation also constructed two almshouses in Walmley in 1828 and a further two adjacent in 1863. By 1837, there were ten almshouses in the parish under the ownership of the corporation, with others operated by charities.

The town hall at the top of Mill Street began to deteriorate throughout the 1800s and the decision was taken to demolish it in 1854. The adjacent workhouse and gaol were renovated to become the new municipal offices, and this was reconstructed in 1858 until 1859 to better suit its purpose. The new offices were designed by G. Bidlake. A fire station was also constructed further down Mill Street.

During the 1830s, municipal corporations were investigated due to corrupt practices within the House of Commons. These inquiries led to the passing of the Reform Act of 1832 and Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 which reformed boroughs nationwide. Despite the radical changes imposed by the Acts, the Sutton Coldfield Corporation was left untouched. It was not until April 1882, as a result of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1882, that Sutton Coldfield became a municipal borough. The old Corporation was replaced with a new structure consisting of a mayor, six aldermen and eighteen elected councillors. Six wards were created in the borough – Holy Trinity, Hill, Boldmere, Wylde Green, Maney, and Walmley – from each of which three councillors were elected.

Arrival of the railways
For the majority of the 19th century, people travelled between Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield by horse-drawn carriage, a journey that took around 80 minutes. Birmingham received its first railway in 1837 with a terminus at Vauxhall station, now Duddeston railway station. In 1859, an Act was passed for the construction of a railway line connecting Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield via Erdington. Construction commenced in 1860 on the line which passed through Vauxhall station, although by this time it was being used only as a goods station. The line opened on 2 June 1862 with Sutton Coldfield railway station being the terminus. An Act of Parliament for the continuation of the railway to Lichfield was passed on 23 June 1874, with construction starting in October 1881 and services beginning in 1884. The line was extended to Lichfield Trent Valley railway station on 28 November 1888.

A proposed second railway line by the Wolverhampton, Walsall and Midland Junction Railway Company through Sutton Coldfield was met with opposition from residents who were concerned about the route cutting through Sutton Park. A meeting objecting to the proposal was held on 15 April 1872, however, construction was authorised on 6 August in the same year. The WWMJR company merged with Midland Railway in 1874 and construction commenced soon after. To calm objections from residents, Midland Railway promised cheap local coal and paid £6,500 for a 2 mi stretch through Sutton Park. Services on the line began on 1 July 1879, with trains stopping at Penns (Walmley), Sutton Coldfield Town, and Sutton Park in the town, as well as at Streetly, Aldridge, and Walsall. Ultimately, the line connected the Midland Railway's Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway line to their Birmingham to Derby line.

The railways quickly led to Sutton Coldfield becoming a popular location for day excursions and picnic parties for the residents of Birmingham, escaping the pollution of the city for the landscapes of Sutton Park. The 1863 edition of Bradshaw's Guide described Sutton Coldfield as "a place of no very particular note, beyond an occasional pic-nic excursion". In the Whit week of 1882, 19,549 people visited Sutton Park, with numbers dropping to 11,378 in the same week the following year. In 1884, there were 17,486 visitors, of whom 14,000 went on the Monday. In 1865, on a small eminence adjacent to Sutton Coldfield station, the Royal Hotel was constructed, hoping to capitalise on the new tourist industry the town was witnessing. The hotel was beset with financial difficulties and closed down in 1895, becoming Sutton Coldfield Sanatorium for a short period of time.

As well as becoming a tourist spot, Sutton Coldfield became popular with people who worked in Birmingham and also were able to live away from the pollution of the city and travel to the city and town by train. During the late 19th century, it was the wealthy manufacturers who moved to Sutton Coldfield, and it was not until the turn of the century that ordinary workers were able to move as well.

In 1836, George Bodington acquired an asylum and sanatorium at Driffold House (now the Empire cinema), Maney, where he researched pulmonary disease.

