An Illustrated History of Old Sutton in St.Helens
Part 28 (of 34) - 'Picturesque' Sutton - How Sutton Has Changed
a) Introduction | b) Sutton Manor Village | c) New Street Estatesd) Edgeworth Street | e) Sutton Mill Dam & Community Action
Researched & Written by Stephen Wainwright ©MMX Contact Me
Header image: Mill Lodge located on the banks of Sutton Mill Dam c.1910
a) How Sutton Has Changed - Introduction
The Literary and Debating Society of the Presbyterian Church of Hardshaw Street, St.Helens held a 'mock' banquet on October 5th, 1926. According to local press reports there was a distinguished company of orators present including Councillor Thomas Woods, who in his toast provided a "witty portrayal" of the growth of St.Helens:
St.Helens used to be famous for its three B's - its Brewery, its Bible classes, and its Beecham's. Now it was better known for its three P's - its Parsons, its Police and its Pilkingtons. Suttonites would add a fourth - its Picturesqueness. 
By 1926 Sutton was changing and could well be described as 'picturesque'. The locals were enjoying Sutton Park which had been created in 1903 when Colonel Michael Hughes sold 20 acres of his land to St.Helens Corporation for £2,628. A lodge, drinking fountain, bandstand and bowling green were added and it soon became very popular. Large numbers would turn out for the Sunday band concerts.
'Suttonites' were also enjoying Sherdley Park across the way from Sutton Park, although being privately owned, there was limited access with a long perimeter wall and gates that were locked at night. Landowner Michael Hughes (III) and his wife Edith spent more time in Sutton than his father did and from 1896, they added 100 acres to the park, enlarged the lake and planted almost 10,000 trees.
However, Sutton throughout the centuries of township status and 140 years of being incorporated into the St.Helens Borough, could always have been described as picturesque to some extent. During Sutton's large-scale industrialisation of the nineteenth century, it had retained a mix of industrial areas and coal mines, juxtaposed with some residential areas and large areas of farmland plus other open space. But the balance between them was shifting and would continue to do so throughout the twentieth century.
There was an ever increasing need for new housing for the burgeoning Sutton population. During the nineteenth century, accommodation was often built near to the local works, to house the workers and their families. With a more mobile twentieth century workforce who used buses and cars, tied housing was no longer needed. However, more residential estates were required for those who chose to live in the Sutton district and then commuted into St.Helens or out of town for employment. As large acres of farmland and open space disappeared through the industry of builders, so the landscape changed.
As we all have a tendency to accept our surroundings with little thought as to what had existed before, this page will attempt to describe the changes to Sutton's topography and landscape and, to a lesser extent, social life, between the late ninetenth and early twenty-first centuries.
b) Sutton Manor Village
Of all Sutton's industries coal mining was king, shaping both life and landscape in the former township. In fact Sutton Manor as we know it today, is entirely down to the creation of the coal mine that gave the village its name. Prior to the colliery's arrival, effectively in 1912 when production began in earnest, the land was agricultural with the only dwellings being scattered farms apart from St.Michael's House (or Micklehead). This was located at the junction of Walkers Lane, Chapel Lane and Lea Green Road and was a moated 16th century house.
Apart from these few buildings, the landscape was agricultural open space for miles around. However, by 1914 Sutton Manor Colliery was winding 700 tons of coal a day and as the Times pointed out "A town has sprung up where a few months ago there were only fields" (4/2/1914). People flooded in to work at the pit from other parts of St.Helens, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Yorkshire coalfields. Some came from even further afield with two families from Lithuania and a high caste Hindu, Mr. Ram, who as a colliery surveyor lived with his manservant at 3 Tennyson Street.
How Sutton Manor has changed - just a few farms in 1893 (left) and in 1937 (right)
a mix of agricultural, residential and industrial land with the colliery and its railway
The Times also reported that the builders were unable to keep pace with the demands for the erection of sufficient dwellings to accommodate the miners and their families. The first 200 houses were built in Tennyson Street and Jubits Lane as 'two-up, two down' properties without inside lavatories, bathrooms or electricity. In 1924 the Sutton Manor village was extended by the construction of a number of semi-detached houses with three bedrooms plus toilet and bathroom.
