Essential Hotels > England > West Midlands > Sutton Coldfield

Sutton Coldfield is a historic town that is situated in the West Midlands, a short distance to the north-east of mighty Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city. The town is found eight miles away from the centre of Birmingham while Tamworth is to the north-east, Walsall is to the west and Lichfield is to the north. Geographically, Sutton Coldfield also benefits from its proximity to the fairly recent addition of the M6 Toll which passes to the east of the town.

It is thought that Sutton Coldfield took part of its name from its location in relation to Tamworth; Sutton meaning town to the south of Tamworth. Coldfield, meanwhile, probably refers to an area exposed to the elements. Significantly, the area was named a royal town in 1528 thanks to a charter given by King Henry VIII. It retained this prestigious honour well into the 20th century, only relinquishing the title in 1974 when the county of West Midlands was formed and the town was included in the metropolitan borough of Birmingham. Today, somewhere in the region of 110,000 people live in the town of Sutton Coldfield, with many making the most of employment in the West Midlands and Birmingham area.

One of the major regional landmarks is Sutton Park, a 2,224-acre spread of land which dominates the space to the north-west of the town. There are several other green areas in addition, including a number of golf clubs and other parks and so visitors to this part of the country can easily make the most of the outdoors. The New Hall Valley Country Park and the Plantsbrook Nature Reserve are such examples of these. Manmade structures, meanwhile, come in the form of the 1974-built Sutton Coldfield Mall and the 1300-built Holy Trinity Church.

There is evidence that suggests people have been living in the area for thousands of years, pre-dating the Roman period of occupation. There is also evidence of Roman habitation particularly in the Sutton Park setting, with roads and coins among the items found there. Once the Roman period of rule had subsided the Anglo-Saxons took over and Sutton Coldfield probably emerged as a hamlet at this time. There are a number of historic buildings in the town that exist to this day, some dating to the 13th and 14th centuries, such as the church and New Hall Manor. Throughout the 20th century the town experienced plenty of population and economic growth to manoeuvre it into the position it finds itself in today.