Land History

1. Langley Hall Estate (timeline: mid-1200s to 1549):

The de Beresford family of Wishaw were granted 50 acres of land at Langley by Henry III, and in 1298 William de Beresford built a substantial moated house there which came to be known as Langley Hall.

The family held the estate until the death of Baldwin de Beresford in 1422 when it passed by the female line through Hoare and eventually to the Pudsey family by virtue of the marriage of Edith Hoare to Rowland Pudsey in 1549.

2. Langley Hall Estate and the Pudsey family (timeline 1549 to 1677):

The Pudseys became a prominent local family. Robert born 1520 married a relative of Bishop Vesey and was Warden of the town in 1543 and 1554, as was his son George in 1582 and 1604, and his grandson George in 1636 and 1650.

Langley Manor descended in the Pudsey family until 1677 when Henry Pudsey died without a male heir. At this point, the estate was divided between his two daughters, Anne who had married William Jesson (c1666-1725) in Sutton Coldfield in 1696, and Elizabeth, the wife of Henry, 3rd Baron Folliott of Ballyshannon, Irish nobleman and politician.

3. Four Oaks Hall - from Pudsey to Cradock-Hartopp (timeline 1677 to 1792):

While William Jesson and Anne (nee Pudsey) lived at Langley Manor, Folliott exercised the right granted in the Royal Charter of Sutton Coldfield to enclose up to 60 acres (24 ha) of Common land for a new house and engaged William Wilson (student of Sir Christopher Wren) to design and build a substantial mansion at Four Oaks. Jane Pudsey, the widow of Henry Pudsey and mother of Anne and Elizabeth, later married this William Wilson, architect of this new Four Oaks Hall, and he subsequently built the Moat House on Lichfield Road for his new wife. This building (next door to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School) is now occupied by Sutton Coldfield College (and was once the Art School).

Folliott died in 1716 without issue, but his widow, Elizabeth, remained at Four Oaks Hall until her death in 1744. Four Oaks Hall was sold to Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton (1713-1787) in 1751 and rebuilt in the Palladian style. In 1757, Luttrell obtained Parliamentary consent to enclose a further 48 acres (19 ha) of the Common land in Sutton Park, at a rent of £12 a year, to form a deer park. On becoming Baron Luttrell of Luttrells Town in 1778, he sold the estate to the Reverend Thomas Gresley of Netherseal. On Gresley's death in 1785, the estate was sold to Hugh Bateman who in turn sold it to Edmund Cradock-Hartopp in 1792.

4. Back to Langley Hall Estate - Pudsey/Jesson to Holte to Digby (timeline 1677 to 1782)

Anne Jesson, who had inherited half the Langley Hall Estate on the death of her father Henry in 1677, died in 1718 leaving a son Pudsey Jesson (1696-1748). Pudsey Jesson married twice, and had two children, William Jesson (1730-1786) and Anne Jesson (1733-1799), by his first marriage in 1728 to Elizabeth Freeman (1707-1735), and a third child, Pudsey Jesson the younger (1740-1783) by his second marriage in 1737 to Mary Edwards.

Langley Hall Estate descended to William Jesson (1730-1786), and on his death the property was divided between his two daughters Hannah Freeman Jesson and Elizabeth Pudsey Jesson. Hannah and Elizabeth, with their respective husbands, William Pearson and Thomas Groesbeck Lynch, were dealing with the manor in 1788. William Jesson Pearson, son of Hannah and William Pearson was dealing with half the manor in 1808, and on his death bequeathed his property to his 'cousin' Mary Holte Bracebridge.

5. RM Sutton Park Station Depot (timeline 1748 to 1782 or 1827)

Meanwhile, the site of the present RM Sutton Park Station Depot seems to have descended from Pudsey Jesson to his daughter Anne Jesson (1733-1799). Anne Jesson married Sir Charles Holte (1721-1782), the 6th Baronet Aston of Aston Hall, Birmingham in 1754. Sir Charles Holte had inherited title and land from his elder brother Sir Lister Holte, 5th Bt, on the latter's death in 1770.

Sir Charles Holte and Anne nee Jesson had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, but no male heir. Mary Elizabeth Holte married Abraham Bracebridge of Atherstone Hall in 1775, and it was Bracebridge's "unfortunate business ventures" which were to cause the break-up of the Aston estate.

As Sir Charles Holte had no male heir, title to the property in Sutton Coldfield passed to Heneage Legge (1747 - 1827) who died without issue of any kind. So, in accordance with Sir Lister Holte's Will, title passed to Lewis Bagot, 76th Bishop of Saint Asaph and fifth son of Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire. As Lewis Bagot's line also failed, title passed to Wriothesley Digby of Meriden in accordance with Sir Lister Holte's Will.

6. Wriothesley Digby & Edmund Cradock-Hartopp (timeline 1782 to 1827):

The site of the present RM Sutton Park Station Depot was then sold by Wriothesley Digby to Edmund Cradock-Hartopp in the early 1800s, as in:

Release from Wriothesley Digby of Meriden, co. War., esq., and surrender from the Rev. Noel Digby of Brixton, [Brighstone] in the Isle of Wight, [co. Hants.], clerk, to Sir Edmund Cradock Hartopp of Four Oaks Hall, co. War., bart., and Edmund Cradock-Hartopp of the same place, esq., of lands in the parish of Sutton Coldfield, co. War., situated between the Town of Sutton Coldfield and Sutton Park, and lands adjoining the New Forge pool or Stone House Forge pool and Sutton Park, being part of Booth's farm. PLAN. [Deeds of Four Oaks Hall Estate 1751-1831, Birmingham City Archives, ref: MS3069/Acc1935-063/443140]

The site was then swapped between Edmund Cradock-Hartopp and the Warden and Society of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield in 1827 so that the former could create a more pleasing oval shape to his deer park, as in:

Copy of order of the Master of the Rolls authorising the grant from the Warden and Society of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, co. War., to Sir Edmund Cradock Hartopp of Clifton, co. Glouc., bart., and Edmund Cradock Hartopp of Four Oaks Hall, co. War., of two pieces of land adjoining Four Oaks Park and being part of Sutton Park, in exchange for other lands adjoining Sutton Park. [Birmingham City Archives, ref: MS 3069/Acc1935-063/443143, 16 November, 1827].

This exchange required Cradock-Hartopp to exchange 93 acres 3 roods and 36 perches (38 ha) he owned adjacent to the Park near the town for 65 acres and 31 perches (26 ha) of Sutton Park and also to build a new entrance to the Park (Town Gate) and a new road (Park Road 517 yards long and 30 feet wide) linking the new entrance with the town.

And then came the railway...