Sutton Park

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Sutton Park
A Proper Sort Of Garden

West of Arena Field [click for larger image

It's one of the largest urban parks in Europe and the largest outside a capital city; it is smaller than Richmond Park in London, but larger than the Phoenix Park in Dublin which both claim to be the largest in the continent.

The Park covers 900.1 hectares (2224.2 acres / 9.0 km˛), with a mix of heathland, wetlands and marshes, seven lakes, extensive ancient woodlands (covering approximately a quarter of the Park), several restaurants, a private 18-hole golf course on its western edge and a municipal golf course to the south, a donkey sanctuary, children's playgrounds and a visitors' centre. There is no entrance charge (except on summer Sundays, when there is a parking charge for cars) and a wide range of personal leisure activities are undertaken in the park.

most of the site is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument due its many sites of archaeological interest. This former royal deer park has retained many ancient features including prehistoric mounds and a Roman Road. A network of Heritage Trails and leaflets help visitors to discover more about the Park's unique history.

Wyndley Pool is the oldest in the Park, perhaps dating from the 12th century or even earlier. The house of the Royal Steward sat on the bluff overlooking Wyndley pool. Keeper's Pool and Bracebridge Pool date from the 15th century. Powell's Pool, Longmoor Pool, and Blackroot date from the 18th century, and were created to run watermills. There was another pool at Boldmere, now outside the park, but this has since vanished.

Most of the Park has been undisturbed since then. The area of Ladywood, at Four Oaks, was taken for housing, but in exchange the Meadow Platt area near the town was added to the Park, thus allowing the construction of a new Park Road access from the town. A rail line, the Sutton Park Line, was built through the Park in 1879, and the Park had its own station. The advent of the railway, and the new town entrance, greatly increased the number of visitors to the Park. The Park's own dedicated station was closed in 1964, and the line now only serves goods trains.

Sutton Park [click for larger image]
Taken on October 29, 2006 by Martin OC

The benefit of traffic restriction is improvement in the enjoyability of the park; with cleaner air, safer roads for walkers and cyclists, and much reduced visual and noise pollution, plus reduced wear and tear on the poorly maintained, decaying road surfaces.
Road speed limits through the park have been reduced twice, from 30mph to 20 mph in the 1980s, and to 5mph in 2004. Also, on the pedestrianised areas (areas that used to be roads for cars, but are now closed to vehicles, except for emergency/ranger traffic), many speed bumps have been removed.

Roman road,  Sutton Park [click for larger image]
The Roman Road In Sutton Park

Sutton Park
Sutton Park Visitor Centre
Sutton Park
Park Road
Sutton Coldfield
B74 2YT
(0121) 355 6370
 
Park Opening Times
Open daily from 10am.
Closing in Summer at 7pm,
in Winter at 4.30pm

from the BBC, and very nicely too

founded in 1950 in response to
suggestions at the time that
parts of Sutton Park could be
made available for building on.
Nowadays, as a National Nature
Reserve the future of the park has
probably never been safer.

some absolutely wonderful pictures from
Martin, a sheer delight to view

the purpose of the Society is "to enable
people to meet together to learn about
natural history in general (and that of the
locality in particular) in a friendly
atmosphere." Originally founded
in 1919, the Society was revived
in 1951, and has met regularly
ever since.

delivering a sense of wilderness
within an urban environment, visitors
to the park can enjoy the captivating
scenery, using an accessible network
of paths.
the Birmingham civic government pages.

more breath-taking pictures
from Keith Berry

185 pictures taken by a group
of whom Martin OC is a member
you'll love this virtual tour of the park

This is one of the best preserved
examples in Britain and clearly
shows the constructional features
 

songs for england is
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