Population growth and public facilities
The first census of Sutton Coldfield took place in 1801. It recorded that the town had a population of 2,847. The following census of 1811 recorded that this had risen to 2,959 with 617 houses. This was partially down to the construction of barracks to the east to accommodate the Edinburgh and Sussex Militias, the 7th Dragoon Guards and a Brigade of Artillery. By 1821, the population had further increased to 3,426 and then to 3,684 in 1831. The census of 1881 revealed that the population had increased from 4,662 in 1861 to 7,737.

The increasing population of Sutton Coldfield parish was recognised in the mid-19th century and new ecclesiastical parishes were created from it to better serve the residents of the communities that made up Sutton. The first ecclesiastical parish to be created was Walmley in 1846, with the recently completed St. John the Evangelist Church becoming the parish church. Hill became the next ecclesiastical parish in 1853, with its church being St. James' Church in Mere Green. Boldmere parish was created in 1857, with St. Michael's Church becoming its parish church. Holy Trinity Church was further extended with a north outer aisle and vestries in 1874–9.

The construction of Shenstone Pumping Station in 1892 gave Sutton Coldfield its first tapped water supply. In 1870, W.T. Parsons began the publication of Sutton Coldfield's first newspaper Sutton Coldfield News.

Ashford v Thornton
Sutton Coldfield was the focus of national attention in 1817 when a young woman named Mary Ashford was found murdered in the town. She had been attending a party in Erdington on the evening of 26 May 1817, and had left with Abraham Thornton and her friend Hannah Cox, who left Mary and Abraham. The following morning, her body was recovered from a water-filled pit by Penns Lane, Erdington. Thornton was quickly traced and arrested for her murder. At the trial, Thornton provided evidence that it was not possible for him to have killed Mary at the suggested time. As a result, the jury found him not guilty of her murder and rape, allowing him to walk free from the court.

Public response to the acquittal was that of outrage and a private appeal was brought against the verdict by Mary's brother, William Ashford. Thornton was taken to London where he was tried at the King's Bench. When Thornton was called upon for his plea, he responded, "Not guilty; and I am ready to defend the same with my body." He then put on one of a pair of leather gauntlets, which his barrister, William Reader, handed him. Thornton threw down the other for William Ashford to pick up and thus accept the challenge, which Ashford did not do. By Ashford not accepting the challenge under the trial by combat laws, Thornton was freed, although by this time he gained a notorious reputation. In 1819, a bill was introduced and an Act passed to abolish private appeals after acquittals and also abolish trial by combat.

20th century
In the 20th century, Sutton Coldfield continued to grow. The areas on the fringes of the district remained rural up until the end of World War I. As witnessed nationally, there was a house construction boom in areas such as Boldmere, Walmley, Erdington and Four Oaks. Again, the population increased rapidly. During World War II, Sutton Park and areas of Walmley were used as prisoner-of-war camps, housing German and Italian prisoners. After the war, Sutton witnessed a major redevelopment. The Borough Council commissioned Max Lock and Partners to draw up plans for the redevelopment of the town centre in 1960, with a preliminary report being delivered in May 1961 and a detailed report in 1962. The Parade in the town centre was almost completely demolished for the construction of a large new shopping centre named Gracechurch. In addition, shopping centres in Wylde Green and Mere Green were constructed causing considerable objection as many local landmarks were lost to the developers.

Merging into Birmingham
In 1974, Sutton Coldfield became part of Birmingham when the metropolitan county of the West Midlands was formed. More recently, areas of the town centre have been pedestrianised.

Plans for the proposed construction of five tower blocks for pensioners at Brassington Avenue in the town centre were abandoned in November 2015.

On 1 March 2015, a new Sutton Coldfield parish council was formally incorporated. This handed over parish council powers from Birmingham City Council.

