Exploring Coventry
Monday 17th January 2022
Tourist day! Coventry is the UK City of Culture from May 2021 to May 2022 and the city’s history can be seen everywhere. It’s such a mix of old and new - medieval streets sit alongside very modern buildings that symbolise the rebuilding of the city after the Blitz, when the city was heavily bombed - the most devastating raid took place on 14th November 1940. This was the single most concentrated attack on a British city in the war. Only the ruins of the old cathedral remain after this attack in the Second World War, when the majority of the city’s historic buildings were destroyed. The cathedral was ravaged by firebombs, leaving just a shell and a spire. The ruins now stand alongside the new cathedral, designated a Worldwide Centre for Reconciliation. The building of the new cathedral began in 1954 and was completed in 1962
Golden Cross Inn
The Golden Cross is the oldest pub in Coventry (One of the oldest in The Midlands) it is one of the most dramatic examples of a medieval timber framed building to survive in Coventry. Built circa 1583, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st and established as a public house circa 1661, during the reign of Charles II (The year of his coronation).
But the question remains “why are there no pictures of the inside”?????? maybe sadly its because we never went inside for a drink ???? what I hear you say !!!!! Shame on US
Cook Street Gate
Only two gates have survived from the original twelve that were built as part of the medieval town wall, which was demolished in 1662 by order of Charles II. Cook Street Gate, now a scheduled ancient monument, is the only functional gate and was restored in 1918. Next to this gate is Lady Herbert’s garden.
Rumour has it there are plans to convert the two remaining gates into places where you can spend the night as they are not insignificant in size despite the fact Paul couldn’t see it… Maybe its just he was facing the wrong way :)
Lady Herbert’s Garden
This garden, in the heart of the city, is a lovely place to visit. It was designed by Albert Herbert and named as a memorial to his second wife Florence, who died unexpectedly in 1930. It is the smallest park in Coventry. We found it quite amazing, as downtown Coventry is like most modern cities, usually dominated by the sound of traffic and the bustle of people… yet as soon as we entered to our astonishment we could hear the quiet twitter of birds. LOVELY!!
Lady Godiva
Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his wife Godiva founded a church in Coventry in 1043 and by the end of the 14th century it had become the fourth most powerful city in the world.
One of the famous stories of Coventry is that of Lady Godiva riding through the streets naked on her horse to fight for equality. She did this as a bargain with her husband to free the people of Coventry from the heavy taxes he had forced on them. Her statue stands proudly in Broadgate plaza in the centre of the city.
Spon Street
Rosemary and Bob took us to a great little pub called The Old Windmill. Great ale and dog friendly. The dogs definitely liked it here!
Spon Street is lined with medieval buildings but these were not always here. After a lot of the city was decimated in the war, only a few medieval timber buildings remained and because the whole city needed to be rebuilt the decision was made to preserve these historical buildings by dismantling them brick by brick and reassembling them in Spon Street. This major construction project took place in the late 1960’s into the 70’s.
We liked The Windmill that much we returned the following day just to make sure the pint of Coventry was as good as we thought…. we were not disappointed :) and very friendly staff with a good understanding of the Beer…… Even The Captain (who normally refrains from such things) was tempted… whether he gave in is a matter of our discretion!!!
Another good pub - dog friendly in the bar - was the Town Wall Tavern where we had a lovely pint of The Rev James!!!!
Museum
In the museum I went down to look at a Medieval Undercroft - it is around 600 years old and survived the Blitz. It was a cellar of a house.
Also in the museum was this Jacquard Loom dating from the 1840s. It was made in Coventry, where ribbon weaving was the main industry from about 1700 until 1860. It was the main centre of ribbon production in Britain and around half the population of Coventry and the surrounding area made a living from this industry.
The Parish Church of St John the Baptist
This church was founded in 1344 by Queen Isabella, widow of King Edward II, on land called ‘Babblake’ and was granted by her to the Guild of St John the Baptist. At the time of the dissolution of the Guilds in 1548, the church was closed. During the time of the Commonwealth (1642-1660) the church was used as a garrison for Royalist soldiers captured at the Battle of Preston. As the sympathies of the citizens of Coventry lay with the Parliamentarians, they gave the Royalist prisoners a hostile reception- giving rise to the saying ‘sent to Coventry’, meaning that someone is ignored or treated with coldness. After many years of lying empty it was reopened on 24th July 1734.
We have a had a lovely time exploring Coventry and really enjoyed mooring in the basin - would definitely come back!