Sunbeamland is the name for a manufacturing complex close to the centre of Wolverhampton, near England's "Black Country". Sunbeamland is where John Marston, a design engineer and entrepreneur, developed several large clusters of factory buildings. The name "Sunbeamland" is derived from the Sunbeam range of motorcycles. A mile south of Sunbeamland, in Blakenhall, lies the Sunbeam Motor Car Company and Villiers Engineering, which became two of Wolverhampton's most important industries.
Sunbeamland was John Marston Limited's bicycle and motorcycle factory on Wolverhampton's Paul Street fronting onto the Penn Road island now that the other side of the street has been cleared. They were built on the site of Edward Perry's Jeddo Works, which Marston had bought from Perry's estate in 1871.
The building, disused since the late 1990s, was declined Listed Building status by English Heritage but Wolverhampton City Council provided their own local 'listed' status. [1] Work has since begun to convert the building into apartments.
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Villiers Engineering's first premises were a mile south of Sunbeamland in Blakenhall. They had been Edward Bullifant's Blakenhall Tin and Japan works premises on the east side of Upper Villiers Street close to St Luke's church. They were bought by John Marston in 1898 to house a new business to be run by Marston's son to make components for Sunbeam cycles. The son bought the business from his father in 1902. Just before the First World War they began to make small two-stroke petrol engines. [2]
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Moorfield Works, the new buildings built in 1905 on the site of Moorfield House for the new Sunbeam Motor Car Company. The house and its grounds bought by Marston in 1898 were on the southern boundary of the first Villiers Engineering premises. The first Sunbeam car was built in the house's old stables. The works are on the opposite side of Upper Villiers Street. [2]
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The Black Country Living Museum is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is located in the centre of the Black Country, 10 miles west of Birmingham. The museum occupies 10.5 hectares of former industrial land partly reclaimed from a former railway goods yard, disused lime kilns, canal arm and former coal pits.
A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd was a British automobile and motorcycle manufacturer in operation from 1909 to 1931. The company was founded by Joe Stevens in Wolverhampton, England. After the firm was sold, the name continued to be used by Matchless, Associated Motorcycles and Norton-Villiers on four-stroke motorcycles until 1969, and since the name's resale in 1974, on lightweight, two-stroke scramblers and today on small-capacity roadsters and cruisers. The company held 117 motorcycle world records.
Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited was a British automobile manufacturer in operation between 1905 and 1934. Its works were at Moorfields in Blakenhall, a suburb of Wolverhampton in Staffordshire, now West Midlands. The Sunbeam name had originally been registered by John Marston in 1888 for his bicycle manufacturing business. Sunbeam motor car manufacture began in 1901. The motor business was sold to a newly incorporated Sunbeam Motor Car Company Limited in 1905 to separate it from Marston's pedal bicycle business; Sunbeam motorcycles were not made until 1912.
Humber Limited was a British manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars incorporated and listed on the stock exchange in 1887. It took the name "Humber & Co Limited" because of the high reputation of the products of one of the constituent businesses that had belonged to Thomas Humber. A financial reconstruction in 1899 transferred its business to Humber Limited.
Blakenhall is a suburb and ward in Wolverhampton, England. The population was 12,614 at the 2021 census.
Sunbeam Cycles made by John Marston Limited of Wolverhampton was a British brand of bicycles and, from 1912 to 1956 motorcycles.
Guy Motors was a Wolverhampton-based vehicle manufacturer that produced cars, lorries, buses and trolleybuses. The company was founded by Sydney S. Guy (1885–1971) who was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Guy Motors operated out of its Fallings Park factory from 1914 to 1982, playing an important role in the development of the British motor industry.
Villiers Engineering was a manufacturer of motorcycles and cycle parts, and an engineering company based in Villiers Street, Wolverhampton, England.
Norton Villiers Triumph (NVT) was a British motorcycle manufacturer, formed by the British government to continue the UK motorcycling industry, until the company's ultimate demise.