Governance

In 1528, a charter of King Henry VIII gave the town the right to be known as "The Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield" and to be governed by a warden and society. The charter was secured by Bishop John Vesey. This unreformed corporation survived until 1885, when it was replaced by a municipal borough. Although the title "Royal Town" was still used, the municipality created in 1885 was not itself a Royal borough. However, the townspeople sometimes still use its historic 'Royal' title. This was confirmed to be allowed in 2014 after a two-year campaign by a local newspaper, the Sutton Coldfield Observer, Andrew Mitchell MP, the Sutton Coldfield Civic Society and various local residents. On Thursday, 12 June 2014 government minister Greg Clark confirmed during a special adjournment debate in the House of Commons that "there is no statutory ban to the continuance of historic titles for other [non-governance] purposes" in the absence of a local governing structure using a historic name, and thus the use of the Royal title is not prohibited (although any such usage has a "lack of technical legal effect"). Following that confirmation, the newspaper renamed itself the Royal Sutton Coldfield Observer.

The town and borough were ceremonially part of Warwickshire until 1974, when it was amalgamated into the City of Birmingham and the metropolitan county of the West Midlands. The formal Mayoral chains of office are now on display in Birmingham Council House.

Sutton Coldfield forms the Sutton Coldfield parliamentary constituency, the largest Parliamentary Constituency in Birmingham whose Member of Parliament (MP) since 2001 has been Andrew Mitchell (Conservative). Within the City of Birmingham metropolitan borough, it comprises the wards of Sutton Four Oaks, Sutton Mere Green, Sutton New Hall, Sutton Reddicap, Sutton Roughly, Sutton Trinity, Sutton Vesey, Sutton Walmley & Minworth, and Sutton Wylde Green. The ward of Erdington ceased to be part of the constituency in 1974 due to the Local Government Act of 1972. Sutton Trinity ward was created in June 2004, at which time the then other three wards' boundaries were changed. From 5 April 2004, it has been a council constituency, with many local services managed by a district committee made up of all Sutton's councillors.

In 2015 the eligible electorate within the Royal town's boundary were asked whether they wished to be governed by an independent Town council. The result of the election was that almost 70% were in favour of a Sutton Coldfield Town Council. Work is now ongoing in the Birmingham City Council to create a new council and decide which powers to transfer. The first parish council election took place on 5 May 2016.

Geography
Areas of Sutton Coldfield include: Boldmere

Doe Bank

Falcon Lodge

Four Oaks

Four Oaks Park

Hill Hook

Ley Hill

Maney

Mere Green

Minworth

Moor Hall

Reddicap Heath

Roughley

Streetly

Thimble End

Tudor Hill

Walmley

Whitehouse Common

Wylde Green

Sutton Coldfield borders the counties of Staffordshire and Warwickshire as well as the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, Metropolitan Borough of Solihull and Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. The town in general is regarded by its own populace as one of the most prestigious locations in the Birmingham area and even in Central England; a 2007 report by the website Mouseprice.com placed two Sutton Coldfield streets amongst the 20 most expensive in the United Kingdom.

The northern stretch of the Birmingham city sandstone ridge culminates at Sutton Coldfield. Plants Brook rises in the area of Streetly and flows through Sutton Park and directly beneath the town centre, then Plants Brook briefly flows through Erdington, notably Pype Hayes Park before returning to Sutton and culminating at Plantsbrook Nature Reserve on the Erdington / Walmley border at Eachelhurst Road.

Retail
The main shopping centre is the Gracechurch Centre, built in 1974. For a number of years this centre was called The Mall. The complex includes a multi-storey car park. As a result of investment, the appearance of the shopping centre was improved in 2006, which included the installation of a glass roof above one of the walkways and the removal of a public square to form a cafe and extra retail units. The shopping centre was formerly home to three bronze sculptures that depict, respectively, a boy and a girl on rollerskates, a boy with a dog, and a boy and a girl playing leapfrog, which have been moved to Rectory Park.

A second shopping centre was named the Sainsbury Centre until Sainsbury's closed their store; the name was later changed to "The Red Rose Centre". The centre has its own multi-storey car park with access from Victoria Road. Sutton Parade is a continuation of Birmingham Road and Lichfield Road (though there is a bypass for traffic). New Hall Walk is a row of shops built behind The Parade in the late 1990s. The company that manages the site also manages several of the shops on the Parade built at the same time. It has its own large outdoor car park. Opposite the Red Rose Centre, behind New Hall Walk, is a single floor, indoor market facility known as the In Shops.

There are several local shopping parades serving the suburbs of Sutton, including "The Lanes" Shopping Centre in Wylde Green, at Walmley, and at Boldmere Road.

Sport
Football-wise, Sutton Coldfield is represented by Sutton Coldfield Town F.C., which was founded in 1879 and also to Paget Rangers F.C. who share their ground at Coles Lane. Golf is a major sport in the town, which is home to numerous golf clubs and courses. In the south of Sutton Coldfield is Walmley Golf Club and Pype Hayes Golf Course. There are also Aston Wood Golf Club, Moor Hall Golf Club, Sutton Coldfield Golf Club, Little Aston and Boldmere Golf Club. Nearby is The Belfry, a hotel with a renowned golf complex whose Brabazon course has hosted the Ryder Cup several times.

Sports facilities, including swimming pool and 400m athletics track, are located at Wyndley Leisure Centre, on the edge of Sutton Park. This was opened in 1971 by Ethel E. Dunnett. The nearby youth centre was opened in September 1968. Parts of Rectory Park is leased to Sutton Coldfield Hockey Club, Sutton Coldfield Cricket Club and Sutton Town Football Club.

A number of local cricket clubs play in the Sutton Coldfield area. Walmley, Sutton Coldfield and Four Oak Saints.

In 2022 Sutton Coldfield hosted the Triathlon for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which took place in Sutton Park.

There is a fencing club, Sutton Coldfield Fencing Club.

Parkland
Sutton Park, with an area of 2224.2 acre, is one of the largest urban parks in England. It is used as part of the course for the Great Midlands Fun Run. The park is a national nature reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

New Hall Valley, which separates Walmley and Maney, is the location of New Hall Valley Country Park which was opened formally on 29 August 2005. It has an area of 160 acre and within it is New Hall Mill, one of only two working watermills in the West Midlands. The mill is privately owned but is open to the public several times a year.

There are also several nature reserves including Plants Brook Nature Reserve, in Walmley, and Hill Hook Nature Reserve. On the border between Sutton Coldfield and Erdington is the extensive Pype Hayes Park and adjacent golf course, with the park falling within Tyburn ward but the golf course in Sutton New Hall.

Historic houses
Sutton Coldfield has been an affluent area in the past leading to the construction of manors and other large houses. Several have been renovated into hotels such as the New Hall Hotel, Moor Hall Hotel, Moxhull Hall Hotel, and Ramada Hotel and Resort Penns Hall. Peddimore Hall, a Scheduled Ancient Monument near Walmley, is a double-moated hall used as a private residence. Demolished manor houses include Langley Hall, the former residence of William Wilson and Four Oaks Hall, designed by William Wilson. William Wilson is also known to have designed Moat House and lived in it with his wife, Jane Pudsey. It is Grade II* listed.

Conservation areas
There are two conservation areas in Sutton Coldfield. The High Street, King Edward's Square, Upper Clifton Road, Mill Street, and the northern end of Coleshill Street are protected by the High Street conservation area, which is part covered by an Article 4 Direction. At the centre of the conservation area is Holy Trinity Church, which is fronted by the Vesey Memorial Gardens, created in memory of Bishop John Vesey. The High Street conservation area was designated on 28 November 1973 and extended on 6 February 1975, 14 August 1980 and again on 16 July 1992. It covers an area of 0.1695 square kilometres (41.87 acres).

Beyond the railway bridge, which crosses the Sutton Park Line and separates the Lichfield Road and High Street, is the Anchorage Road conservation area which protects buildings such as Moat House by William Wilson. The conservation area was designated on 15 October 1992 and covers an area of 0.1757 square kilometres (43.41 acres).

