Ford's Hospital

What is the bombed building next to Ford's in the photo? Any ideas? Just looked again at Neil's post where we see it pre-Blitz! Apparently a dwelling with the small child outside.

Here's a possible candidate for the house adjacent the Hospital.

Thanks Heathite, an Almoner no doubt attached to Ford's Hospital, so the hospital probably owned the building.

Thanks Prof, my thoughts too but he doesn't come up on the 1939 register. At least, not as an almoner. They allow occupation as a search criteria on Findmypast. But zero results for that.

You're a wizard with the directories Heathite. With the hospital at 24, there's a gap where 25 and 26 used to be and then Mrs Farmer was in the left hand side at 27 and Mrs Hordern lived on the right at 28. Widows? I think the Mr Baker, the almoner lived in the hospital?

Thank you Helen. I like to verify things. So the directories help. I feel you have a happy marriage of logic and intuition.

Hi, I had another look a bit further back in the directories. As you can see, there is no 25 or 26 (why, what happened?). It looks like John BAKER was also the church organist at St. John's and he was originally from Birmingham according to the censuses. And . . I also agree he was living or staying at the Hospital. So on the 1939 register the house we are probably looking at (no. 27) was occupied by Leslie V DYER, born 1907 and a Fire engine fitter/tester.

A view in the other direction from Neil's post 11 and also 14 prior to bomb damage.

Now at first glance this seems to be Broadgate with the cross in the foreground but I seriously think that it's a mirror flip of Greyfriars Lane with the Cross stuck on as a pretend scene. The shadow for the cross is all wrong but the building shadows work for the artist looking south at the buildings. If I'm right, that would then make the building on the left the Bell. One of the odd features is the spikes coming out of the 3 gables on the building like Fords but the decorative feature at the apex of the windows were probably stuck on pegs and when the carved wood was removed (repair), it would have left behind a spike. I have a picture of Fords with just such an odd set of spikes and no carved features. While trying to work out Broadgate I found that the different images of the Cross disagreed with each other. At least three are purely fiction. This image looks credible but doesn't fit with the pictures that I think do represent Broadgate. Of course it might just be fiction based on bits round the city.

A rare and early image of Greyfriars Lane and Fords Hospital from a new website with many paintings in various collections. Watercolour World

Thanks Helen, How I love these old water colours of the old and memorable city. Nice to catch sight of these rare gems now and again, thanks again. My imagination runs wild when I see them and imagine what it was like to have lived in them.

I know what you mean. Each picture makes you wonder what it felt like, as much as what it looked like. Every time I find a new images, it's like Christmas. The south of the city is most poorly recorded but I've filled a lot of gaps in.

A rare little view of Greyfriars Llane and Ford's Hospital. This is a very early image and I'm not sure where it comes from. The picture is smaller than a credit card. This sort of etching is often from a book but it was framed some time ago so not part of the current trend for cutting up books with plates and selling them individually. This is similar to a Samuel Lines sketch in Coventry Past and Passing but shows more to the right including a doorway and a window. Not earth shattering but every other image shows a three storey brick building over the space.

Can someone remind me what the buildings to the left were?