Sutton is an area of

St Helens, Merseyside St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

, and Ward of the

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...

of the same name. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 census was 12,003. Historically within

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, it is one of the four townships along with Eccleston, Parr and Windle that formed the municipal borough of St Helens in 1868.

History

St Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, Sutton Manor

The old Township of Sutton included: Sutton Village, Ditch Hillock, Peasley Cross, Marshalls Cross, Clockface, Sutton Manor and Sherdley and totalled 3,752 acres. The exact derivation of Sutton is uncertain. It is thought the township took its name from 'Sudtun', old English for southern enclosure or south town and was likely to have been the southern portion of a Saxon thegn's estate. Before the Conquest of 1066 AD, Sutton was held by King Edward the Confessor and located within the Royal Forest of West Derby. This extended from Burtonwood to Crosby and in the 12th and 13th centuries, Sutton became part of the Barony of Widnes. Along with fourteen other townships including Windle, Parr and Eccleston, it became part of the large ecclesiastical parish of Prescot and its rich seams of coal, which were first discovered in Sutton Heath around 1540, transformed it from an area of moorland and forest into an area of mining.

Transport

There are two railway stations in the area. St Helens Junction, and Lea Green both operate services to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Sutton Manor Colliery

Sutton Manor was one of the largest pits in the

Lancashire Coalfield The Lancashire Coalfield in North West England was an important British coalfield. Its coal seams were formed from the vegetation of tropical swampy forests in the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago. The Romans may have been the fir ...

, the deepest of the two shafts going over into the earth. The first shaft was dug in 1906. They were filled in shortly after closure using large diameter limestone, around 30,000 tons from Holme Park Quarry in Carnforth then capped with three-metre thick reinforced concrete plugs over the two shafts, with venting pipes for methane.

Landmarks

A tall

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, called ''

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

,'' is now sited at Sutton.

People and culture

The popular St Helens Sho

or St Helens Festival as it had been rebranded on its final years, took place in Sutton each July at

Sherdley Park Sherdley Park is a 336 acre (136 ha) urban park in Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berk ...

, adjacent to

The Sutton Academy The Sutton Academy (formerly Sutton High Sports College and originally known as Sutton High School) is a secondary school in the Sutton area of St. Helens, Merseyside, England. It is a medium-sized school for about 1300 students, catering to c ...

. The three-day St Helens Centenary Festival was held in the park in 1968. It marked a hundred years since the town became a borough and was then the largest event ever held in St Helens. The festival went so well that it was decided to hold a similar event each year. This was called the St Helens Show and was renowned as the largest free show in Europe. From 2007 to 2010 it was reinvented as the two-day St Helens Festival before being axed by St Helens Council.

References

External links

Sutton Beauty & Heritage
– Comprehensive history and present day beauty of Sutton and Bold in St. Helens

– photographs of the colliery
Flickr Group
Photographs of the site. {{Areas of St Helens, Merseyside St Helens, Merseyside Towns and villages in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens