Coventry history
a short history
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aerial view of Coventry looking south east from Holy Trinity spire 1908 |
The first definite event in Coventry's history was the foundation of the Benedictine priory of St Mary in 1043 by Leofric, the Saxon earl of Mercia, and his wife Godiva. The priory was to play an important role in stimulating the early expansion of Coventry as a market town and would influence the street pattern in the area it controlled. In 1086, however, the Domesday Book recorded only a large farming community and, if this entry is complete, rapid town growth could only have followed this date.
Following the Conquest, the Norman earls of Chester began to play their part in encouraging the economy to grow. Having obtained a large proportion of the Coventry/Cheylesmore estate, in the late 11th century they built a motte-and-bailey castle. However, except for a few fragments that have managed to survive, Coventry Castle was gradually dismantled from the mid-12th century onwards and a new town plan laid over its site. The earl of Chester granted the first known charter of liberties to his Coventry tenants no later than 1153.
Despite the complications that followed from the jurisdiction of the town being divided between prior and earl, there was unparalleled urban growth and Coventry became a major centre for the making and trading of cloth, particularly wool. An important influence on this was the nearby Cistercian sheep granges of Combe and Stoneleigh abbeys.
By the 14th century, Coventry was the fourth largest town in England, and the scale and richness of its buildings reflected its status and the self-esteem of the ruling merchant guilds. The town wall -- constructed over 180 years from the mid-14th century -- was less a defensive structure and more an expression of civic pride in a town that had 'come of age'.
As the wall was being completed in the 1530s, economic stagnation had already set in, due to the decline of the wool and cloth industry. The Dissolution of Coventry's monastic houses, which occurred at about the same time, caused further disruption. (The church of St Michael only received cathedral status in 1918.) For all intents and purposes, the town then fossilised, and by the late 18th century, Coventry was essentially a living museum -- a medieval town packed with timber-framed buildings. Despite a second period of economic growth from the 19th century onwards -- initially through ribbon weaving and watchmaking and then cycle and car manufacture -- a historic town of national importance survived into the 1930s.
From a historical perspective, it is perhaps unfortunate that decisions were taken to modernise and remould the historic core to the needs of a 20th-century city, and not to set aside the 'old town' for posterity. Clearances of such historic streets as Great and Little Butcher Row had begun even before World War II. Wartime destruction -- including the near-complete loss of Coventry cathedral -- was followed by comprehensive redevelopment so that the new and mushrooming suburbs had a city centre to match. Happily not all that was old was swept away, and the city can still boast one of the country's most important groups of historic buildings and antiquities.
This introduction was adapted from Coventry City Centre Trail by George Demidowicz and Mark Singlehurst of Civic Design, Planning Services, City Development Directorate, Coventry.
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aerial view of Coventry looking north from Holy Trinity spire 1908 |
