Vesey Gardens
- Address
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Church Hill, Mill Street, off Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield B72 1TF
- How to get there and parking
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Located alongside the Grade 1-listed Holy Trinity Parish Church on Church Hill, Mill Street in Sutton Coldfield.
Main entrance on Lichfield Road, access can also be gained off Coleshill Road.
- About the park
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Vesey Gardens are an historic ornamental space featuring formal flower beds, shrubs and small grassed area.
They were created immediately to the west of Sutton Coldfield’s parish church as a memorial to Bishop John Vesey, Chaplain to Henry V111 and influential in the granting of the Royal Charter to the town.
The decision to commemorate the Bishop was taken in 1939, following a town pageant and a play about his life was performed at the Jubilee in 1935.
The ornamental gardens were visited by Heart of England in Bloom judges in 2019 when the town was awarded gold status.
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- Video introduction
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- Toilets
- There are no toilets on site.
- Points of interest
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- A series of ornamental stone steps lead to the church grounds. The steps feature a bronze tablet memorial to Bishop Vesey, which includes the Sutton Coldfield coat of arms.
- Bishop Vesey, a wealthy renaissance scholar who was consecrated Bishop of Exeter in 1519, is buried in Holy Trinity Parish Church. Born in Moor Hall in the Manor of Sutton Coldfield, he generously championed the town, endowing a free grammar school (Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School) and building 51 stone houses, as well as a marketplace.
