Sutton is a name familiar with many in Norton and represents a hamlet in the town parish. Howard Campion looks back at its history.
ITS name still occurs in a few house and street names in the area, for example Sutton Street.
In fact, the well-known Leat House in Welham Road was formerly known as Sutton Cottage.
Sutton lies between Langton Road, Welham Road and Bazley’s Lane.
Records from very early times (1100 onwards) show transactions involving various ‘granges’ here being sold or donated.
It is assumed that these are incorporated or actually underneath the large houses in the area that does include Whitewall Corner but not the adjacent Welham.
No doubt Sutton villagers would have used the facility of Beck Mills which is relatively nearby.
The 1851 Census is a good starting point when trying to sort out what actually happened in Sutton. There were then 166 inhabitants in eight houses, not evenly distributed.
Of these, there was one school master, one vicar (without parish) and 68 young employees who were involved in the various. Skills required to maintain and develop an industry based on horse racing.
Conveniently, the local racecourse was less than a mile away towards Langton.
Read more articles by Howard Campion:
- A look back at Norton’s Wood Street and its wartime role
- A look back at Norton’s old mill area dating back to the 11th century
But because of its occupying ‘common land’ that national laws of enclosure caught up resulting in its sale for agricultural use just 11 ears later (it will be recalled that a similar fate befell common land surrounding York Road at the same time).
The loss of the racecourse was compensated for by others opening up for short periods of time nearby but these events have not been detrimental to Norton’s reputation as the ‘Newmarket of the North’.
There does seem to be a disparity regarding population numbers in Sutton because going back to earlier times (1672) the settlement was said to have had 16 ‘hearths’ – far more than the number of houses in our Census.
It is therefore possible that there could have been a village exodus at some time prior to 1851 because the houses described by Robinson in Archaeology of Malton and Norton, 1977, as once lying on a ‘hollow way’ were not listed in 1851.
- Howard Campion is a trustee at the Norton and Malton Heritage Centre
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