A view from No.1 headgear of Sutton Manor Colliery looking down Tennyson Street
and revealing a mix of industry, residences and green open space
Then everyone in the village worked at the pit and it was a tight knit mining community. There was very little other employment in the area and the tenant of the house was tied, because the accommodation was provided by the colliery. Boys followed their fathers into the mine although during the second half of the twentieth century this trend diminished. As the pit began to downsize its workforce and with greater mobility of the local population able to seek out other occupations, so Sutton Manor Colliery was no longer the dominant force in the district.
St.Helens Reporter account of the the end of an era in Sutton
The temptation to build upon the former colliery land has been resisted and the Sutton Manor woodland which hosts Dream, plus the nearby King George V playing fields (plaque pictured right) and Brickfields woodland, provide great recreational space for locals to enjoy. Although the possibility of subsidence may have been a factor in deterring new builds, it's clear that there's a strong desire to retain a sensible mix of housing and open space for the benefit of all.
c) New Street / Marshalls Cross Estates
Under the headline 'Cabbage Stealing at Sutton', the St.Helens Newspaper and Advertiser of October 24th, 1899 reported how Thomas Seddon had been brought before local magistrates Sinclair and Cotton at St.Helens Police Court. He was given a five shillings fine after being charged with taking 9d of cabbage from farmer John Price's fields, located near St.Nicholas Church in New Street.In those days much of the district surrounding Sherdley Park and New Street was agricultural land or open fields, with much of it part of the Sherdley Estate. There were only a handful of roadways, comprising Marshalls Cross Road to the west, Robins Lane and Ditch Hillock to the north, Gerards Lane to the east and Thieves Lane and Mill Lane to the south. These were then much more sparsely populated than they are today. New Street, incidentally, belies its name, having existed for over 150 years, although a stretch was originally known as Workhouse Lane.
Studying the Ordnance Survey maps of 1849 and 1894 reveal little change. There is little difference too in the 1909 and 1928 OS maps, apart from the listing of Sutton Park and the renaming of Thieves Lane as Eaves Lane. On the 1928 map, the cricket club is also added but essentially the district is still farmland. However, change was occuring, although the survey for the map published in 1928 wasn't able to record it.
A cat stares out of the window of Railway View in New Street (right) but has no chance of watching any trains
In the above photograph taken in November 2009, a ginger cat stares out of the first floor window of a property in New Street, which bears the name 'Railway View'. That name may seem a little odd today as the cat's point of view, on the left, reveal's nothing more exciting than a street and some houses. However, a century ago, the cat would have been able to enjoy the many noisy steam trains that were regularly shunting to and from St.Helens Junction and Sutton Oak stations.
In late 1927, building work began on creating Dawson Avenue, which connects to Gerards Lane. Occupation began the following year and an elderly resident who talked to me as I took the above photographs, said they had a great view then of the steam trains on the busy line. However the new houses shielded Railway View from living up to its name, although some gaps in the housing on the opposite side of New Street may still have allowed for some glimpses. Further development on the east side of New Street took place soon afterwards, with the creation of streets such as Freda Avenue, although it was fairly small-scale.
During the 1930s, the Sherdley estate, which had dominated life in Sutton for many years, began to break up and five farms and five cottages were amongst 310 acres that were sold off. The estate was now down to 613 acres which included nine farms. Sherdley owner Michael Hughes (III) had predicted more built-up areas and blocked proposals to build houses in front of the New Street cricket field. A lover of sports, himself, he then sold Sutton CC their ground for just £300, a fraction of its true value.
