Burges and Cross Cheaping

Yep, that's the bunch of Coventry kids I met on the way into Bethlehem.

Burges, 1963

Snap!

Brilliant pics. We had many a nice Vienna steak, chips and peas from Farmer Giles in the Burges. I suspect it was just a common burger really. It was like walking into a sauna judging by the condensation trickling down the windows. Happy days.

A very similar image was used as the cover of a leaflet in the Historic Coventry series. Unfortunately the caption given was "The Burges in about 1935". The glaring error is of course the date, the less obvious is it should be simply Burges, there is no The on the street name signs, just as it's not The Broadgate.

Well spotted mcsporran. And those "Historic Coventry Trust" people really ought to know better - do they really think the post-war Owen Owen was around before the war!? I also really wish they'd print their full title including "Trust" on their literature - errors like that might bring down the good name of "Historic Coventry"!

Go tell 'em, Sir!

I have just spent a couple of hours going through some Coventry Telegraph supplements that I have saved over the years. I came across this picture that I don't think I have seen before

A great picture but look at all that horrible concrete render! They'd have been destroyed even if Hitler hadn't bombed them.

Paint or render covers a multitude of sins!

I think that was the general idea Dreamtime but modern building experts have discovered that it is a death sentence for old wood. Late 19th and most of the 20th century paints and render (especially concrete) didn't breath and so trapped moisture in and against the wood and it rotted quite quickly. Buildings that had stood for centuries were destroyed by various fungal nasties. The spores from them was part of what made the people in the old houses so poorly. That's why, in modern restorations they've gone back to using lime mortars and paint. It costs a fortune but it's the only way to save the buildings. The oldest ones (like much of Coventry) used to have open ceilings for the smoke from the fires to filter up into. This had the effect of kippering the wood, another way of preserving it. They were very smart those medieval builders.

Sherbourne flowing under Gilbert's shop in The Burges.

Prof After rain this gets fast flowing. There was a story that the back room of a house floor overhung the river, it fell in one morning as they were having breakfast, and it is said to their amazement they found themselves floating downstream sitting round the table. Those bricks look more Edwardian than Victorian.