Sutton Farm
Sutton Farm is a suburb of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is home to Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology and it is connected to the suburbs of Abbey Foregate and Belvidere. Between these suburbs is Lord Hill's Column, the tallest free-standing Doric column in the world. Next to the Column are the modern Shirehall and Crown Court buildings.
| Sutton Farm | |
|---|---|
 Shrewsbury College, situated in the suburb | |
  Sutton Farm Location within Shropshire | |
| OS grid reference | SJ508113 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Shrewsbury |
| Postcode district | SY2 |
| Dialling code | 01743 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
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 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 (named after Charles Darwin, who went to school in Shrewsbury) now are.
Sutton Farm is in the Anglican 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 Armoury stood until it was removed brick by brick to a new site close to the Welsh Bridge.
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 to the Mere to bathe, as it was believed the waters had healing properties.
Prior to becoming a possession of Shrewsbury Abbey, the manor of Sutton was recorded in the Domesday Book as belonging to Wenlock Priory.
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’s Garden Centre, is a mediaeval chapel, 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, which is not too far away.
On the eastern edge of Sutton Farm lies the Rea Brook Valley, which follows the course of the Rea Brook from the Meole Brace roundabout until it approaches the Abbey and River Severn, 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.