History of Sutton in St.Helens, Lancashire
Sutton Beauty's History & Heritage Pages
The Township of Sutton & St.Helens; Sutton's Lords & Masters;
Religion and Education in Sutton; Mineworking in Sutton;
Industry in Sutton Township; Transport in Sutton;
Transport Timeline; Health & Sanitary Conditions in Sutton;
Sport & Leisure; Origins of Sutton Street & Placenames;
Pudding Bag; 'Picturesque' Sutton - How Sutton has Changed;
Sutton True Facts! History of Sutton PHOTO ALBUM;
Also See: Sutton Manor Colliery; Clock Face Colliery
Introduction - the Township of Sutton & St Helens
Before the Conquest of 1066 AD, Sutton was held by King Edward the Confessor and located within the Royal Forest of West Derby, which extended from Burtonwood to Crosby. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Sutton township became part of the Barony of Widnes. Along with the townships of Windle, Parr and Eccleston plus eleven others it constituted the parish of Prescot.
Its rich seams of coal - first discovered in Sutton Heath in 1540 - transformed it from an area of moorland and forest into a thriving community.
However, in 1868 it finally joined the townships of Windle, Parr and Eccleston in forming the Borough of St.Helens, County Borough in 1889 and Metropolitan Borough in 1974.
How Sutton township was represented on William Yates' map of 1786.
Note references to Costeth House, Sutton Hall & Toad Leach.
How Sutton was Viewed in the 19th Century
This is how John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales in 1870-72 described Sutton:SUTTON, a township and a chapelry in Prescot parish, Lancashire. The township lies around Sutton-Oak, Lea-Green, and St. Helens Junction r. stations, 21⁄2 miles S of St. Helens; and has a post-office under St. Helens. Acres, 3,616. Real property, £44,146; of which £9,147 are in mines, £170 in canals, £2,640 in railways, and £1,601 in gasworks. Pop. in 1851, 5,288; in 1861, 9,223. Houses, 1,588. There are numerous good residences. Coal, ironstone, limestone, and potters' clay are worked; and there are glass-works, bottle-works, cobalt and zaffer-works, copper-smelting-works, earthen-ware works, drain-pipe works, grease and varnish-works, an oil-refinery, and watch-movement manufactures. A county lunatic asylum also is here. The chapelry includes only part of the township, and was constituted in 1848. Pop. in 1861, 4,071. Houses, 755. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chester. Value, £716. Patron, Kings College, Cambridge. The church is in the pointed style. There are a Wesleyan chapel and national schools.
Next: Sutton's Lords & Masters;
Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages
- F.W. Free, Our Heritage in Sutton & Bold (Free / Rhodes, 1979)
- C.H.A. Townley & J.A. Peden, Industrial Railways of St.Helens, Widnes and Warrington (Industrial Railway Society, 1999)
- John Spear, Report on the Continued Prevalence of Fever in the Borough of St.Helens (Local Government Board, 1885)
- Bob Pixton, Widnes and St.Helens Railways (The Chalford Publishing Company, 1996)
- Geoff Simm & Ian Winstanley, Mining Memories (St.Helens Metropolitan Borough Council, 1990)
- E.K. Stretch, St.Helens Tramways (St.Helens Corporation, 1968)
- T.C. Barker & J.R. Harris, A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution, St.Helens 1750-1900 (Frank Cass, 1993)
- Dorothy Hughes, Costeth House Estate - Lancashire Local Historian Vol.16 [pp.25-40] (Lancashire Local History Federation, 2003)
- Janice Murray, Windows on the Past (St.Helens Metropolitan Borough Council, 1985)
- Mary Presland, St.Helens - A Pictorial History (Phillimore, 1995)
- T.B. Maund & M.J. Ashton, Local Transport in St.Helens: 1879-1974 (Venture, 1995)
- Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1872)
- St.Helens Local History & Archives Library
- Sutton Historic Society
- Contributions gratefully received from Myles I. Earle, Mel Moran, Martin Gauckwin, Frank Williams, Cllr. Brian Spencer, Paul Jones
- Web sources: Disused Stations in the UK, Old Maps, Alan Turnbull Secret Bases 4, The Parish Tram - A View of Portreath, Busey Family Organization, Eltonhead, Townships: Sutton, A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3 (1907), pp. 354-362, Ancestry, Stirnet
The vast majority of images on this site were taken by the Sutton Beauty & Heritage site owner S.R. Wainwright. Please feel free to use them in your own project, although we retain full rights and would appreciate a credit and an email informing us what you are doing. Most people don't, they just download them! Hi-res versions can also be supplied on request at no charge.
Other images are used for heritage, educational or promotional purposes and are believed to be in the public domain. Where appropriate we endeavour to obtain permission from the rights holders. This is not always possible and you are encouraged to contact us to discuss any rights issue. Sutton Beauty & Heritage always provides accreditation for any assistance given.
This website strives for factual accuracy at all times. Please do also contact us if you spot any errors or if you have any further information or photographs that we can use. Thank you!