Sutton Farm is a suburb on the south-east side of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

History and topography

Prior to becoming a possession of

Shrewsbury Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Shrewsbury (commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey) is an ancient foundation in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England. The Abbey was founded in 1083 as a Benedictine monastery by the No ...

, the manor of Sutton was recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

as belonging to

Wenlock Priory Wenlock Priory, or St Milburga's Priory, is a ruined 12th-century monastery, located in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, at . Roger de Montgomery re-founded the Priory as a Cluniac house between 1079 and 1082, on the site of an earlier 7th-century mon ...

. Sutton Farm is in the

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Parish of St. Giles' Church, which was once a leper hospital for the Shrewsbury Abbey. Some 200m further along the Wenlock Road is Armoury Gardens, site where the former militia Armoury stood until it was removed brick by brick to a new site close to the

Welsh Bridge The Welsh Bridge is a masonry arch viaduct in the town of Shrewsbury, England, which crosses the River Severn. It connects Frankwell with the town centre. It is a Grade II* listed building. The bridge was designed and built from 1793 to ...

. It is connected to the suburbs of Abbey Foregate and Belvidere. Between these suburbs is

Lord Hill's Column Lord Hill's Column is a monument located outside of Shropshire Council's headquarters, Shirehall, in the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. It is a column of the Doric order and measures in height making it the tallest Doric column in England. I ...

, the tallest free-standing

Doric column The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

in the world. Next to the Column are the modern Shirehall and Crown Court buildings. In the heart of Sutton Farm is the Mere. This is an open green space with a large lake at the centre. It is said that monks from St. Giles church used to lead

lepers Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

to the Mere to bathe, as it was believed the waters had healing properties. On the edge of Sutton Farm, on entering Shrewsbury from Much Wenlock, is Weeping Cross roundabout. (There is also another Mere here, down a steep slope). This again dates back to mediaeval times, and is where the poor in the surrounding countryside left their dead for the monks to give a Christian burial. Not far down the road that skirts Sutton Farm, almost opposite

Percy Thrower Percy John Thrower (30 January 1913 – 18 March 1988) was a British gardener, horticulturist, Television presenter, broadcaster and writer born at Horwood House in the village of Little Horwood, Buckinghamshire. He became nationally known thr ...

’s Garden Centre, is a mediaeval chapel at Sutton, now used as Shrewsbury Greek Orthodox Church, dedicated to the Holy Fathers. This is a very ancient church, and archaeology suggests it was probably pre-dated by earlier stone and wooden churches, and the site could even date back to early Christianity in this part of the country, to a time when people were moving out of the old Roman city of

Viroconium Viroconium or Uriconium, formally Viroconium Cornoviorum, was a Roman city, one corner of which is now occupied by Wroxeter, a small village in Shropshire, England, about east-south-east of Shrewsbury. At its peak, Viroconium is estimated to ...

(at the present day village of

Wroxeter Wroxeter is a village in Shropshire, England, which forms part of the civil parish of Wroxeter and Uppington, beside the River Severn, south-east of Shrewsbury. ''Viroconium Cornoviorum'', the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was sited ...

), which is not too far away. On the western edge of Sutton Farm lies the

Rea Brook Valley Rea Brook Valley is a country park, and Local Nature Reserve located in the town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire and is recognised nationwide as an important site for wildlife. This park is also known for its history in the Severn Valley Railway li ...

, which follows the course of the

Rea Brook The name Rea Brook can refer to either of two brooks in Shropshire, England. One of the brooks, which eventually becomes the River Rea, is in southern Shropshire. It is to the east of Brown Clee Hill. The other, described here, is a minor r ...

from the

Meole Brace Meole Brace, sometimes known locally as simply Meole (pronounced like ''meal''), is a south-western suburb of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The Rea Brook, a tributary of the River Severn, flows through the area. The brook was in the past kn ...

roundabout until it approaches the Abbey and

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

, of which it is a tributary. Here are found the remains of a long mill race and levelling ponds built by the monks, who had water mills situated in the valley. Until more recent times, the former site of Salop Laundry (now replaced with new houses), was known by locals as the "mill" and is believed to be a site of one of the mills. Along the mill race towards Lord Hill's Column are some old bridges and ancient bridge embankments, one of which is called "Leper's Bridge", and is said to be where the monks led the lepers up to St. Giles Church which is at the top of the hill.

Housing

The majority of Sutton Farm is a housing estate built in the 1960s, but much older properties existed nearer the Column, and towards the Mere. The original "Sutton Farm" was located where the current shops and ''Darwin''

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

(named after

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

, who was born and grew up in Shrewsbury) now are.

Education

The Mereside School (a junior school; formerly called Holy Cross) and the Springfield School (an infant school) are located on a site in the Springfield area. The suburb is home to

Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology Shrewsbury College is a further education college located in the Sutton Farm suburb of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. Previously called Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology and, earlier, Shrewsbury Technical College, the college is base ...

campus on London Road.

Sport

Shrewsbury Town Football Club played 47 times in 2 seasons in Sutton Lane between 1893-95. This ground is now allotments. In 2007 Shrewsbury Town returned to Sutton Farm area at the South-West end of Oteley Road. This is bordering the adjacent area of

next to Marches Railway Line Manchester to Cardiff.

Notable residents

* Ernie Bowdler (1872-1921), Wales soccer international, was living at Villa Nova, Sutton Road, when he died.

References

Suburbs of Shrewsbury {{Shropshire-geo-stub