Coventry
Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough, in the West Midlands of England. With a population of 305,000 (2005 estimate) Coventry is the eighth largest city in England and the eleventh largest in the UK. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands by population, with residents and those born in the city styling themselves 'Coventrians'. It is situated 153 km (95 miles) northwest of London and 29 km (18 miles) east of Birmingham and is notable for being further from the British coastline than any other city.
Coventry is famous for its involvement in the British motor industry (see Coventry motor companies), its Cathedral and the legendary exploits of Lady Godiva. Over the years Coventry has developed an international reputation as Europe's major city of peace and reconciliation and holds an annual Peace Month. [1]
The current Lord Mayor of Coventry is Councillor Ram Lakha. His wife Meto Lakha (a former city Councillor herself) is the Lady Mayoress. Ken Taylor (Conservative) has served as Leader of Coventry City Council since 2004. The Bishop of Coventry since 1998 has been the Rt Revd Colin Bennetts
History
| City of Coventry | |
|---|---|
 Shown within West Midlands | |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Metropolitan borough, City (1345) |
| Region: | West Midlands |
| Ceremonial County: | West Midlands |
| Historic Counties: | Warwickshire, County of the City of Coventry |
| Area: - Total |
Ranked 246th 98.64 km² |
| Admin. HQ: | Coventry |
| Grid reference: | SP333790 |
| ONS code: | 00CQ |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density |
[[]] 305,000 3,084 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 84.0% White 11.3% S.Asian 1.8% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics | |
| File:Coventry-coa.png Coventry City Council http://www.coventry.gov.uk/ | |
| Leadership: | Leader & Cabinet |
| Executive: | Conservative |
- Main article: History of Coventry
Coventry is traditionally believed to have been established in the year 1043 with the founding of a Benedictine Abbey by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva. Current evidence suggests that this abbey was probably in existence by 1022, therefore Leofric and Godiva most likely endowed it around 1043. In time, a market was established at the abbey gates and the settlement expanded.
By the 14th century Coventry had become an important centre of the cloth trade, and throughout the middle ages was one of the largest and most important cities in England. Coventry was granted city status in 1345, and later became a county in its own right.
Cheylesmore Manor is the home of Coventry's Register Office. Parts of the building date back to 1250 and Edward the Black Prince and Henry VI were among the royals who lived there. Remnants of the main house survived the Second World War, but were demolished in 1955. Edward used Cheylesmore Manor as his hunting lodge. His grandmother, Queen Isabella -The she wolf of France -(the Queen of Edward II ), had gained the manorial rights when the Crown had acquired them from previous owners. It said that he was a frequenter of the area. Edwards armour was black, hence the Black Prince, and his helmet was surmounted by a "cat-a-mountain".
The seal of the city bears the Motto "Camera Principis" or the Princes chamber which, it is said it owes to the close tie with the Black Prince. Also the Cat a Mountain of the Black Prince surmounts the Coat of arms as a crest.
Hostile attitudes of the cityfolk towards Royalist prisoners held in Coventry during the English Civil War is believed to have originated the phrase "sent to Coventry", which in Britain means 'to be ostracised'.
There is another unverified local story which says that Cofa had his enemies and prisoners executed by being hung from the tallest tree on his land, this being known as Cofa's Tree which became corrupted in the word Coventry we now know. Being hanged until dead was the penalty for being sent to Cofa's Tree; this is why no words are spoken to those "Sent to Coventry" as they are dead and unable to speak.
Folk legend also links Coventry to the legend of St. George, the Patron Saint of England. In the 17th and 18th Centuries versions of Richard Johnson's 'Legend of the Seven Champions of Christendom' were being perfomed in England identifying the birthplace St. George as Caluden Castle in Wyken. The story goes that he travels to Egypt and slays the dragon, rescues an Egyptian princess with whom he has a son, purported to be Guy of Warwick, and is buried in state in Coventry. These traditional 'mummers plays' are still performed in the city on St. Georges day.
During the Civil War Coventry was a garrison town held by parliament forces. In 1645 the parliamentary garrison was under the command of Colonel Willoughbie, Colonel Boseville and Colonel Bridges with 156 officers and 1,120 soldiers. The garrison was supported by levies from surrounding villages, troops ranging across "several counties", imposing forced levies and taking horses and free quartering from villages in south-west Leicestershire.*[2]
The king made an unsuccessful attempt to take the town late August 1642, appearing at the city gates with 6,000 horse troops, but was strongly repulsed by the Coventry garrison and townspeople. *[3]
In the late 19th century Coventry became a major centre of bicycle manufacture, with the industry being pioneered by Rover. By the early 20th century bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major centre of the British motor industry.
Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during World War II, most notoriously from a massive German air raid (the 'Coventry Blitz') on the 14th November 1940. This destroyed most of the city centre and Coventry's historic Cathedral.
In the postwar years Coventry was largely rebuilt, gaining a new pedestrianised shopping precinct (the first of its kind in Europe) and a much-celebrated new Cathedral in 1962. As a result, Coventry now shares the stereotype of 1960s architecture: concrete, brutalist and ugly. The development of Coventry's central business district was unnaturally restricted through the construction of a major orbital ringroad in the early-1970s, leading to a hotch-potch of 'mixed use' city zones with no clearly defined functions, aside from increasingly dated 1950s shopping precinct and the cathedral quarter. Residents were unanimously appalled at the construction of the Cathedral Lanes shopping complex in 1990 at Broadgate, and this is still generally regarded as symbolic of everything that is wrong with postwar planning in the city. Nevertheless, several pockets of the city centre remain minor delights with a number of fine medieval and neogothic buildings (Ford's Hospital, The Golden Cross, St Mary's Guildhall, Spon Street, Bluecoats, the Council House and the old Cathedral etc) having survived both the Blitz and the postmodernist planners. In 2001, Channel 4's Time Team archaeologists discovered significant remnants of a major pre-Tudor cathedral/monastery complex adjacent to the current cathedral, in what is considered to be the programme's finest hour.
Throughout the 1950s and up until the mid-1970s, Coventry remained prosperous and was often monikered as 'Motor City' or 'Britain's Detroit' due to the large concentration of car production plants across the city, notably Jaguar, Standard-Triumph (later Austin Rover), Hillman-Chrysler (later Talbot and Peugeot) and Alvis. During this period, the city had one of the country's highest standards of living outside of south-eastern England. The introduction of high-quality housing developments, particularly around the city's southern suburbs (such as Cannon Park, Styvechale Grange and south Finham) catered for a larger middle-class (and relatively well-paid working class) population. Coupled with some of the UK's finest sporting and leisure facilites for their time, including an Olympic-standard swimming complex and its pedestrianised shopping precinct that was not yet considered passé, Coventrians enjoyed a short-lived golden age. However, the decline of the British motor industry during the late-1970s and 80s hit Coventry hard, and in the early-1980s up to 20% of the workforce was unemployed, one of the highest rates in the UK. A corresponding rapid increase in petty crime also began to give the city a poor reputation nationally. The economic recession of 1990-1994 also hit the city hard. A hit record about Coventry , "Ghost Town", by local band The Specials, summed up the situation in the city in the summer of 1981. In recent years Coventry has largely recovered, undergoing significant redevelopment and regeneration (again, not to everyone's taste) and encouraging newer industries to locate in the city. Although no further car production will take place in the Coventry after mid-2007, both Jaguar and Peugeot UK have vowed to continue with their head office and research operations in the city, thus maintaining some small vestige of its industrial past.
On March 1, 2003, Coventry was granted Fairtrade City status.
Places of interest
Coventry Cathedral is Coventry's most well known landmark and visitor attraction. The original 14th century cathedral was largely destroyed by German bombing during the war, leaving only the outer walls and spire. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Basil Spence and contains the tapestry Christ in Glory by Graham Sutherland and the bronze statue St. Michael's Victory over the Devil by Jacob Epstein. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, regarded by some as his masterpiece, was written for the opening of the new Cathedral.
Another major visitor attraction in Coventry city centre is the free-to-enter Coventry Transport Museum, which has the largest collection of British-made road vehicles in the world. The most notable exhibits are the world speed record-breaking cars, Thrust2 and ThrustSSC. The museum received a major refurbishment in 2004 which included the creation of a striking new entrance as part of the city's Phoenix Initiative project. The revamp saw the museum exceed its projected five-year visitor numbers within the first year alone, and it was a finalist for the 2005 Gulbenkian Prize.
The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is a major art gallery in the city. Just outside Coventry is the Lunt Fort, a reconstructed Roman fort; nearby is the Midland Air Museum next to Coventry Airport.
