Trinity Street

So, just 5 days after war had been declared.

pixrobin. But wasn't the part built in Trinity Street a continuation of the black and white building in Priory Row?

The building in Priory Row was the remainder of three old buildings that were demolished, partly to make way for Trinity Street and partly to blend nicely with the old building. There was a complimentary building erected on the corner of Broadgate although it didn't survive the war. The two mock Tudor buildings would have framed Holy Trinity, opened up to make a view by demolishing the top of the Great Butchery.

Cooperline Edited by member, 9th Feb 2020 4:32 pm

Some excellent (though sad) clearance images to build Trinity Street - courtesy of those Telegraph paper supplements

Don't tell me Prof, it looks like they are 'distancing'!

The Trinity Street opening in 1937 but look at what was left (though not for long!) behind in the old Spicerstoke area Nicely brought to colourised life by Tony Lay on FB. Edited by member, 10th Dec 2020 5:02 pm

About 1835 Caldicot opened their silk ribbon factory, near Becks. He wasn't an easy master, he would rarely sign the lists. His factory was quite large as you can see in the photo post 125. When it closed I'm not sure, but it had been empty and derelict for an awful long time, and everyone was more than pleased to see it go.

In 1929 the government urged councils to clear a lot of slums - not sure if they offered money or not, but Coventry decided to be bold, they swept a huge chunk out of the city centre slums, and in doing so freed the church so the people could at last see it. This was a huge success, for centuries it had more or less been hidden from passers by, right up to Broadgate. But down near Hales Street they didn't really finish it, while at the same time the new theatre was being built - but not that near the road, behind the fire station and all round it as far as Cox Street was kept clear of large buildings, and so was any new building round to the Swanswell. There was a large solid rumour that Trinity Street was the first phase, the second would be from Trinity Street round to the Swanswell, into Pool Meadow, down to Cox Street, and Ford Street - the river would be released and we would have a little 'Venice' with shops intermingled with old buildings. It was a very bold, forward plan, but sadly the council were getting bombarded with the government and war time instructions. They changed the Engineers Dept towards wartime and formed a new Architectures Dept, and left the temporary Pool Meadow to remain a bus depot. Nothing could have happened at a worse time for Coventry. but that is why you had such large excited crowds.

In 1930ish when they started to issue notice to residents that they had to leave, there was a great howl of protests and demonstrations, but come the war and the blitz and Trinity Street had saved hundreds of lives and people changed their opinion. When Gibson took over a few years on and he scrapped all that, turned Broadgate into a sort of bus depot, and to me, got out his Lego building blocks of squares and oblongs locked them together and had his Precinct, and droves of people left the city, their dream gone.

Interesting Kaga. I don't think that the building in post 125 was Caldicott's original 1835 building although it could easily have been in the same area, long derelict, and part of the Trinity Street demolition. The one in the picture was built some time after 1897 and probably left the original empty. Had the company gone bust? In which case their new building may also have been vacated. That building wasn't needed for the construction of Trinity Street but for the building of Owen Owen so maybe Caldicott's ended up somewhere else in the city? What was Beck's originally, but was a varnish works by 1897, was nearby and was also demolished as part of the job to build Trinity Street. The top end (south west) of Palmer Lane was owned by the Bablake School before Caldicott's was built. It started with a warehouse on the corner of Ironmonger Row and then there were 2 stables/small warehouses and a small house then a gap. The stables, the small house and the gap were where they built Caldicott's.

There was a clear plan (as observed by what was done) to prettify the area as well as improve health. Adding to some of the best timber buildings by framing Holy Trinity or modernising and cleaning up the area by demolishing many of the ones in other areas. Some of the best recent additions to my picture collection are from the slum clearances both before and after the war. Bitter sweet. From the moment that factories began in the city, they got bigger and taller and gradually further out. The factories in the city made it a target but the recent (pre war) exodus of many inhabitants to the suburbs did save lives.

Did this shop become a Thorntons?

Thornton’s was next door