Coventry, West Midlands

02 December 2008

Coventry Local History

Coventry Before the Normans

There is no certainty of when Coventry came into being. The earliest records date back to around 1300 years ago, there was a small settlement on the edge of the Forest of Arden which took it's name from Cofa's Tree, Cofa being a Saxon landowner and the tree a landmark on the boundary of his estate.

Very little of Coventry's history during the Dark Ages is known. Though we do know that a nun named Osburg came to Coventry at the beginning of the eighth century, with a number of supporters and introduced Christianity to the district. She converted the community and became well known for her piety. Her nunnery was disbanded in 1042, just a year before the foundation of Coventry's great priory by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Godgifu, otherwise known as Lady Godiva.

The Legend of Lady Godiva

The legend was recorded at the beginning of the thirteenth century by Roger of Wendover, yet there is no history to help us understand why Godiva, a wealthy woman, should agree to her husband's proposal that she should ride through the streets of Coventry naked. He claimed if she did this taxes would be abolished. A collection of paintings and statues depicting the ride can be found in The Herbert Art Gallery.

Medieval Coventry

By the end of the fourteenth century Coventry was ranked as the third city of England, with only London and Bristol being more flourishing. A five-gated city wall nine feet thick and 4km around had been erected. However, this was the peak of Coventry's achievement. There followed the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538-9 which enabled a corporation called the Corpus Christi to acquire the lands and buildings of the priory at the city's centre. By 1600 Coventry city had declined to little more than a market town, while neighbouring town, Birmingham, was expanding taking much of Coventry's trade.

Change & Progress

The Coventry Canal Company opened it's route to Bedworth in 1769. Due to the essential use of coal within industrial machinery, the Canal Company became one of the most profitable in the country.

Steam power was introduced to power factory machines such as the silk and ribbon looms. Soon the work of a hundred workers or more could be carried out by just one machine, which eventually led to the downfall of the ribbon industry. The making of clocks and watches expanded during the decline of ribbons and textiles. Two thousand or more clockmakers worked in the city by 1850. By 1881 this figure had risen to 3,410, but imported timepieces from France and Switzerland were forcing the industry into decline.

Mechanical genius, James Starley from Sussex, invented a revolutionary new sewing machine and in 1861 raised the money to set up a factory in Coventry to manufacture it. Starley also worked on improving the 'boneshaker' bicycle, which resulted in the invention of the penny farthing, the all-metal bicycle which he began to make in Coventry. Starley died in 1881 and a monument of him can be found at the end of Warwick Row.

Twentieth-century Coventry

By 1914, Coventry's population exceeded 100,000. Due to the outbreak of war many of the factories had been converted to make guns and munitions, even the car factories switched to making transport for the army. There was great growth within the city of Coventry during the inter-war period. British Thomas Houston and GEC started to set up factories in 1916, to make magnetos which had been previously imported from Germany. This created the rapid development of the electrical industry in the 1920's and 30's.

Much of the medieval remains of the city were pulled down in 1920, to accommodate the new Council House, and create Trinity Street which opened in 1936. However, German bombs on 14 November 1940 destroyed many of the new buildings including St Micheal's cathedral. The bombs turned Coventry into the most devastated city in England.

After the war had finished, reconstruction of Coventry city began almost immediately. Donald Gibson, City Architect, introduced a new town-planning concept, traffic free shopping precincts. The original precincts at Coventry are now listed buildings.

Into the Future

The recession at the beginning of the 1970s hit Coventry's industrial and employment foundation. This was heightened further in the early 1980s with the collapse of Alfred Herbert, once the world's biggest machine tool maker, and the decline of motor manufacturing.

However, just over 20 years later the fortunes of the city have changed again. Coventry has managed to divert its economy beyond engineering and many successful companies have built their headquarters in the city. The city's two universities employ thousands of staff, as well as providing a base for research into a new generation of knowledge-based industries. The world-famous London "black cabs" are still built in the city, which is also home to the head offices of Jaguar and Peugeot.

Millions of pounds have gone into planning and developing the new Coventry, which now features new retail and business parks, leisure facilities and the 32,500-seat Ricoh Arena, home to Coventry City Football Club and a venue for major pop and rock concerts.
With a £1billion plan to redevelop the city centre now in the pipeline, the city can once more look to the future with confidence.

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