Broadgate

Annewiggy, Thank you for chasing, yes could be August. I was thinking if they lit up the Council House or places, all I know I think the folks got excited about something, it would be a first anyway.

Helen, Look how open pane the windows were, no fancy coloured adverts, full light and it had not changed much in '39 so no wonder the blackout came so drastic to us, and why they took so much covering up. Also, why the roofs and walls were daubed in those large painted letters as adverts. To me I wandered round town and all these things hardly registered, I had seen them so many times, just absorbed into the background. Now they are more individual on this forum, have to re-think.

Dear Forum Members, In the 19th century a stagecoach known as The Wonder travelled from Shrewsbury to London with staging posts to change its team of horses at an average interval of 10 miles that varied according to the horse power needed between each stage. At the beginning of July I am planning a bicycle ride to retrace the route of this stagecoach and my reason for writing is to ask members if they have knowledge of the coaching inn it may have stopped at in the Broadgate area of Coventry. I am aware that 3 coaching inns were located here. Does anyone know which one was the staging post for The Wonder and is there an archived photograph of that coaching inn? Thank you for reading my appeal - Joe

Hi Joe Welcome to our friendly forum, and thanks for your fascinating post Hopefully our members will be able to give you some help with your query Meanwhile, there was some discussion regarding stagecoaches some time ago on this thread Good luck with your project

Hi Joe, I haven't got a direct reference to where the Wonder went from but it's mentioned several times in this book, which you can read online. A search for Wonder doesn't catch all the references to the coach but there's a section on Coventry coaches from page 185. There's even a reference to where it went in Shrewsbury and who drove the coach. Humorous Reminiscences of Coventry life, Coventry coaching, etc Skimming through, it looks like the most likely coaching inn was the City Hotel. There are many pictures of that building but I'll not post more until we can determine if that's the right building. Hope that helps.

Joe. Do you have access to the British Newspaper Archive? A quick look this morning revealed an article about the 'Hirondelle' and 'Wonder' owned by Mr Taylor, in the Coventry Herald dated July 1903. No mention of the coaching inn but there may be more in other Coventry papers.

Joe, further to Helen's post, The Wonder set a record surprising the coaching world in 1825 when it left Shrewsbury on May Day, from the Lion Inn, Wile Cop. 150 miles in one day. Left at 6am, reached Islington 13 hours later. Driven by 'handsome' Jack Everitt, a celebrated coachman - he was famous on the road, he was well up with with the secrets of horse racing, boxing, cock-fighting. It was said he literally flew through the city, but everything had been taken out of the city half an hour before to make it clear. Gaily decked out with Coventry ribbons and flowers. From Coventry to London was a little over eight and half hours, probably the fastest time ever done. The coach fairly flew through the city.

Spot on Helen. From the Warwick Advertiser, 1825

You've done it again, Anne!

Anne is a wonder, and Kaga has found one of the key passages. This is one of the best images of the City Hotel. Photographer was stood in Hertford Street looking a bit west of north. Location roughly where Broadgate meets Hertford Street. The coaches probably departed from the City Hotel along the High Street, then Earl Street and down Much Park Street to the London Road. Entering the city is more debatable. It could either have been from the Allesley Old Road, through Spon End along Spon Street to the Spon Gate location or, depending upon the date, it could have been via the Holyhead Road (also known as the New Birmingham Road) to the Spon Gate location. From there it would have travelled along Fleet Street to Smithford Street, with the hotel at the end.

Helen, it is great to see a number of Coventrians of that date (men with bowlers) and know you are seeing real people, none having any idea what would happen to dear old Coventry. Any idea what the first shop in Smithford St is with the man standing outside?

I was going to say that it looks like meat hanging outside and when I checked another picture of Smithford Street it has a sign 'Central Meat Co.' What it was at any particular year is another matter.

Joe, The Wonder and the Little Wonder plied between Coventry (City Hotel), Warwick, Leamington and Birmingham, with the Wonder going on to London. Shrewsbury became famous because of that run, like many towns that held runs and records, but the route through Coventry was through Fleet Street, Smithford Street, High Street, Earl Street, Much Park Street, to London Road. If they stopped the traffic, I doubt the Wonder would have stopped in Coventry - more likely the outskirts where changing teams would wait. Coventry's most favourite route was Leicester - people gathered at the top of Bishop Street at the toll gate to see the end of the races between the two local coachmen.

The coach stopped at the City Hotel to let people on and off but it's not obvious where the horses were stabled. The Castle, The Craven Arms/Bear and the Kings Head and most of the other coaching inns clearly had routes though to back areas with stabling. There were plenty of stables nearby and a lot of other accommodation for travellers. I image that through travellers would have needed a bit of a stop?

Yes, normally it did, that may day I would think it was a special day, be fully booked from Shrewsbury. Helen, 757 photo same as Osmiroid on City hotel topic taken down 1928 for more modern building, Burtons. I believe Photo was early 20th century.