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Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton (as it is often abbreviated) is located about 8 miles (13 km) from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census. It forms part of the West Midlands conurbation.

The town has a historical connection to the Royal Family, resulting in it receiving the title of Royal Town when it was a municipal borough in its own right and part of Warwickshire. When the Local Government Act 1972 came into force in 1974, Sutton Coldfield became part of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands County.

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 acres (160,000 m2) 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 acres 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 of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, 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.[21] 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.[15] 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.[24] Nearby 68 Birmingham Road dates to the end of the 1500s.

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.

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