Priory Row

Have just seen a picture (on another forum) of part of this building under construction in 1938 and is is suggested that part of it was genuine Tudor. I have always wondered about the origins of the the building and wondered if anyone had any information?

The original part is the section running up Priory Row and is called the Lychgate Cottages. These were thought to be built after the destruction of the old cathedral because the back end sits over the foundations of the south tower but dendrochronology shows that some of the timbers date to 1414/15. There was originally a courtyard in front of the cathedral with a gate leading onto Butchers Row. This was partially filled in with buildings to make the end of Butcher Row and the corner with Ironmonger Row/New Buildings. Later these were demolished to build the mock tudor buildings. Looking up Priory Row towards cottages Looking down Priory Row Looking down Butcher Row towards Ironmonger Row For an excellent book about the cottages try The History of the Blue Coat School and Lychgate Cottages by George Demidowicz. They sell it at the visitor centre for the old Cathedral and elsewhere.

Thank you for that explanation, Helen. I`ve just looked on street view and it is obvious, now, that the original Tudor building in Priory Row was `copied` when the `Wetherspoons building` was built in 1938 so that it blended in. Although it is a more interesting building than most buildings around it, I have always thought it didn`t achieve what it set out to do.

Shows how long I`ve been away - what happened to Timothy White and Taylors? who I seem to remember were bigger and posher than Boots?

Timothy White's was taken over by Boots in 1968 and most branches sold-off to avoid duplication of outlets. The name was dropped altogether in 1985.

A couple of photos from a short walk in the city today with my good friend from Hall Brooks - I love this street, it always conjures up a historic feeling The green plaque makes an interesting read

Just realised that the first photo from today looks very similar to this postcard which was sent in 1907

Oh my, I'd never got round to reading that plaque carefully before, to notice a very important piece of incorrect information.... the "wood" might indeed have been dated to 1414-15, but if the cottages had actually been built at that time, they would be floating 10 feet in the air, as the adjacent cathedral stood on ground much, much lower, as testified by a 50 yard walk along Priory Row. I'd almost forgotten, but I mentioned this some years ago on this Historic Coventry page: https://www.historiccoventry.co.uk/tour/content.php?pg=lychgate .... if only whoever wrote the plaque had taken a logical look at the lie of the land! I really love that postcard view above, by the way, it's so atmospheric - thank you for sharing it.

Well sussed, Clouseau I had no idea how close I'd come to replicating the postcard view till I downloaded today's images onto Zenfolio - then I saw it I doubt I'd have got that close if I'd been trying to

A lych-gate, I remember from schooldays, was where dead bodies were kept overnight originally, before being buried. Something to do with allowing the soul to ascend to heaven, or for evil spirits to evaporate... or something like that to do with the "spirit world"...? Our old German teacher told us that. English has a lot of common roots with German: the German for corpse is Leiche.

I believe that the cottage furthest east was even built partly on the south tower of St Mary's. One of the things I've been noting is that quite a lot of the roads were lower than they are now. Where buildings seem to line up with pavements, firstly those pavements are a later addition but originally there were often steps up to doorways. The most west doorway of the Lych Gate cottages had several steps as the street in those days sloped down what are now pedestrian steps towards Butcher Row. St Mary's was built on a site sloping in two directions. The forecourt in front of the main doorway and the towers, must have been dug into the slopes to get a flat area and retained by three walls for most of its length. That wall would have made the basis of a good cellar for the later buildings.The gate way (probably covered) into the forecourt was almost at the lowest point of the exterior (Butcher Row), on the site of the northernmost building of the Spotted Dog pub (flat fronted and made of brick? in even the oldest images I've got). It wasn't in line with the entrance to St Mary's, possibly because the slope of Butcher Row at that point was steeper. After St Mary's was demolished at Henry VIII's demand, it would have been obvious to use the foundations and remaining walls of St Mary's forecourt to complete Butcher Row and start Priory Row. It seems odd that the south tower wasn't used as a house like the north tower but on what is now the wooden stairway there was what looks like a stone crypt with a fairly grand doorway. What was left of St Mary's land in that area became an overflow graveyard for Holy Trinity. The process going from cathedral to scrap yard to burial ground must have been strange given the amount of building materials still there when they excavated for Time Team and beyond.

"Priory Row, looking east", by Florence Weston

You people truly amaze me, the information you come up with, you have a time machine or something? But great reading, all I can say is thank you.

Very atmospheric, isn't it! If only the people who lived in the little house/shop on the left could've known, that in nearly 100 years' time a bunch of history mad Coventrians would be sitting in that same space, eating sausages on the occasional Saturday morning, and chatting about things like "I wonder who used to live here 100 years ago"!

They'd think we were mad but blessed with breakfasts fit for kings.