Lammas Land
"Lammas Land" is land which is passed from particular cultivation to common pasturage on August 1st - Lammas Tide.
The word itself is from the Anglo-Saxon hlaf, and moess, i.e. 'loaf feast', so called because the first sheaf of corn cut from the harvest was baked into a loaf that was blessed in the church and shared amongst the congregation. In Scotland it is called Lughnasadh, pronounced LOO-Nasa.
The Lammas is a four acre recreation ground below the church, and was given to the town in about 1860 by the Duke of Portland. It was to be used as an open space in perpetuity.
Prior to the 1939-1945 war the ground was used to play cricket. Famous Nottinghamshire cricketers such as Harold Larwood and Bill Voce played here. Nowadays besides being an open space where townsfolk can walk their dogs it is used regularly by visiting 'Wakes' (i.e. Fairs).
The Lammas Road was built in 1764 and connected Devonshire Square (now the Bus Station) with St. Mary Magdalene church. Up until this date, Church Street had been the main village street.
St.Mary's School
This stands to the right of Church Avenue as you walk towards St Mary Magdalene Church.
The original St Mary's School was provided for in the will of Ann Mason, who died in 1669. The school she wished for "to teach the poorest men's children in Sutton to a standard whereby they could read the Bible" was opened in 1669.
The present building was built by the National Society in 1846. The Duke of Portland gave the land, paid for its preparation and provided cheap stone. The National Society gave a grant of £300 and benevolent townsfolk as well as the Duke paid for the rest.
The National Society had supported a school in Sutton in 1818. It had been housed in the old Tithe Barn which stood where the present day Vicarage Housing Estate is situated on the opposite side of Church Avenue.
In 1979 St Mary's School moved to Springwood View Close. The building has kept its tradition of educating and is now a private preparatory school, called Lammas School.
photo to come