He knew he wouldn't be able to stave off 'progress' after his death, but he did what he could to protect the character of the area while he was still alive. Colonel Hughes disliked much of modern life with aversions to electricity, telephones, motor cars, cinemas and wireless sets. He died in 1938 and by then the world was a very different place to the one whose Victorian values he so espoused and change was very much in the wind.
A view north towards St.Helens with Sherdley Park in the background.
St.Nicholas's graveyard and the old cub hut are in the foreground (pic courtesy James Lamb)
The war and its aftermath delayed any large-scale re-development, however, in June 1949, Sherdley Hall, Sherdley Park and Home Farm were sold to St.Helens Corporation. Sherdley became the largest public park in St.Helens but by the early 1960s, the landscape around New Street had changed little. This is vividly demonstrated by the photographs, above and below, taken from St.Nicholas church tower by James Lamb in April 1964.
Contrast that picture with a recent Google Earth impression (right) of how the area looks today. Apart from Sutton Cricket Club and Sutton Park at the picture's top right, the fields have all now gone having metamorphised into Marina Avenue, Balmoral Avenue, Stathmore Grove, Sandringham Drive etc.
Two years after James took his photograph, Lord St.Helens (Michael Hughes-Young) auctioned 27½ acres of former Sherdley land in order to create the new housing estate. The sale conducted by J.B. and B. Leach, raised £228,000, with Blackburn-based Northern Developments acquiring it against much competition from other builders. To sweeten the sale, St.Helens Corporation had agreed to pay half of the cost of creating roadways to service the new estate.
With two parks very close to the new residential development, there was no question of the area becoming too built-up. Indeed Hughes-Young's uncle, Captain Michael Hughes, had insisted on Sutton Park being protected when he sold it to St.Helens Council in 1903.
Amongst several caveats, a clause was inserted into the sale agreement preventing the use of "steam-driven merry-go rounds and whistles" in the 20 acre park. (See Sutton Beauty & Heritage pages: Michael Hughes of Sherdley, Sherdley Estate and Sutton Park)
St.Helens Reporter account of the sale of former Sherdley estate land to housing developers (30/7/1966)
In the second photograph (below) taken by James Lamb in 1964 - which is a southerly view towards Mill Lane with the railway in the foreground - there is a similarly open landscape, apart from the houses situated on one side of Mill Lane and Sutton Manor Colliery in the far distance. The pit was then in its heyday, annually outputting over 300,000 tons of coal with over 1,000 miners and ancillary workers employed. Within a couple of years it would undergo a recruitment drive but despite the National Coal Board's adverts in the St.Helens Reporter in 1966 promising "permanent employment and a secure future", it would close 25 years later.
Looking south from St.Nicholas Church tower towards Mill Lane and Sutton Manor Colliery (pic James Lamb)
Today the landscape south of St.Nick's is mainly residential, with new homes built on the west side of New Street and new streets in Severn Close and Trent Close. The former site of the old Sutton Workhouse and the first Sutton National School, on the other side of the street, hosts Sherdley primary school and its playing fields.
The area between New Street and Gerards Lane has undergone the most drastic change with the acres of farmland replaced by what is still locally referred to as the 'Beth Avenue' estate. The Dawson Avenue development of 1927-8 was the starting point for this residential expansion but was small in comparison with the hundreds of homes that were built nearby during the 60's and 70's. These were given the unflattering nickname of 'Legoland' and the build of the houses was said to be a factor in the area's high crime rate.
Frank Bamber, who lived in Gerards Lane when he wrote his memoirs 'Clog Clatters of Old Sutton', in 1987, thought that the changes were criminal in themselves:
...the farmland from here [Whalley's Farm and Orchard] ran as far as New Street. This has now disappeared and is occupied by Beth Avenue. A beautiful hillside of farmland and wild life has vanished thanks to the progressive ideas of some of our borough representatives....[Beth Avenue] was goodbye to peace and beauty. 
