The old Town Hall, now a Masonic Hall, The Gate is on the left. The Hall also once contained Rosella's Cinema. Known as the Town Hall before it was purchased by the Freemasons (at a cost of £4100) and, in a certified copy of the document inserted in the foundation stone it is referred to as the Moot Hall - the stone being laid on the 25th August, 1858.The first and second Moot Halls stood at the top of Mill Street where later there was a weighing machine, long since gone.  Also, the old Town Hall housed Barclays Bank in the 50s; thanks to Chris Thompson for that info. He also tells me there was a nice cafe in Mill St, he thinks it was called 'Dick's'. No railway existed. Those who had business in Birmingham and lived in Sutton took eighty minutes at least if they went by coach, or drove into Birmingham in their own conveyances. The railway from Aston to Sutton started in 1860 and was not completed until 1863.

The Town clustered at the top of the hill. The Moot Hall situated at the top of Mill Street was a two-storey building with a small covered market at one end. There were no buildings on the Park side between those on Mill Street and the Park.  The dam already existed but there were no shops and a series of pools led from Windley right away to Holland House.  The old workhouse (part of the site), and the gaol, where the cell still remains in the sub-basement, were renovated and turned into Municipal Offices. The Hall served variously as the Magistrates' Court; Sutton's first cinema, Rosella's, (there were adverts for Rosella's in the Sutton News in 1915); the Sutton Fire Station situated in the corner of the present car-park until December 1905. The engine was horse-drawn and the horses stabled with the engine - a rusting bracket up on the wall by the side of the doors was used to dry the hoses. Part of the site was occupied by Almshouses and probably used for other purposes besides. Info: David Wilcox