Religious buildings
Holy Trinity Church is one of the oldest churches in the town, having been established around 1300. The church has been expanded over time, notably by John Vesey, Bishop of Exeter who built two aisles and added an organ. His tomb is located within the church. Outside of Sutton town centre, there are numerous other churches, many of which are listed buildings.

In Four Oaks is the Church of All Saints which is a Grade B locally listed building. It was built in 1908 and designed by Charles Bateman, whose Arts and Crafts are seen in the building. Another church in Four Oaks which is of a mixed Arts and Crafts-Gothic style is Four Oaks Methodist Church, built between 1907 and 1908 to a design by Crouch and Butler. It is Grade II listed. The Methodist Hall attached to it is also Grade II listed.

In Mere Green is the Church of St Peter, also by Charles Bateman, which was built between 1906 and 1908. The building is Grade II listed. Also designed by Charles Bateman is the Church of St Chad near Walmley. This was built between 1925 and 1927. The side chapel was built in 1977 to a design by Erie Marriner. It is Grade II listed. St Johns Church, built in 1845 to a design by D. R. Hill, is located on the Walmley Road in Walmley. It is the parish church for Walmley and is of a Norman architectural style. It is Grade C locally listed.

In Maney, near Walmley, is St Peter's Church which began construction in 1905, although the tower, which was designed by Cossins, Peacock and Bewley, was constructed in 1935 and the building is Grade II listed. Located on the border of Sutton town centre is Church Hall, a former Roman Catholic Chapel, built around 1834. The building is now used for offices and is Grade II listed.

In Wylde Green, on Penns Lane is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Wylde Green Ward. The chapel on Penns Lane was constructed in the early 1990’s. The England Birmingham Mission Headquarters have been located there since 1964, the mission office building is made of Cotswold stone.

The Green Belt
Birmingham has 4,153 hectares of Green Belt, about 15% of the city's land area. The majority of this is in the north of the city, particularly to the north and east of Sutton Coldfield. The current Green Belt within Birmingham was initially installed in place in 1955 and was last reviewed around 20 years ago, since then the boundaries have remained unchanged.

Sutton Coldfield's Green Belt is being extensively developed with over 5500 houses to be built and a large industrial complex currently under construction. The Langley Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) and the 71 hectare Peddimore site have been approved and will destroy much of the Green Belt.

Public facilities
The Town Hall, a relic of Sutton Coldfield's former status as a municipal borough, now serves as a theatre, conference, and function venue.

In the town centre is Sutton Parade which is a pedestrianised shopping area. Sutton Coldfield Library, which opened in 1974, is located near Sutton Parade above the Red Rose Centre. It also contains the Sutton Coldfield Reference Library, which holds a large collection of newspapers and magazines with all Sutton Coldfield based publications such as Sutton Coldfield News and Sutton Coldfield Observer being held permanently. The Library closed in May 2010 due to the discovery of disturbed asbestos and reopened in May 2013. There are several branch libraries in Sutton Coldfield and there is also a bus service from Sutton Parade to Birmingham City Centre and Birmingham Central Library, The Central Library and the terminus of busses from Sutton Coldfield are both within the City Centre Core and in walking distance of each other.

Also in the Town centre is Sutton Coldfield railway station, which is part of the Birmingham Cross-City Line. Nearby is the Town Gate entrance to Sutton Park and the Sutton Park Visitor's Centre.

Sutton Coldfield has four Community Centres and a number of smaller Community Halls all offering classes and events in a wide variety of subjects and interests –
 * Mere Green Community Centre
 * Falcon Lodge Community Centre
 * Banners Gate Community Hall
 * Brampton Hall Community Centre

Good Hope Hospital provides main hospital services to the town, including accident and emergency facilities. Another hospital in Sutton Coldfield is Sutton Cottage Hospital, which is operated by the Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust. It opened in 1908 and the buildings were designed by Herbert Tudor Buckland and Edward Haywood-Farmer.

On Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield is served by a police station, magistrates' court (both opened in 1960, the court now closed) and fire station (opened 1963). On the opposite side of the road is Sutton Coldfield College, which is the main college of further education for the area. Also located on the north-eastern outskirts of the area is Sutton Coldfield transmitting station, the first television transmitter to broadcast outside the London area.

Transport
Linked by frequent and fast services from Sutton Coldfield railway station on the Cross-City Line to the centre of Birmingham, Sutton is mostly a commuter dormitory town for people who work in Birmingham. The 1955 Sutton Coldfield rail crash occurred here, when an express train entered the very tight curve through the station much faster than the speed limit of 30 mi/h. The Sutton Park Line also crosses the town roughly perpendicular to the cross-city line (crossing at a point out of easy sight near the former Midland Road station), but lost its passenger services and stations in the 1964 "Beeching Axe". It retained a loading bay at the adjacent Clifton Road Royal Mail sorting office for a time, but now remains as a freight only line.

The Roman road Icknield Street cuts through Sutton Park to the west of the town. The town is bypassed to the north by the M6 Toll, the first toll motorway in the UK, accessible from Sutton by junction T2 at Minworth (co-located with the M42 junction), T3 and T4 (interchanging with the A38 at the south and north ends of their 5 mi parallel run), and T5 at Shenstone. It also has easy access to the M6 to the South, via junctions 5 (Castle Bromwich), J6 (Gravelly Hill, or "Spaghetti Junction") and J7 at Great Barr; and also the M42 in the east, via junction 9 near Minworth.

The A38 itself used to run through the centre of the town (literally, using the since-pedestrianised line of the Parade), but now uses the dual carriageway bypass to the east. The former route of the A38 is now the A5127 Lichfield Road, branching from the southern end of the Aston Expressway on the Birmingham Middleway ring road, and continues to provide a major connective route running between and on slightly altered paths through the centres of Erdington, Sutton and Lichfield.

The Parade in the town centre is the main destination and terminus for numerous National Express West Midlands bus services in and through Sutton Coldfield. Such routes as 'Sutton Lines' (X3, X4, X5, X14) to Birmingham, 77 to Walsall and 5 to West Bromwich; to name just a few routes. There is also a half-hourly service X3 to Lichfield operated by National Express West Midlands. This partially replaced service X12 to Burton-upon-Trent which was run by Midland Classic. Arriva Midlands operate service 110 up to every 15 minutes between Birmingham and Tamworth.

Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter
The nearby Sutton Coldfield transmitter is situated north of the town which provides television and radio signals to the West Midlands.

Education
Fairfax Academy is on Reddicap Heath Road in the east of the town. Opposite the school is The John Willmott School. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls is on Jockey Road (A453). Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, its male equivalent, is on Lichfield Road (A5127/A453) in the centre of the town adjacent to Birmingham Metropolitan College. The Arthur Terry School is on Kittoe Road in Four Oaks in the north of the town near Butlers Lane station. The Plantsbrook School (formerly The Riland Bedford School) is on Upper Holland Road near the centre of the town in Maney. The Bishop Walsh Catholic School is next to the Sutton Park Line and New Hall Valley Country Park; the school is 10 minutes from Wylde Green. All these schools are for ages 11–18. However, from September 1972 until July 1992, schools in the Sutton Coldfield area were divided into first school for pupils aged 5–8 years, middle schools for pupils aged 8–12 years, while the entry age for secondary school was set at 12 years.

There are also a number of primary schools located in the town including:
 * St Joseph Catholic Primary School
 * Whitehouse Common Primary School
 * Deanery Primary School
 * Banners Gate Primary School
 * Holy Cross Infant and Junior Catholic Primary School
 * Walmley Primary School
 * Maney Hill Primary School
 * Moor Hall Primary School (in the Mere Green area)
 * The Shrubbery School (established in 1930, is a private primary school located on the fringes of Walmley and Hollyfield primary located on Hollyfield Road, founded in 1907)
 * Four Oaks Primary
 * New Hall Primary and Children's Centre, Little Sutton, Coppice Primary, Hill West and Mere Green Combined

Highclare School, founded in 1932, is a primary and secondary school located on three sites in the Birmingham area. Two of the sites are located in Sutton Coldfield, with the other being located in nearby Erdington. The Sutton Coldfield facilities are on Lichfield Road in the Four Oaks area and in the Wylde Green area to the south, which houses the nursery.