Major improvements continue to regenerate the city centre. The Phoenix Initiative reached the final shortlist for the 2004 RIBA Stirling Prize and has now won a total of 16 separate awards. Further major developments are potentially afoot, particularly the Swanswell Project, which is intended the link (and deepen) Swanswell Pool with the Coventry Canal Basin, coupled with the creation of an urban marina and a wide Parisian-style boulevard. A possible second phase of the Phoenix Initiative is also in the offing, but both of these plans are still on the drawing-board.
Coventry City Football Club have also recently started playing at their new home, The Ricoh Arena, a 32,000 capacity stadium in the Foleshill area of the city. The old stadium has now been demolished.
Education
Coventry has two universities, Coventry University situated on a modern city centre campus, and the University of Warwick, the latter being 5 km (3 miles) to the south of the city centre on the border with Warwickshire. The University of Warwick is one of only five universities never to have been rated outside the top ten in terms of teaching excellence and research, and is widely considered to have the finest campus in the UK. Many of the schools in and around Coventry are specialist colleges, such as Finham Park School, which is a Mathematics and IT college and now a teacher training school; and Blue Coat CoE School which has recently became a College of Music, one of only few in the country. Bishop Ullathorne RC School became a specialist college in Humanities in 2006. Coventry is also home to the Coventry School Foundation, comprised of private schools King Henry VIII and Bablake together with Coventry Preparatory School. On the North of the City you can find Exhall Grange School and Science College.
Arts and culture
- During the early 19th century Coventry was well known to the famous author George Eliot who was born near Nuneaton. The city was the model for her famous novel Middlemarch (1871).
- The Coventry Carol is named after the city of Coventry. It was a carol performed in the play 'The Pageant of The Shearman and Tailors', written in the 15th Century as one of the Coventry Cycle Mystery Plays. These plays depicted the nativity story, the lyrics of the Coventry Carol referring to the Annuciation to the Massacre of the Innocents, which was the basis of the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. These plays were traditionally performed on the steps of the (old) Cathedral, and the plays are believed to have been performed for both Richard III in 1484 and Henry VII in 1584.
- During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Coventry was the centre of the Two Tone musical phenomenon, with bands such as The Specials and The Selecter coming from the city.
- Today Coventry is recognised for its range of music events including one of the UK's foremost international jazz programmes, The Coventry Jazz Festival, and the award-winning Godiva Festival.
- Coventry is home to digital artist Bob Bones
Venues
Theatre, art and music venues in Coventry include:
- The Warwick Arts Centre: situated at the University of Warwick, Warwick Arts Centre comprises an art gallery, a theatre, a concert hall and a cinema. It is the second largest arts centre in the UK, after London's Barbican.
- The Belgrade Theatre: one of the largest producing theatres in Britain, the 866 seat Belgrade was the first civic theatre to be opened in the UK following World War II.
- Also currently being built is the Belgrade Plaza.
Sport
Sporting teams include Coventry City (Football), Coventry Rugby Club (Rugby Union), Coventry Blaze (Ice Hockey), Coventry Bears (Rugby League), Coventry Godiva Harriers (Athletics), Coventry Bees (Speedway), Coventry Crusaders (Basketball) and Coventry Cassidy Jets (American Football).
In football, Coventry City won the FA Cup in May of 1987 (In 1970, Monty Python's Flying Circus mentioned Coventry City in a trivia question on winning the F.A. Cup during "World Cup Forum/ Communist Quiz" sketch in the Spam episode).
In 2003, Coventry Blaze won the British National League and Playoffs.
2005 was a good year for sport in Coventry. Not only did it become the first city in the UK to host the International Children's Games, [4]and [5], but 3 of the city sports team won significant honours. The Blaze won the treble consisting of Elite League, playoff and Challenge Cup, the Jets won the BAFL Division 2 playoffs and were undefeated all season and the Bees won the Elite League playoffs.
Famous people
Coventry's most famous resident was Lady Godiva, who according to legend, rode through the city naked on horseback (actually, she likely rode the horse bareback, not barenaked), in protest at high taxes being waged on the cityfolk by her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia. According to the legend, the residents of the city were asked to look away as she rode, but one man didn't and was allegedly struck blind, he became known as Peeping Tom thus originating the term. There is a statue of her in the city centre.
