Birmingham Z

1862 - LNWR line from Birmingham to Aston extended to Sutton Coldfield
1865 - Earlier proposal by MR for line through park is abandoned due to ‘monetary pressure’
1871 November - Survey of proposed line and ‘book of references’ published
1872 January 17th - Sutton Coldfield Corporation appoints a Railway Committee
1872 June 19th - Case goes before House of Lords Committee
1872 August 6th - Branch from Water Orton through Streetly to Walsall authorized
1873 May - Exact route of line staked out through Sutton Park
1874 July 30th - W,W & MJR absorbed by Midland Railway
1875 Spring - Construction of WWMJR begins
1879 May 19th - Branch opened for goods
1879 July 1st - Branch opened for passengers
1884 December 15th - Opening of mainline extension from SC to Lichfield
1917 January 7th - Stretch from Sutton Park to Aldridge reduced to single line ‘worked by tablet’
1921 March 20th - Double track restored
1923 January 1st - The 1921 Railways Act sees the MR grouped into the LMS
1925 January 1st - Sutton Coldfield Town station closed
1964 December 7th - Sutton Park goods station closed
1965 January 18th - Stopping passenger services withdrawn
1968 January 7th - Line becomes goods-only (NB from 1970 to 1983 some summer season passenger trains ran on Fridays/Saturdays)

Summary Site History

The site appears to be part of the 93 acres given to the Warden and Society of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield by Sir Edmund Cradock-Hartopp of Clifton of Four Oaks Hall in November 1827. [1]

Unlike the rest of this land, which had become available for residential development from the early 1860s, the site was used for the construction of the Midland Railway Company's Sutton Park Line and Station between 1875 and 1879. The natural slope of the site was levelled as part of the construction works. [2]

The new Sutton Park Line made cheap coal available to the residents of Sutton Coldfield, and it appears that the site was primarily designed for the storage and distribution of coal. The existing 'Goods Shed' was equipped with two 30cwt cranes to lift coal from the wagons. An almost identical building was constructed by the Midland Railway in about 1865 at Bakewell, Derbyshire. The 'Goods Shed' is associated with the Billson family coal merchants [3], who had moved to Sutton Coldfield from Aston on the opening of the Sutton Park Line in 1879 and were still active on the site until at least 1912.

The 'Goods Shed' is subsequently associated with C. H. Crees and Sons, builders merchants, now located at Green Lane, Aldridge. Other families and trades identified with later buildings no longer on site but recorded on the various OS maps include: Bassett & Sons, Shell Mex depot, Pratts depot, G H Dykes coal office, and Davenport & Co.. [4]

Between July and October 1942, the 'Goods Shed' was used by 640th US Army Postal Unit. The US military 'mail distribution scheme' was then "moved 50 yards to a building being completed especially for our purposes. ... The new building containing 52,000 square feet of floor space... A double railroad sidetrack parallels the 380 foot post office platform." [5]

By the end of World War 2, the 1st US BPO/APO 640 installation comprised "75 buildings, widely scattered" [5] including the airports at Fradley and Castle Bromwich, New Street Station in Birmingham, the V-Mail Section in London (from early 1944), and the various barracks, billets, and messing arrangements established in the wider Sutton Coldfield area. [6]

In 1947, the British Army Postal Services (Home Postal Centre RE) moved from Nottingham into the vacated US 1st BPO in Sutton Coldfield. [7]

From 1948, the site was used by the General Post Office for foreign postal services. In August 1957, the GPO Sutton Park Station depot processed the First Day Covers posted to mark the 9th Scout Jubilee Jamboree held in the neighbouring Sutton Park to celebrate the centenary of Lord Baden Powell's birth. This was the first time the Post Office produced special rolls of stamps designed to service first day covers automatically. [8]

For the period from the mid-1990s to the opening of the Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) in November 2003, the site was known as 'Birmingham Z' and handled all surface mail within the national network of seven 'Offices of Exchange' (OEs) dealing with export mail. [9]

Notes:

1. This land included "two closes of land and the greater part of the third close of land (called 'The Moors') adjoining Sutton Park and to the New Forge Pool." In exchange, the Warden and Society of the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield gave Cradock-Hartopp 63 acres and 31 perches of Sutton Park ("a slip of land adjoining Four Oaks Park and the greater part of Lady Wood and land adjoining") to allow the then owner of Four Oaks Hall Estate "to create a more pleasing oval shape to his deer park". The exchange also obliged Cradock-Hartopp, at a cost of £1000.00, to build a new entrance to the Park (the present Town Gate) and a new road (Park Road) linking the town to Sutton Park. Reference Birmingham City Archives MS 3069/Acc1935-063/443143, 16 November, 1827.

The site was previously in the ownership of Wriothesley Digby of Meriden [ref. Deeds of Four Oaks Hall Estate 1751-1831, Birmingham City Archives MS3069/Acc1935-063/443140] via the Will of Sir Lister Holte, 5th Bt, on his death in 1770 [ref. Birmingham City Archives MS 3369/Acc 1961-9/39a&b 1758-1769].

2. Following an earlier investigation in 1865 ("abandoned due to monetary pressure"), Sutton Coldfield Corporation appointed a Railway Committee in January 1872, and the Act of Parliament (35 & 36 Vict.) was passed later the same year. The line was staked out in May 1873, construction began in the Spring of 1875, and the 'Sutton Park Line' finally opened for business on the 1st July 1879. The Railway Company paid £6,500 for the 2-mile long strip of land across Sutton Park, and the cost of the construction of the 8-mile line rose from an estimate of £175,000 to over £400,000. The contractor was the "highly respected" railway engineer Joseph Firbank.

3. Kelly's Directory 1896: "Billson Jn. Park Station (Midland Ry) depot", listed under 'Coal & Coke Merchants'.

4. There are remains of the silos used for materials storage/distribution in the small wooded area to the east of the site. It is not known if these are related to coal or building supplies.

5. Major Benjamin F. Hartl: 'History of First Base Post Office', October 1944.

6. In all, about 1000 different APOs (Army Post Offices) were in use during the period between 1941 and the end of 1945.

7. Royal Engineers Museum http://www.remuseum.org.uk/specialism/rem_spec_pcsww2.htm (09.06.2010).

8. Two machines developed by Vacuumatic Ltd of Harwich were hand-fed the covers which were cancelled with the special postmark slogan “Jubilee Jamboree – Sutton Coldfield” and posted from the Jamboree Camp Post Office. This was the Post Office's first foray "into the highly lucrative FDC market".

Sources:

http://www.stampprinters.info/1957%20Scout%20Testing%20Label.pdf
http://www.thetenoclockshow.co.uk/content/view/152/43/
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Jubilee_Jamboree
http://www.sossi.org/maarsen/wjregmail.htm

9. The Postal Heritage Trust 2004.