St Nicholas Catholic Primary School in Jockey Road is a voluntary aided Catholic primary school. Established in 1967, there are currently about 210 pupils. The school is oversubscribed.

Sutton Coldfield in literature
The town is mentioned in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, Act 4, scene 2. Falstaff, "on a public road near Coventry", who is leading a band of conscripted men on the way to what will be the Battle of Shrewsbury, tells Bardolph of his determination to march from Coventry to Sutton that evening:

 * Falstaff: Bardolph, get thee before to Coventry; fill me a bottle of sack: our soldiers shall march through: we’ll to Sutton-Co’fil’ to-night.

Kitty Aldridge's 2001 novel, Pop, is based in the town during the 1970s.

Sutton Coldfield, specifically the aforementioned Sutton Park, is a pivotal location in Hekla's Children by James Brogden. Sutton Park was the site of a portal between the physical world and the spirit world of Un.

The Sadness of The King George, a 2021 novel by Birmingham author Shaun Hand, is set in the town during summer 2005.

Arts
Sutton Coldfield has a very active arts community with numerous local amateur dramatic groups, musical theatre companies, orchestras and dance schools. The Royal Sutton Coldfield Orchestra was founded in 1975 and regularly arrange public concerts, often featuring guest professionals. In April 2011 Birmingham City Council provided seed funding for the creation of "Made in Sutton", a local arts forum which aims to bring together local arts organisations and champion arts activity across the town. Made in Sutton is coordinated by The New Streetly Youth Orchestra. The Royal Sutton Coldfield Concert Orchestra (RSCCO) hold regular local concerts and is a registered charity. There are two major amateur theatres in the Sutton Coldfield area; Highbury Theatre and Sutton Arts Theatre, both have been established since the 1930s and are very popular with the residents of both Sutton and the neighbouring Boldmere district.

The members of the British hip hop group The Northern Boys are from Sutton Coldfield.