Despite these large-scale housing developments, the residents of the New Street district have plenty of opportunity for recreational activity with the delights of Sutton Mill Dam, Sherdley Park and Sutton Park on their doorstep.
d) Edgeworth Street
Frank Bamber was born at 64 Edgeworth Street in 1910 and in the first edition of the Sutton Historic Society's publication 'Sutton Ramblings' in 1989, he described how he'd recently found himself in the street of his birth one Saturday morning but was not impressed by what he saw:
Somehow the street seemed to me now to be cold and deserted, lacking warmth, and what I noticed most was the staggering of stationary cars parked on each side of the street and it seemed to me that something was lacking. I shut my eyes momentarily and started to picture in my mind's eye how different it was during my early days. I could hear children's voices singing or chanting one of the old skipping songs, and two big girls, Clara Sharples from number 61 and May Ashton from the Chip Shop in Peckershill Road, both in the Girl Guides, standing in the roadway turning a lengthy skipping rope.... 
Edgeworth Street, pictured at 11:30am on a Saturday morning in November 2009, with no children out playing as in Frank Bamber's day - Sutton Oak Flowers on the right is in the former Davies Dairy building
In Frank's mind's eye, he could also see a four wheel flat cart carrying vegetables in wicker hampers which was being pulled along Edgeworth Street at walking pace by a chestnut horse. Holding the reins was Charlie Swift, a Peckershill Road greengrocer, assisted by his young son whose red hair earned him the nickname of 'Carrot Swift'. Frank described how Charlie rang a handbell to summon the customers to come out of their houses and select some produce.
Frank could also 'see' a wheeled float with the name A. Barrow painted on the side, drawn by a rough coated pony, pulling up at 64 Edgeworth Street. He pictured himself as a child running out with a newspaper and holding it out to the small, stocky owner who deposited seven firelighters on the newspaper for the price of sixpence.
Frank recalls that there used to be eight shops, mainly grocery and sweet shops, that were essentially converted front rooms of houses. There was Miss Jones who had one at number 58, then Mrs. McVitie at 74, Mrs. Beasley at 88, Fred Hill at 31 and Millie Price had a pork shop at no. 51. At no. 73 was a large dairy run by John Davies which had stables for four ponies and an enclosure for milk floats. There was also a Methodist chapel, a Conservative Club, The Little Pig pub and close by, Fletcher's slaughterhouse, Phoenix Brewery, Providence Foundry and the Showground where circuses and entertainment was staged. Frank again:
What struck me regarding the lifeless scene in Edgeworth Street was the absence of the unhurried horse and cart traffic making their way along the street, the absence of children playing happily on the pavements and in the roadway, the neighbourly wives talking together around the doorstep, perhaps dispensing some good news or unburdening some of their worries or asking advice on some problem....Yes in this year 1987 parts of the street have died. Gone are the small front room shops where people in neighbourly fashion could go in and buy one or two items and what was more valuable they could unburden their troubles to a kindly person behind the counter or a few friendly neighbours gathered in the shop. A worry shared is a worry halved. Gone are the dairies and the whistle of Mrs Davies summoning all to the milk float and a cheery good morning to each and everyone. 
This website was not created to undertake such socio-economic analyses. However, Frank's reminiscences vividly bring old Sutton to life, which is very much part of Sutton Beauty & Heritage's remit! e) Sutton Mill Dam & Community Action
As the housing estate expansion developed, so the local community became increasingly concerned for the protection of its green and open spaces. The story of Sutton Mill Dam is a good example. British Sidac, who'd been in Sutton since 1934, had ownership of the historic Dam which had formerly sourced a water and corn mill. In 1976 the cellophane manufacturers applied for permission to fill it with inert waste. Brian Spencer, the present leader of St.Helens Council, and his wife began a campaign to stop the dumping and whilst out petitioning bumped into neighbours who were also collecting signatures. They joined forces, meetings were arranged and the Sutton Mill Dam Action Group was formed.
