Bayley Lane

Don't know if anyone has asked the question before but when did house numbering start in Coventry? And even after it started, would the numbers always be the same or did they renumber on occasions?

Numbering would probably be some time between 1700 when most of Europe, including London started, and 1888 when I know the houses were numbered. Closer to 1700 I suspect. There was probably major renumbering after the war but before that, most plots kept the same number I suspect. Sometimes numbers were omitted because a bigger building took up several old plots. Sometimes a number referred to a building that didn't actually have a frontage to the street. New buildings on previously blank plots and previously un-numbered buildings (eg Co-Op West Orchard or Drapers Hall) seemed to have been given a large number like 500. Maybe there was a separate register for these but I do know that numbers were not wholly unique throughout the city. A few times bigger properties were split up. The numbering varied like this 70 70A or 30A 30B or 8 8

I think you've summed it up wonderfully Helen

It's what they seem to do in Coventry with these weird scraps of land that have been created as a side effect of the poor planning that's taken place over the years. Commission some shoddy artwork by a third rate hack to stick in. It's about time this city stopped obsessing over the war. If they wanted to remind people what was there before, maybe they should have just reconstructed it and built something useful instead of something that just looks grim. It's like a cemetery for the lost buildings of the city. I don't want starkness on city streets, we have enough of that in this atrocity of post-war social engineering. Cities are places where people flow and businesses grow to supply the needs of those people. Not weird fetish museums for a war that's been over 70+ years. And they wonder why this city is regarded as a dump!

I have not doubt there are those who think it is a wonderful reminder of the fallen, but I thought that was what the Memorial Park was intended for. Those commemorative words will be lost in the rust eventually. That's just my opinion of course. Another thought, will the said monument be a target for graffiti ? There are those out there who have no respect for the living or the dead. I am presuming it is a permanent fixture.

The Memorial Park honours fallen men and women, not buildings which go as far back as the dates on the metal monoliths.

Here is the same area viewed from a very different angle in 1946 showing exactly how much was destroyed in the Blitz and how much survived:

A rare image of the end of Bayley Lane, looking towards Earl Street produced by Cash Ltd. There is a very similar sketch in the Pictures of Coventry which may have been done as a design for the Jacquard process or just inspired it.

Now looking at right angles to the image above

Those pesky rusty boards would be on the left of this image?

Sadly, though they were gone/modified by the time Hitler flattened the area. I'm not sure which one contributed its cellars to the Herbert.

The artists saw the beauty in the old city. The vandals in power just wanted to destroy it because it didn't fit in with their utopian views, and boy, they did a far better job than Hitler! He was an amateur compared to them.

Another picture by the same artist but slightly clearer view of the same stretch Bayley Lane

Painting by John Varley of the houses next to St Mary's Hall. The artist has slightly interpreted the scene because he put a house under the jettied upper floor on the left. It was actually a gateway and the bit above was the buttery (place for storing butts). That was later removed and the woodwork used to repair the building next door that still survives. In the distance on the right there is a half timbered building in the place we'd expect the County Hall/court house to be. That was opened in 1783 and the artist was born 1778 so it's highly unlikely he'd have seen and remembered the former half timbered hall. There are several possibilities; he might have made it up; he might have copied someone else's image; he might have talked to someone who remembered the building; or he might have drawn the side/end of the buildings that stood in front of St Michael's and the County Hall. My head says the first option is the most likely but my heart wants it to be one of the others. I may have posted this image before but this version is the best quality and you can zoom it to a very high quality. Click on the picture to zoom in

That's my great great great grandfathers house! (3rd or 4th one up on the right hand side) I've been doing a bit of research: My ancestor was Thomas Carvell, a tailor, born in 1806. In the 1841 census he is shown as living with his family in Bailey Lane. In the 1851 census he is still shown as living in Bailey Lane, however the census enumeration number given is 131 with a Charles Clarke, also a tailor, living next door at 132. Using the British Newspaper Archives I've found that the properties were 3 and 4 Bailey Lane and were owned by Harry Chetham; the freeholds (occupants Thomas and Charles) were put up for sale after Harry Chetham's death in 1864, together with that of 23 Earl Street, then a furniture shop, and the ribbon weaving shed in between. I've also found the 1897 Insurance Plan map from oldmapsonline.org which exactly matches the details of the layout of the properties given in the sale at auction notice in the newspaper. In the 1897 plan 3 and 4 Bailey Lane are shown as being directly opposite 46 and 47 (then described as being part of W. Franklin and Sons Ribbon Factory -It'll be interesting to see what's on the rusty sheets! By the way (according to the sale details) the combined rent in 1864 for 3 and 4 and the small court behind was £21 per annum. My great grandfather (Edward/Edwin Thomas) was still living there with his father (also a Thomas) in the 1871 census but by 1881 had moved to White Horse Yard, 4 East Street where my grandfather was born. I'm hoping to come up to Coventry in the summer to delve a bit further as there are a few more records held at The Herbert. I won't have to walk too far to get home afterwards!!