Notable residents
The notable people who were born or have lived in Sutton Coldfield include:
 * Scott Adkins – actor
 * Barry Bannan – footballer for Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace
 * Jim Barron – former Wolverhampton Wanderers footballer
 * Louie Barry – Footballer for Aston Villa
 * Lucy Benjamin - EastEnders actress who shot Phil Mitchell
 * Maurice Beresford (1920–2005) – medieval archaeologist, Professor of Economic History at the University of Leeds.
 * Christophe Berra – former Wolverhampton Wanderers footballer
 * Slaven Bilić – manager of West Bromwich Albion
 * Blakfish - mathcore band who met and formed at Plantsbrook School in 2000
 * George Bodington (1799–1882) – GP and pulmonary specialist
 * Mary Brancker (1914–2010) – veterinary surgeon who was the first woman to be president of the British Veterinary Association.
 * Stacey Cadman – actress
 * Colin Charvis – Welsh international rugby union player
 * Francis James Chavasse (1846–1928), born in Sutton Coldfield. This member of the Chavasse family became Bishop of Liverpool, founder of St Peter's College, Oxford, and father of Bishop Christopher Chavasse (1884–1962) and Captain Noel Chavasse, VC and Bar, MC (1884–1917). Chavasse Road, a cul-de-sac off Ebrook Road, is named after him.
 * Ciaran Clark – footballer for Newcastle United and Aston Villa
 * Hazel Court (1926-2008) - actress
 * Stella Creasy – Labour Member of Parliament for Walthamstow since 2010
 * Derek Dauncey – World Rally Team Manager, Mitsubishi Ralliart Japan
 * Cat Deeley – television presenter
 * Rory Delap – footballer
 * Nick Dunphy – footballer
 * Doug Ellis (1924-2018)– former Aston Villa chairman
 * Trevor Eve – actor
 * James Fleetwood (1603–1683) – later Bishop of Worcester
 * Kate Gerbeau (née Sanderson) – television presenter
 * Duncan Gibbins (1952-1993) – director of films and music videos including WHAM Club Tropicana and attended The Arthur Terry School
 * Noele Gordon (1919-1985)- Crossroads actress who lived on the Driffold in Maney
 * Rob Halford – singer of Judas Priest
 * Rasmus Hardiker – actor
 * Jonathan Harvey (1939–2012) – composer
 * Alan Jerrard (1897–1968) – holder of the Victoria Cross
 * Ísak Bergmann Jóhannesson – Footballer for Iceland national football team
 * Mike Jordan – racing driver
 * Mark Kinsella- Aston Villa F.C. and Charlton Athletic F.C. Footballer, Irish National Team Captain.
 * Robert Koren – former West Bromwich Albion footballer
 * Anna Kumble – British pop star, better known as Lolly
 * Russell Lewis – former child actor and television writer
 * Arthur Lowe (1915–1982) – comic actor. Ashes scattered at Sutton Coldfield Crematorium
 * Sir Michael Lyons – former Chairman of the BBCTrust
 * Michael Mancienne – professional footballer
 * Paul Merson – footballer
 * Jonathan Miles (born 1986) – cricketer
 * Ken Miles (1918–1966) – racing and sports car driver
 * Andrew Mitchell - the town's MP since 2001. Served as Secretary of State for International Development between 2010 and 2012 but resigned after becoming caught up in the "Plebgate" scandal.
 * Sir Roger Moore MBE (1927–2017) – actor, most famous for portraying James Bond from 1973 to 1985, formerly lived in Sutton Coldfield
 * Mike Nattrass – Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands region for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP)
 * Charles N'Zogbia – former footballer for Aston Villa
 * Martin O'Neill – Irish footballer and former manager of Aston Villa
 * Sir Alfred Owen (1909–1975) – proprietor of Rubery Owen and BRM Formula 1 racing cars
 * Renato Pagliari (1940–2009) – singer famous for "Save Your Love"
 * David Parker (football manager) – Football Manager & Former Manager of Birmingham City
 * James and Oliver Phelps – actors, played the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter film series
 * Abi Phillips – actress in the Hollyoaks TV series
 * Natalie Powers – singer, member of Scooch who represent Britain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with Flying the Flag (for You)
 * John Shelley – illustrator
 * Steve Shirley – British businesswoman and philanthropist
 * Bradley Will Simpson – lead singer of The Vamps
 * Jane Sixsmith – international hockey player
 * Gregory Spawton – musician
 * John Benjamin Stone (1838–1914) – four-time Mayor
 * James Sutton – Hollyoaks actor
 * Connie Talbot – child singer
 * Jim Tomlinson – tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and composer
 * Chandeep Uppal – actress
 * Darius Vassell – footballer
 * James Vaughan – Birmingham F.C. footballer
 * Brigadier Rory Walker OBE (1932–2008) – SAS Commander
 * Dennis Waterman (1948-2022) – actor, Minder formerly lived in Sutton
 * Arnold Horace Santo Waters (1886–1981) – holder of the Victoria Cross
 * Peter Weston (1944–2017) – British science fiction fan and winner of multiple Hugo Awards
 * Ashley Williams – Swansea City and Wales footballer
 * Emma Willis (née Griffiths) – television presenter, former model and wife of Matt Willis from Busted
 * Chris Woakes – England cricketer, World Cup winner 2019
 * Baruch Harold Wood (1909–1989) – chess master, writer and organiser
 * William F. Woodington (1806–1893) – painter and sculptor
 * John Wyatt (1700–1766) – inventor and engineer
 * Dorian Yates – six-time Mr. Olympia bodybuilding world champion
 * Sir Anthony Zacaroli (Mr Justice Zacaroli) - High Court judge

title: Sutton Coldfield