After lengthy negotiations, St.Helens Council acquired Sutton Mill Dam as well as Monastery Dam for a nominal sum. The original intention was for the Mill Dam to become an area of natural beauty without pedestrian access, in order to protect the wildlife and the Dam area itself. However, the Council had applied for a Derelict Land Grant from the government and one of the criteria was that any work done must bring land 'back into public use', hence the present footpaths and bridges.
Prince Charles at Sutton Mill Dam - facing him is the late Eric Coffey who was then
secretary of Sutton Historic Society. He was succeeded by his son Chris.
St.Helens Council then commissioned Operation Groundwork, (later to become the Groundwork Trust), to work on the Dam. A competition was held in Sutton primary schools to create a mascot emblem, which was won by a pupil of Willow Tree Primary. Also established was the Friends of Groundwork (FROGS). The campaigners did not want to allow fishing, due to the danger of wildfowl being snared on discarded hooks. However, Sidac had already awarded fishing rights to East Sutton Angling Club and the fishermen did a lot of good work to keep the Dam clean and installed fishing 'pegs' or platforms.
In May 1988, Sutton Mill Dam was visited by HRH Prince Charles who was able to inspect the newly created wildlife nature park and learn of the local community's efforts. This demonstrated what community action could do and sent a message to industry that the days of dumping in Sutton's waterways were well and truly over.
Entrance to the Sutton Mill Dam from Clock Face Road
Green open spaces are flourishing in the Sutton district and the closure of the two former collieries at Sutton Manor and Clock Face have been been seen as opportunities to develop them as public spaces. With the support of agencies such as the Forestry Commission and Mersey Forest, the Clock Face Colliery Country Park / Maypole Wood and Sutton Manor Woodland (which also hosts Dream) plus Brickfields have been developed as public access land where one can walk, jog, sit, cycle or fish.
The balance in providing housing for the local community and the retention of open, green space is always a tricky one, but the powers-that-be in St.Helens seem to be doing their bit to ensure that Sutton remains a 'picturesque' location for many future generations of 'Suttonites' to enjoy.
Sutton Beauty & Heritage's History Pages:
01) Township of Sutton & St.Helens; | 02) Lords & Masters;
03) Michael Hughes of Sherdley; | 04) The Sherdley Estate;
05) Sutton's Halls & Houses | 06) Dr. Henry Baker Bates;
07) Religion in Sutton; | 08) Rev. Henry Vallancey;
09) Education in Sutton; | 10) Mineworking in Sutton;
11) Sutton Manor Colliery #1; | 12) Sutton Manor Colliery #2;
13) Clock Face Colliery; | 14) Industry in Sutton Township;
15) Sutton Transport; | 16) Sutton Transport Timeline;
17) Health & Sanitary Conditions; | 18) Old Sutton Pubs
19) Sport in Sutton; | 20) Rapid Rise of Sutton Harriers;
21) Leisure & Entertainment; | 22) Sutton Streetnames;
23) Pudding Bag; | 24) Notorious & Curious Crime;
25) Sutton Tragedy #1; | 26) Sutton Tragedy #2;
27) What's Wrong With Sutton? | 28) How Sutton Has Changed;
29) Classified Ads #1; | 30) Classified Adverts #2;
31) Memories of Sutton; | 32) Sutton Trivia & True Facts;
33) Research Sources & References; | 34) Clog Clatters;
Plus 11 Photo-Albums: Sutton's Lords & Masters; Sherdley Estate;
Religion & Education; Transport; Sport, Leisure & Entertainment;
Sutton Streets; Sutton Manor Colliery#1; Sutton Manor Colliery#2;
Sutton Manor Colliery#3; Clock Face Colliery; Sutton Industry;
Sutton Beauty & Heritage strives for factual accuracy at all times. Please do also contact me if you believe there are any errors, with details of all corrections contained within the site's update history page, which also details the regular updates. If you have any further Sutton information or photographs that you would like to share in this project, I would be delighted to hear from you. This website always credits any assistance given. I respond quickly to all emails and if you haven't received a response within 12 hours, do check your junk mail folder. Thank you! SRW
