Trinity Street

I recall seeing the west window of Holy Trinity boarded up that bfta shows in 1950, (when I would be just about 2) but the window had been replaced by the time of the 1953 photo. Does anybody know offhand when it was put back?

I don't think it was replaced Choirboy - I think they just boarded it up to preserve the Stained Glass during the Bombing.

I don't know which glass in the old buildings was removed and which was just protected. Maybe it was only the ancient glass in St Michaels that was shipped out?

Trinity the West Window. This is another stunning window which replaced Victorian glass blown out in November 1940. Designed by portrait artist Hugh Easton and dedicated in 1955.

Thanks Choirboy, I was 17 in that year. I thought the image would just make the post but took me some fiddling to post it!

Not sure I've seen this one before - Timothy Whites going up.........

Seeing this reminds me of another photo from c 1939: Does anybody know when/why the top two floors of the middle section, numbers 13-21, were removed? I understand that 17 was originally Telephone House but did it house an exchange or was it just administrative offices? I guess the newer much bigger exchange in LIttle Park Street was built in 1950s?

Apart from it still being there in 1953 I don't know anything about it, sorry.

I've checked my photos, and the earliest I can find is 2004 - it was already gone then. I do recall something being mentioned about it, but I can't now recall the exact reason. It might have had something to do with problems with leaks, but I can't be sure.

Hello, There were two Coventry central telephone exchange operations. Greyfriars, in Greyfriars Lane, and another central one. They were replaced by the current automatic exchange located in Much Park St. The previous exchanges were manually connected by telephone operators. Could the now demolished high rise in Trinity St, be the other manually operated exchange?

17 Trinity Street -Telephone House was the Coventry Telephone Managers administration centre with several Engineering Control Centres namely External Works Control and Pole Erection Unit Control sited amongst the many clerical departments. It occupied the upper floors of Trinity Street above the retail outlets from the ground floor main entrance at number 17 up along Ironmonger Row and Cross Cheaping to the junction of Palmer Lane and The Burgess. Coventrys central telephone exchange Head Post Office (HPO) was located at the rear of the General Post Office in Hertford Street with access via Greyfriars Lane which housed the Strowger exchange equipment and the operators manual switchboard. Greyfriars Automatic Telephone Exchange (ATE) was built in the 1950s thus making HPO largely redundant save for a number of clerical functions and the manual switchboard was resited on the upper floors of the new exchange. By the mid 60s it was clear that due to massive expansion of the network there was a need to build another exchange in the city centre and this was constructed at the rear of Greyfriars ATE which was the staff car park at the time. This exchange was named Leofric ATE and was commissioned in the early 70s and can be seen clearly in Greyfriars and Salt Lanes. Furthermore with the expansion of the telephone network there was a need for increased administration premises and as a result several floors of Station Tower were used along with numbers 2 and 4 Copthall House. The now demolished multi storey building in Much Park Street/Little Park Street that Philip mentioned was Coventry City Council owned. Btw, there were two Telephone Engineering Centres (TECs) in Coventry where Section Stock Stores, Motor Transport Workshop together with engineers welfare facilities were housed, Torrington Avenue and Mason Road.

Thank you for a brilliant response to my query, where another member had asked info regards the now removed higher floors of that building. Thank you. I've a personal interest in this, as my mum & dad's telephone number in the fifties was Greyfriars 759, a shared line, with a manual operator, no dial phone. A year or so before, having a dial phone with a Coventry number, their Greyfriars 759 became 1759. Still manual operator.

Hi Philip... shared service telephone lines also known known as party lines were commonplace back in the day as there was insufficient line plant and exchange equipment for subscribers to have their own direct exchange line (DEL). In order to make a telephone call a subscriber lifted the handset and pressed the call exchange button on the telephone to connect to the operator and when direct dialling (DD) was introduced you simply lifted the handset and pressed the call exchange button to get dial tone (DT) and dial the required number. Shared service telephone lines did not provide privacy as either the 'X' or 'Y' parties dependant on which subscriber was engaged on a call had to wait for the other one to finish. It wasn't uncommon to eavesdrop one another's call. The method of signalling the exchange to make a call or receiving a call required the use of a third wire connected to Earth and was often provided by a separate wire from the telephones block terminal (BT) to a strap connected to an earth spike driven into the ground at the subscribers premises. Very often the spike had been sawn short to enable it to be driven easily into the ground or the third wire had simply been pushed into loose soil resulting in the earth connection being too high resistance to call the exchange or receive a call. Remedy..... just chuck a bucket of water over the spike/wire!