Sorcha Uk All posts by this member | 1 of 12 Sat 23rd Sep 2017 9:55pm Member: Joined Sep 2017 Total posts:13 I wonder if anybody could fill in some gaps in my knowledge?
I have a huge interest in architecture and how it corresponds usually to the development of towns/cities.
For example in my home city of Manchester the historical architecture is predominantly Victorian reflective of the city's growth during that time. Obviously Coventry's architecture in places like Spon street echoes the towns affluence during the Middle Ages but then looking at old photos I seem to see much Victorian stuff. Did Coventry go through something of a lapse in the interim or am I mislead? What was the industry during that time? Any info would be lovely |
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flapdoodle Coventry All posts by this member | 2 of 12 Sat 23rd Sep 2017 10:23pm Member: Joined Nov 2010 Total posts:844 Coventry’s economy stagnated in the post medieval years and it spent most of the Victorian era as a market town with watchmaking and weaving as cottage industries (in Victorian buildings, many built in small ‘villages’ disconnected from the older city) until mass manufacturing took hold and the city grew rapidly.
This is why Coventry lacks the grand Victorian civic buildings seen in places like Manchester and Leeds and also why it had a lot of timber buildings at the turn of the century (many of which were bricked up, hiding their original features).
Earlsdon and areas in Stoke had streets laid out in this period but growth was slow and not much was built at the time. You can still see a few Victorian houses amongst the later Edwardian terraces.
Edited by member, 23rd Sep 2017 10:31 pm |
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Sorcha Uk All posts by this member Thread starter | 3 of 12 Sat 23rd Sep 2017 10:31pm Member: Joined Sep 2017 Total posts:13 Thank you flapdoodle, so what was the next major industry after textiles |
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flapdoodle Coventry All posts by this member | 4 of 12 Sat 23rd Sep 2017 10:39pm Member: Joined Nov 2010 Total posts:844 Bikes, vehicles, chemicals (Courtaulds), electronics (GEC), machine tools, and aircraft.
Some of those factories had nice Edwardian frontages. You can still see parts of Courtaulds on Foleshill Road, but most have gone now. Jaguar at Whitley is a former aircraft factory, and bits of GEC are university buildings. A Lucas GEC building off Sky Blue Way is a storage facility. I think a factory on Gosford Street that once produced aircraft parts is a Uni building. There's a fragment of the original Daimler works left by the canal basin.
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Sorcha Uk All posts by this member Thread starter | 5 of 12 Sat 23rd Sep 2017 10:47pm Member: Joined Sep 2017 Total posts:13 Ok I see, so what went on between? Did people move out and then move back when things picked up? When I came to visit this year I got chatting to a lovely girl in the tourist centre at the cathedral. She told me it was unusual to have three generations in the same family in Coventry. Would you say that's an accurate assessment |
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Helen F Warrington All posts by this member | 6 of 12 Sat 23rd Sep 2017 11:39pm Member: Joined Mar 2013 Total posts:924 The textile industry never went away, it shrank. Or at least it didn't expand in line with the rest of the country. They made ribbons and cloth but wool gave way to cotton in popularity and Lancashire and Manchester were more suited to making it. The city went into a time warp in about 1520 due to famine, the Black Death, poor trade and growing poverty and because of those things was probably the most complete medieval city in England in 1850. There was very little Tudor or Stuart and most of the Georgian was façade rather than rebuild. The bulk of later buildings were between Fleet Street and Jordan Well but even those areas were peppered with medieval buildings and backs.
When the town started growing again, they built behind the medieval frontages and in about 1850 it was getting very unpleasant with gardens giving way to slum courts. The bigger businesses that did develop were built on garden/farming plots and some of those were making ribbons. The city couldn't expand properly because the freemen of the city had rights to keep animals on the land surrounding it especially over winter. Even though the people with those right were living in horrible conditions there had to be an Act of Parliament to make them give up those rights (not sure about the date but it was probably before 1850).
At that point there was an explosion in building suburbs and people moved into the new homes. This left large blocks available for redevelopment within the city and factories were built over many plots at once. Much Park Street and Little Park Street were where some of the first big factories were built, probably because there were bigger plots to start with. One of the first was constructed on the empty plot that had been one of Coventry's finest houses, Bridgeman's. I could be wrong but I think it was a cycle factory. The bike technology helped spawn many car companies and as a result Coventry had a lot of the technology and equipment for armaments. That made the city a prime target and many of those houses that survived the rapidly modernising city, were burnt by the fires that were started by the bombs. A fair number of buildings survived still in the 50s but most were demolished to make way for the University, the council buildings and flats. ![]() |
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Dreamtime Perth Western Australia All posts by this member | 7 of 12 Sun 24th Sep 2017 4:18am Member: Joined Jan 2010 Total posts:2986 Thanks Helen, quite a lot into a nutshell there. ![]() |
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Sorcha Uk All posts by this member Thread starter | 8 of 12 Sun 24th Sep 2017 8:47am Member: Joined Sep 2017 Total posts:13 Brilliant Helen thanks. That makes perfect sense and I'm now truly fascinated time for a lot more reading for me 😊 |
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Helen F Warrington All posts by this member | 9 of 12 Sun 24th Sep 2017 12:05pm Member: Joined Mar 2013 Total posts:924 Thanks, but it's only a very rough sketch of what happened. ![]() |
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Kaga simpson Peacehaven, East Sussex All posts by this member | 10 of 12 Sun 24th Sep 2017 3:37pm Member: Joined Sep 2014 Total posts:1987 Helen. Wow, absolutely stunning reading, thank you. |
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Helen F Warrington All posts by this member | 11 of 12 Wed 27th Sep 2017 8:25am Member: Joined Mar 2013 Total posts:924 Thank you Kaga but I just repackage information that is already out there, whereas you write about stuff that only you can pass on. That really is very valuable. |
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NeilsYard Coventry All posts by this member | 12 of 12 Sat 21st Oct 2017 11:58am Member: Joined Aug 2010 Total posts:1708 |
Memories and Nostalgia - Coventry's development |