Other famous people from Coventry include Frank Whittle the inventor of the jet engine, the poet and novelist Philip Larkin, the actors Nigel Hawthorne and Clive Owen, the record producer Pete Waterman, the athlete and former 5,000m world-record holder David Moorcroft, Ian Bell, the Ashes winning cricketer and the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup winners Neil Back and Danny Grewcock. Jerry Dammers writer of the song "Free Nelson Mandela", Terry Hall, lead singer with The Specials, Fun Boy Three and The Colourfield (and a celebrated solo artist in his own right),George Coles who starred in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Hazel O'Connor, a rock singer of the 1980s-1990s, Paul King (lead singer of the mid-80s band King), Julianne Regan (lead singer of the 80's-90s band All About Eve) and Jason John (aka Jason Herbert) of the 1990s boy band Big Fun.
In the 19th century the inventor James Starley and his nephew J.K. Starley lived in the city, and were both instrumental in the development of the bicycle, and for starting the British bicycle industry. J.K Starley was also responsible for founding Rover.
The late politician Mo Mowlam who was famous for being a Northern Ireland secretary grew up in Coventry. Joseph Paxton, the designer of the Crystal Palace, was a Member of Parliament for the city from 1854 to 1865.
Two Tone ska bands The Specials and The Selecter are both from Coventry - one of The Specials' best known hits, Ghost Town was written about the city. Other successful bands from the city include The Primitives, King and The Flys.
The city's list of more infamous individuals includes:
- Porn star Debee Ashby, who achieved notoriety during 1983 when she appeared nude with her mother in an adult magazine.
- Nazi Colin Jordan who led the National Socialist Movement during the 1960's.
Economy
Coventry has long been a centre of motor and cycle manufacturing, dating back from 1896, the car and cycle industry has been a strong centre point for this town. Starting out with some less familiar names such as Coventry Motette, Great Horseless Carriage Co, Swift and more familiar names like Humber, Riley and Daimler and the Triumph motorcycle having its origins in 1902 in a Coventry factory. Although the motor industry has declined, the Jaguar company has its headquarters in the city, and a large Peugeot car factory is located in Ryton just outside the city, although this is set to close in 2007. The famous London black cab taxis are also produced in Coventry by LTI
Coventry's main industries include: cars, electronic equipment, machine tools, agricultural machinery, man-made fibres, aerospace components and telecommunications equipment. In recent years the city has moved away from manufacturing industries towards business services, finance, research, design and development, creative industries as well as logistics and leisure.
Coventry is an important university city, being the home of the University of Warwick and Coventry University.
Transport
Coventry is near the M6, M69 and M40 motorways. It is also served by the A45 and A46 roads.
For rail, Coventry railway station is served by the West Coast Main Line, and has regular rail services between London and Birmingham (and stations beyond). It is also served by railway lines to Nuneaton via Bedworth. There is a line linking it to Leamington Spa and onwards to the south coast. Bus services in Coventry are operated by Travel West Midlands (under the name Travel Coventry) and Stagecoach.
The nearest major airports are Birmingham International Airport, some 17 km (11 miles) to the west of the city and Coventry Airport in Baginton, from which Thomsonfly operates commercial scheduled flights to more than 20 European destinations, located 8 km (5 miles) south of the city centre.
The Coventry Canal terminates in the city centre and is navigable for 61 km (38 miles) to Fradley Junction in Staffordshire.
Politics
Traditionally a part of Warwickshire (although it was the a county in its own right for 400 years), Coventry became an independent county borough in 1889. It later became a metropolitan district of the West Midlands county under the Local Government Act (1974), even though it was entirely separate to the Birmingham conurbation area (this is why Coventry appears to unnaturally 'jut out' into Warwickshire on political maps of the UK). In 1986 the West Midlands County Council was abolished and Coventry became administered as an effective unitary authority in its own right.
Coventry is still strongly associated with its traditional county, Warwickshire. This may be because of its geographical location, forming a large protrusion into the county.
Coventry is administered by Coventry City Council. The city is divided up into 18 Wards each with three councillors. Coventry has long been considered a stronghold or source of safe seats for the Labour Party. The city council was for years described as a "one party state", but is currently Conservative-controlled since the local elections on May 2006, although the Conservative group held the administration on the casting vote of the Lord Mayor since June 2004. A notable politician serving with Coventry City Council is former Militant Labour MP Dave Nellist who now leads the Socialist Alliance.
The leader of the controlling Conservative group is Ken Taylor who holds the post of Leader of the Council.
The leader of the opposition Labour group is John Mutton.
