Coventry's Markets

Although I do have a memory of the Market Square (though at the time had no idea it was called that and probably thought of it as West Orchard Market) but much more I remember the Barracks market, where friends of ours had a stall, and the man at the china stall shouted out his wares! Edited by member, 4th Oct 2018 5:32 pm

Around 1830 time Coventry was a city and a county, and the police force had to go to places like Ansty, Wyken and Whitley and such villages as there was no Warwickshire force. At that time there were day constables and night watchmen - there was a setter of the watch, and the watchmen met at the watch house and started their rounds at 10pm. On their beats watch-boxes were placed for them to rest in, constructed like sentry boxes but with doors to their openings. The old lock-up or watch-house in the Women's Market was taken down in 1865 to make way for the new market hall. On the one side it adjoined an old inn (Talbot) and its yard, which stood on the corner of West Orchard and Cross Chesping. The old night watchmen cried the hours and half-hours throughout the night. The Women's Market adjoined the watch-house, it was one storey, covered with a tiled roof, and open on three sides to wind and rain - it stood on 14 brick pillars. Here on market days sat the farmers' wives with butter, eggs and farm produce. The inspector trying the weight of the butter with his scales placed a constable at each end of the market, to prevent them running away if they had short weight. But they would slip through the back way to the Dolphin Inn. The butter sold by the quart (two and a half pounds weight), but in 1839 the council made them sell in pounds and ounces. The sheds or shambles around the market hall were small with a frontage of about 8 to 9 feet, 7 feet tall. and different trades - erected in 1829 to give more stalls to the market, the hall having been erected before that date. Each shed had a door and a wooden window flap on hinges, made to let down to form a stall

Thanks for the details Kaga, I'd wondered when the sheds were built. You can just see them in the picture above on the left. There's another batch of sheds on the other side of the old market 'hall'. and more to the right of the photographer, leading to Broadgate. The hall at the time of the photograph was open on all 4 sides. The market area itself was relatively new as the original markets were in Broadgate itself and the women's market was behind one of the buildings on Butcher Row, but the covered hall was certainly there on the 1750 Bradford map so I'm not sure when it was created. The map seems to show a door and windows at the south end. Given your description of it being open on three sides, it seems that there might have been a building at the south end of the market hall (front of the photo), although it couldn't have been very big. There was a pub adjoining the watch house (back left of photo), at the entrance to the market but by the time I have any information for it, it was the Spread Eagle but that had previously moved from further down West Orchard and then moved back before the new market was built (confusing or what?). The Talbot Inn was a very iconic place that most know of as being on the corner of Cross Cheaping and West Orchard, although in 1850 West Orchard was narrower and there was an additional building on the corner. I recon it would have looked very similar to the Talbot Inn but possibly without the iconic jettied window. Adjacent to and within the market there were numerous pubs, many of which had back entries, accessible from the market. I imagine the problem was not where to find a drink, but who would let you in given what you were wearing and what you smelt of. Note the original cobbles on the main area of the space. They're random river pebbles, as opposed to the regular square setts you can see near the lamp post, heading off to the right.

Helen A great picture. Those cobbles - the area was paved with "petrified kidneys" which was most unpleasant to walk on in thin-soled boots. The women sat on wooden benches, had their produce on benches in front of them. At that time on the corner of West Orchard opposite the Talbot were Merridew and son of the Herald and Advertiser. The old night watchman passed away and was succeeded by the police force. Yearly came round the 'Coventry Statutes'. Held in Broadgate for the hiring of servants, it was done away with mid-1850s. The male servants stood in a row on the west side of Broadgate, and the females on the same side but nearer the City Hotel. Ox roasting in the Dolphin Yard at the statutes was an institution.

A corner of the market many will remember.

Busy Market Square

As its been mentioned on here a few times - some interesting images here from inside the Godiva clock of Loseby's original Market Tower Clock mechanism. They've been around for a while but The Telegraph have updated the album recently - probably as repairs were needed as Godiva was stuck outside in the cold a week or so ago! Edited by member, 7th Jan 2020 9:42 am

Samuel Corbett was my great grandfather and resided at 22 Smithford Street and then in Earlsdon until his death in 1942. He was a third generation of Samuel Corbetts in Coventry, he also made and fitted the clock at the entrance to the London Road Cemetery. He was never told that it was going to be demolished xx

Let’s step farther back in time! The priory of St Mary in Coventry had a market in the town, against the chief gate of the castle of the Earl of Chester in Cross-cheaping, as early as the 13 century, a market for cattle, pigs and possibly wool. Up to about 1850 there was an annual cheese fair by farmers from Warwickshire, held in Broadgate. the cheeses laid on straw on the pavement in rows, in stacks, three to five in a stack. Here the old-fashioned Warwickshire cheese, rich and crumbling, was cut and sold. The quality varied greatly (oh for a chunk of bread and a beer). The cheeses were about five to six inches thick and from twenty to twenty four inches in diameter, from dairies 20 to 40 cows each producing on average 3cwt of cheese. The cheese, in proper time, proper warmth, well cleaned and kept warm till dry and yellow cast and when a year old will coat of yellowish-brown-red colour, well tasty, cuts flaky, gorgeous taste and flavoured, good and rich. When moved to the market hall it faded out.

Coventry’s circular market, but those stallholder signs the same as in Barracks market!

Some of the stallholder signs are still there. I never realised they were so old.