Boldmere is a suburban village and residential area of Sutton Coldfield, City of Birmingham, England. It is bordered by New Oscott, Sutton Park, Wylde Green and Erdington, and is in the ward of Sutton Vesey. History Toponymy "Boldmere" is a corruption of the word "Baldmoor", coming from the Middle English bald (meaning "a white patch") and the Anglo-Saxon moor (meaning "boggy land"). Therefore, Boldmere literally means a "bald moor"; a treeless patch. Bald (meaning "bold") was also a personal name used by the Anglo-Saxons. Name history At the time of John Speed's 1610 atlas The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, Boldmere was known as Cofield Wast. The area was described as "an open, wild and windy expanse, covered with gorse". The United Kingdom Census of 1841 refers to the area as Baldmoor Lake, which was once a body of water south of the Chester Road. The lake has also been known as Bowen Pool, Baldmoor, and Bolemore Lake, though no lake is shown on Speed's map of 1610 (nor on other later maps). The census did, however, list a dwelling on the Chester Road as "Lake House". There is, however, a Lakehouse Road and Baldmoor Lake Road in the area. By 1856, the area had become known as The Coldfield, a name which lasted at least until the introduction of the railway. Expansion On introduction of the 1825 Inclosure Act, the area saw little expansion due to common land becoming privately owned. The 1841 census listed eight families in the area, including agricultural workers, a painter, an Irish carrier, and a wire drawer. It is likely that the latter worked at Penns Mill, a nearby wire mill run by the Webster family (with Baron Dickinson Webster's business involvements including the transatlantic telegraph cable). Boldmere did expand, however, upon the introduction of the London and North Western Railway. Two stations opened in the region at Wylde Green and Chester Road, in 1862 and 1863 respectively. A second housing boom occurred in the 1930s, with both private and council housing being built. Administration In 1857, Boldmere was designated as an ecclesiastical parish, formed from the parish of St Michael's in Sutton Coldfield. When Sutton Coldfield was reorganised in 1885 (under the Municipal Corporations Act 1882), Boldmere was created as a ward, before being divided into Boldmere West and Boldmere East in 1935. Boldmere is now part of the Royal Sutton