Sutton Woods/ Beyond the Wood/s

B76 - Grid reference SP148953

Use the grid reference on the Ordnance Survey website - Get-a-map.

Sutton Woods: first record in 1207

For many centuries the area east of Springfield Road was known from a Sutton perspective as 'Walmley and Beyond the Woods', a term which suggests the survival of a large amount of woodland in the Langley area. A document of 1207 refers to a property called Ramshurst (hurst = 'wooded hill') on Bulls Lane as being located in Sutton Woods; there is still a working farm here of the same name.

By the 13th century the national population was three times greater than that of Domesday and previously marginal farmland became economically viable. Although vestiges of woodland still do remain, most of this woodland would have disappeared during this time of expansion. In the 1530s one of Bishop Vesey's charitable acts was to set aside the income from a hay meadow for the benefit of 15 poor widows. Known as Lord's Meadow or Widows' Acre, the field measured some 5 hectares and was situated Beyond the Wood and Warmley.

See also Sutton Coldfield and Sutton Chase immediately above.

William Dargue 07.03.09

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For 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of Birmingham go to British History Online - Maps.