Certain local services are provided by West Midlands wide agencies including the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) which is responsible for public transport.
However, in 2004 Coventry's ambulance service was moved from the West Midlands Ambulance Service to the newly created Coventry and Warwickshire Ambulance Service.
Coventry is represented in Parliament by three MPs all of whom are Labour. These are:
- Bob Ainsworth - (Coventry North East)
- Jim Cunningham - (Coventry South)
- Geoffrey Robinson - (Coventry North West)
Nearby Places
- Nearby Towns:
- Bedworth (10 km / 6 miles)
- Kenilworth (10km / 6 miles)
- Nuneaton (13 km / 8 miles)
- Leamington Spa (16 km / 10 miles)
- Warwick (19 km / 12 miles)
- Rugby (19 km / 12 miles)
- Hinckley (19 km / 12 miles)
- Atherstone (20 km / 12.5 miles)
- Solihull (21 km / 13 miles).
- Nearby Cities:
- Birmingham (29 km / 18 miles)
- Leicester (38 km / 24 miles)
- Lichfield (47 km / 29 miles)
- Wolverhampton (58 km / 36 miles)
Suburbs of Coventry
Suburbs of Coventry include: Alderman's Green, Allesley, Allesley Park, Ash Green, Ball Hill, Bell Green, Binley, Binley Woods, Canley, Cannon Park, Chapelfields, Cheylesmore, Clifford Park, Copsewood, Coundon, Earlsdon, Eastern Green, Edgwick, Ernesford Grange, Finham, Foleshill, Gibbett Hill, Green Lane, Henley Green, Hillfields, Holbrooks, Keresley, Lime Tree Park, Longford, Mount Nod, Park Hill, Potters Green, Radford, Spon End, Stoke, Stoke Aldermoor, Stoke Heath, Stivichall (also spelt Styvechale), Tile Hill, Walsgrave, Whitley, Whitmore Park, Whoberley, Willenhall, Wood End, Wyken.
Postcodes covering the city of Coventry and its immediate suburbs are CV1 to CV6 inclusive.
Twin cities
Coventry was the first ever city to 'twin' with another city and hence began the now common worldwide practice of twinning. It started after World War II when Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war. Each twin city country is represented in a specific ward of the city and in each ward has a peace garden dedicated to that twin city.
Coventry is now twinned with 26 places across the world:
| Flag | City | Country | Year Twinned | Ward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Parkes, New South Wales | Australia | 1956 | |
 |
Graz | Austria | 1957 | Binley & Willenhall |
 |
Sarajevo | Bosnia Herzegovina | 1957 | |
 |
Cornwall, Ontario | Canada | 1972 | |
| Granby, Quebec | 1963 | |||
| Windsor, Ontario | 1963 | |||
 |
Jinan | China | 1983 | |
 |
Lidice | Czech Republic | 1947 | |
| Ostrava | 1959 | |||
 |
Caen | France | 1957 | |
| Saint-Etienne | 1955 | |||
 |
Arnhem | Netherlands | 1958 | |
 |
Dresden | Germany | 1959 | Lower Stoke |
| Kiel | 1947 | |||
 |
Dunaujvaros | Hungary | 1962 | |
| Kecskemet | 1962 | |||
 |
Bologna | Italy | 1960 | |
 |
Kingston | Jamaica | 1962 | |
|
Arnhem | Netherlands | 1958 | |
 |
Warsaw | Poland | 1957 | |
 |
Cork | Republic of Ireland | 1958 | |
 |
Galati | Romania | 1962 | |
 |
Volgograd | Russia | 1944 | |
 |
Belgrade | Serbia | 1957 | |
 |
Coventry, Connecticut | USA | 1962 | |
| Coventry, New York | 1972 | |||
| Coventry, Rhode Island | 1971 |
References
- Coventry: History and Guide, by David McGrory (1993) ISBN 0750901942
- A History of Warwickshire, by Terry Slater (1981) ISBN 0850334160
- Some of the below websites were used as reference.
External links
- Godiva Awards
- Godiva Festival
- Coventry Jazz Festival
- Coventry Tourism Bureau
- Coventry City council
- Coventry history website
- [6]
- [http://www.coventryweb.co.uk/editorials/history/CoventryGarrison.html
- Coventry and Warwickshire website
- Local Coventry News in Association with the Coventry Evening Telegraph
- The Coventry Blitz
- Coventry Ambassadors Group
