Britain from above

English Heritage have released the first batch of photos of "Britain from above", courtesy of Aerofilms An initial search of "Coventry" on the site, which is dreadfully slow (obviously) on its first day, shows there are 80 images, not all of which are of Coventry as they include other items with Coventry in their title I can see that on one from 1928 there is confirmation of the location of the Courtaulds chimney discussed some months ago LINK

A really interesting collection of images. Hopefully the site will speed up after the initial rush to see the photographs. I have just found an image on there titled "The Morris Motor Car Engine Works and the General Electric Company Telephone Works, Gosford Green, 1930". I imagine that's actually Gosford Street, but I am having some difficulty in actually seeing what streets are which.

Hope you don't mind Midland Red - an updated direct link to the Coventry images. Great find - not tried yet but it states if you register on the site you will be able to zoom in on the photos.

Yes it is Gosford Street. GEC had a vehicle entrance in Gosford Street but their main office block was in Whitefriars Lane and was very much bigger than I imagined. It is hard to tell from photographs alone where the GEC ended and Gulson Hospital began. It is also hard to tell from pre-war photographs just how much the ground undulated in that area.

The link is brilliant, Neil. I spent ages yesterday trying to load the 'Coventry' images and gave up in the end. I've registered now but still waiting for a confirmation email which should allow me to zoom in. After waiting ages for an email I checked my 'junk' mail and the registration was there. The zoom feature provides a much more detailed and clearer image.

Salford or Market Harborough??!!! Searching the newspaper archives at Colingdale, London, a similar problem is encountered . A stack of information is thrown up about the Tottenham [London] newspapers because the printing works was in Coventry Street, Tottenham. The staff of the British Museum are non plused when you try to explain that perhaps the references to Tottenham should be moved to Tottenham and away from the City of Coventry newspapers section!!

That picture is of particular interest to me as my mother (then aged nine) would have been living in one of those court houses in Whitefriars Lane.

...and the photo labelled 'Coventry City Centre 1920' has a wonderful shot of Leigh Mills (long building with chimney) - just above and left of the gasometers in the centre of the photo. Its well worth registering as the zoomed versions of the photos are much clearer after you log-in.

I'm staggered at just how many buildings were crammed into a relatively small area, some of them very substantial. It doesn't seem possible from what I remember of it in the 1960s.

Just read about English Heritage doing this about Coventry. Some excellent pictures from the air of our city years ago. (81 images)

In a slight twist to the norm. I enjoyed this aerial drone footage of our beloved town shot from somewhere in Styvechale. Doesn't it look very green! (BTW volume down as the music's a bit loud at the start )

Thank you Neil, 'that was champion' as my dear father in law used to say.

Have just discovered the views of Coventry taken from the air. They are fantastic! I wonder if Hitler had access to these prior to the Blitz? They show the exact location and size of all our factories, railway lines etc.

Just thought I'd share this one as I had not spotted before. Really shows the amount of housing/buildings that were in the line of the Ring Road. For those that have not used the site before - worth registering for free as this allows you to zoom in on all the wonderful images. Edited by member, 3rd Feb 2016 1:14 pm

In a word - brilliant, Neil, thank you