Ron and his Gatehouse
coventrysociety Our Deputy Chair, Paul Maddocks, reflects on the history of Whitefriars Gatehouse and its most notable occupant. The recent article and photograph of Whitefriars Gatehouse in Much Park Street and…
Heritage and History
Henry VI in Coventry
This year marks the 600th anniversary of the birth of King Henry VI. As the monarch with the closest connection with Coventry our Committee Member historian Peter Walters tells us…
Update on London Road Cemetery
The Friends of London Road Cemetery have recently published their latest newsletter and a very interesting read it is. The following update is taken from that newsletter with the kind…
Dickens In Coventry
Hundreds of excited fans turned out on 15 December 1857 to hear Charles Dickens, master storyteller of the age, reading from his famous tale, A Christmas Carol, in Coventry. The…
Christmas Cards, Trees and Crackers
In 1843, one Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant and later the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum, was late delivering his ‘duty letters’ and asked a friend, Sir…
Christmas in Coventry 1919
The idea that Christmas in the Northern hemisphere offers a brief escape not just from the drabness of mid-winter but from the daily grind is as old as the festive…
The Riddle of the Bridge to Nowhere
As you drive northwards out of Coventry, travelling along Hall Green Rd.; after about 500 yards, just beyond the junction with Almond Tree Ave. there is a footbridge over the…
More Cinema History Due for Destruction
Another piece of Coventry and the UK’s cinema history is due to be destroyed to make way for more un-needed and unwanted student accommodation in one of Coventry’s iconic Conservation…
The Richard II Loop
A new woodland walk and cycle path along a former railway loop line in Coventry is to be ready for the City of Culture celebrations in May 2021. The final…
Frederick Douglass – The Man Who Bought Himself
Yes, the famed abolitionist and activist Frederick Douglass raised money to buy himself. He came to Coventry in 1847 as part of a fund raising campaign to end slavery. He…