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Coventry, a flourishing and bustling city, famous for its Heritage, Architecture and Lady Godiva.

 

 

Set at the centre of wonderfully picturesque Warwickshire - Shakespeare Country - and shrouded in enchanting folklore and fable, Coventry provides a fascinating and compelling mix of the old and new, epitomised by the globally famous twin Cathedrals at its heart.

 

Visitors to Coventry will find an enthralling pastiche of Heritage and Culture that captures the imagination with a diverse range of attractions including marvellous Museums, Galleries and Theatres even for the most discerning.  Ranging from the famous and inspiring twin Cathedrals of St. Michael’s – the Anglo-Saxon one in ruins - through Coventry Motor Museum - housing the world's largest display of British road transport, St. Mary’s Medieval Guildhall, one of England's finest, the city’s Heritage Trails, to the many peaceful parks and gardens scattered around the city, there’s something for all the family.

 

Coventry is a city with excellent shopping, a vibrant café and bar scene, numerous entertainment venues and attractions and a cosmopolitan range of the world’s finest cuisines.  Being at the centre of the country’s motorway and rail networks with direct connections to all the UK’s major cities, Coventry’s unique position makes it a remarkably easy place to get to.

 

An enthralling and inspirational city that abounds with top quality restaurants, cafés and bars, top class accommodation, attractions and great family days out.  With thousands of shops and boutiques across the city and region, it's the perfect place to relax and unwind, from city life to country life, and everything in between!

 

History.

Coventry is a historic city set in the very Heart of England in the English Midlands that featured prominently as a major centre of the Industrial Revolution and became the tenth largest city in England.

Founded in 700 AD and largely based upon St. Osburga’s nunnery, the name Coventry is an evolution of ‘Convent Town’ with ‘Coven’ meaning ‘convent’ and ‘tre’ a celtic word meaning ‘settlement’ or ‘town’.  Coventry is an ancient settlement that pre-dates all the major centres of population in the Midlands, formally achieving the status of a city in 1345 by royal decree issued by King Edward III.  Birmingham, for example, first became a city in 1889.

 

As legend has it, in 1043 Lady Godiva, the wife of Leofric - the Earl of Mercia, rode naked through the town on horseback, allegedly in an attempt to persuade her husband to lower the taxes that were crippling the poor citizens of Coventry.  The tailor, Peeping Tom, defied the ban on watching and lost his eyes as a result.  Sheep farming, wool production and the manufacture of textiles formed the basis of Coventry’s early prosperity and the construction of the City Wall started in the middle of the 14th Century.  Coventry's famous medieval ‘Three Spires’ belonging to St. Michael's Cathedral built in 1255, Holy Trinity and Christ Church, continue to dominate the skyline to the present day.

 

Although Coventry had briefly hosted the country’s Parliament in 1404, half a century later, from 1456 to 1459, Coventry was the seat of government during the troubled final years of King Henry VI’s rule.

 

Over the centuries, the city’s main trade evolved to silk weaving and then switched to the more mechanical manufacture of watches, clocks, sewing machines and bicycles.  In fact, in 1890 Coventry was the largest producer of bicycles in the world and was ideally placed to house the UK’s first serial car manufacturer when Daimler started production in 1897.  To keep the Motor city’s car, motorcycle and tractor factories running, people flocked to Coventry from the furthest reaches of the British Isles and the Empire.  By the way ‘being sent to Coventry’ a phrase used to describe how a person is ostracised, has its origins in the Civil War, when rowdy and ill-disciplined soldiers billeted in the city were ignored.

 

 

Coventry was a key target for German bombs in World War Two as the city’s manufacturing switched from peace time production to all things military including armaments, munitions, aircraft engines, aircraft and tanks.  To counter the mass production of items to support the war effort, in November 1940 the Luftwaffe invented a new method of warfare based on planes bombing in a grid pattern, referred to by the verb ‘to Coventrate’ and the noun ‘Blitz’.  The consequent mass destruction resulted in St. Michael’s Cathedral being largely destroyed, so another was built alongside which was consecrated in 1962.  Coventry was the world's first 'twin city' when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II.

 

 

Aside from Daimler, Swallow (which became Jaguar), Riley, Rover, Standard, Triumph, British Leyland, Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Rootes (laterly Chrysler, Talbot and Peugeot) and Alvis all had car assembly plants in Coventry.  Even London’s famous black taxi cabs, Massey-Ferguson tractors and Coventry Climax’s fork lift trucks were made in the city.  Dutch car maker Spyker, which moved its sports car assembly from the Netherlands to Coventry in early 2010, has announced a doubling of its production and Liberty Electric Cars is setting up its new Engineering Innovation Centre locally.