John Marston (1836–1918) was a successful Victorian bicycle, motorcycle and car manufacturer and founder of the Sunbeam company of Wolverhampton. His company was also one of the country's largest manufacturers of japanware and he was responsible for building 'Seagull' outboard engines for marine use and also for starting the Villiers engineering company. He was Mayor of Wolverhampton for two consecutive years and died in 1918 aged 82.
Josef Henri Charles Christiaens, was a Belgian racing driver, aviator, and engineer.
Sunbeam-Talbot Limited was a British motor manufacturing business. It built upmarket sports-saloon versions under the parenthood of Rootes Group cars from 1938 to 1954. Its predecessor Clément-Talbot Limited had made Talbot automobiles from 1902 to 1935.
The Sunbeam S7 and S8 are British motorcycles designed by Erling Poppe with styling loosely based on the BMW R75 designs that were acquired as war reparations by BSA. Built in Redditch, the unusual engine layout was similar to that of a car. The engine was a longitudinally mounted inline vertical OHC 500 cc twin based on an experimental 1932 BSA design with coil ignition and wet sump lubrication which, through a dry clutch, drove a shaft drive to the rear wheel. The inline engine made this technologically feasible—horizontally-opposed ("flat") twin engines on BMW motorcycles had already used shaft drives following the system employed by the four cylinder Nimbus since 1918. The early S7 was expensive and over engineered, which is why it is now the most sought-after and commands a premium over the S7 De Luxe and the S8, which were produced with fewer features to reduce costs, while retaining many of the innovative parts of the early Sunbeam and updating some ideas.
Thomas Barrett was an English motor-racing riding mechanic. His death in the 1924 San Sebastian Grand Prix brought an end to the practice of riding mechanics in two-seat racing cars.
The British Motorcycle Charitable Trust (BMCT) is a charitable incorporated organisation dedicated to promoting and supporting the preservation and restoration of British motorcycle engineering heritage. Established as a Registered Charity in 1979, the Trust aims to protect and restore rare British motorcycles and provide access to the public through a network of museums and annual motorcycle heritage events. The Trust also provides support and resources to educational establishments, clubs and private individuals and maintains information on all aspects of British motorcycles.
A Darracq and Company Limited owned a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he sold his Gladiator Bicycle business. In 1902, it took effect in 1903, he sold his new business to a privately held English company named A Darracq and Company Limited, taking a substantial shareholding and a directorship himself.
Clément-Talbot Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturer with its works in Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, London, founded in 1903. The new business's capital was arranged by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, shareholders included automobile manufacturer, Adolphe Clément, along with Baron Auguste Lucas and Emile Lamberjack, all of France.
Graiseley Electric Vehicles were produced by the British company Diamond Motors Ltd of Wolverhampton. They had previously made motor cycles, but began producing battery-electric road vehicles (BERV) in the mid 1930s. They were best known for their three-wheeled pedestrian controlled vehicles, although they also produced conventional four-wheeled milk floats, and later manufactured industrial trucks. The company went into liquidation in the early 1960s, although the marque was used by two other companies until at least 1972.
Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles was a commercial vehicle manufacturing offshoot of the Wolverhampton based Sunbeam Motor Car Company when it was a subsidiary of S T D Motors Limited. Sunbeam had always made ambulances on modified Sunbeam car chassis. S T D Motors chose to enter the large commercial vehicle market in the late 1920s, and once established they made petrol and diesel buses and electrically powered trolleybuses and milk floats. Commercial Vehicles became a separate department of Sunbeam in 1931.
Thomas Charles Willis Pullinger CBE OBE OBK JP was an English automobile engineer. He began his career working with bicycles before the first cars were built. After working for Sunbeam and Humber, he helped expand the Scottish works of Arrol-Johnston, where he developed structured apprenticeship programmes and an engineering college for women.