 

 

 

 

Formerly classed as being in the county of Warwickshire, not far from Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford, Coventry, in 1974, became part of the expanded Metropolitan County of the West Midlands.  Famous Coventrians are many, but one of the most influential in global terms is arguably Sir Frank Whittle, the inventor of the now ubiquitous jet engine.

Today.

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Coventry is famous for its two Universities, the acclaimed University of Warwick with its thriving Business Centre and Coventry  University, formerly the Coventry Polytechnic, which also works very closely with local businesses to provide skilled and experienced graduates ready to tackle the tasks of tomorrow.

 

 

In addition to St Michael’s Cathedrals, other major visitor attractions in Coventry include: -

 

Coventry Transport Museum – free-to-enter  with the largest collection of British-made road vehicles in the world, including Thrust II  and Thrust SSC – the previous and the new holder of the world land speed record.  The museum is  the size of three combined football pitches and  the collection is of national importance to the UK with over 240 cars and commercial vehicles, 94 motorcycles, 200 cycles and 25,000 models.

 

 

 

 

 

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum has just undergone a £20 million redevelopment; the site has eight permanent galleries displaying its collections and four temporary galleries displaying large-scale touring exhibitions.

The Herbert Art Gallery

 

 

The Belgrade Theatre was Britain's first purpose-built civic theatre, opening in 1958, acquiring its name in recognition of a gift of timber from the Serbian capital city - Coventry's official sister city.  An English Heritage grade II listed building, it has presented shows ranging from lavish musicals to comedies and serious drama to millions of people over the years.

The Belgrade Theatre

 

Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve and Centre – a 200 acre nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the banks of the River Avon close to Coventry, opened by Sir David Attenborough in 1998, consists of several lakes and wetlands with nature trails and bird hides.

 

The unnoficial guide to Brandon Marsh

 

 

 

Coombe Abbey Country Park – a SSSI of 500 acres of beautiful gardens, woodland and lakeside walks that has matured over ten centuries.

Coombe Abbey Country Park

 

 

 

 

Coventry Canal Basin and Art Trail - Located on high ground just a stone’s throw from the city centre, the canal basin has fine centuries-old examples of canal architecture where old warehouses meet newly built craft shops and marks the start of Britain's longest outdoor art gallery, extending five miles along the Coventry Canal to Hawkesbury Junction.

Coventry Canal Basin Trust

Coventry Heritage Trails including the Historic Heart Walking Tour of Coventry covering a wide variety of public art in the city centre - from statues and monuments commemorating historical city characters, the remains of the City Wall to architectural decoration and friezes which adorn buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunt Roman Fort - a partial reconstruction of a First Century Roman Fort, dates from AD60 and is closely connected with the legendary Boudica. In AD64, it was adapted to become a cavalry training centre and is unique in Britain as it is the only fort with a Gyrus, a wooden ring for training horses.

Lunt Roman Fort 

 

 

 

Midland Air Museum - Recognised as one of the biggest and longest-established independent museums, its exhibits range from the magnificent Avro Vulcan bomber through more than thirty other historic aircraft, both civil and military, aero engines and other artefacts, to a wide range of memorabilia. Given particular prominence is the collection of material relating to Sir Frank Whittle, the Coventry-born engineer who designed the jet engine - what marvellous inventive genius.  A very recent addition now on display is the oldest operational jet fighter in the world, the Gloster Meteor T7.

Midland Air Museum

 

 

Ricoh Arena – a stadium that hosts major concerts and sporting events.  It will be used extensively for football in the 2012 Olympics and rugby in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The Ricoh Arena

 

Medieval Spon Street – an area featuring a high concentration of renovated Tudor buildings that are home to more than twenty unique quality and niche shops.

 

 

 

 

St. Mary’s Guildhall - in the city's historic Cathedral Quarter, its magnificent medieval interiors and fine artworks offer a window into Coventry's glorious past with 650 years worth of stories in the finest medieval guildhall in the country.

St. Mary's Guildhall 

 

 

 

Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry is the largest arts centre in the Midlands, attracting around 280,000 visitors a year to over 2,000 individual events embracing music, drama, dance, comedy, literature, films and visual arts.

Warwick Arts Centre

 

 

 

Coventry is an ideal base for extending your visit to Warwickshire, which includes historic Warwick and Kenilworth with their magnificent castles, Regency Royal Leamington Spa and of course, a step back in time in Stratford upon Avon, the home of the Bard, William Shakespeare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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