West Orchard

Thanks Foxcote - bit more of the jigsaw puzzle solved!

The Meteor Works, West Orchard, is given as the address of J K Starley & Co Ltd in 1896. Unfortunately the book only gives pictures of the inside of the building. "The premises known as the Meteor Works, are situated in West Orchard and owing to the cramped proportions of that thoroughfare, one of the most ancient in the city, do not by any means suggest from an exterior point of view the magnitude of their internal arrangement. The illustrations we reproduce will afford some better idea of the general plan of the numerous buildings erected on the ground......."

This looks like the long thin building between the Lion Foundry and the Thistle Inn. Carbodies/Centaur seems to be the buildings further north

The Coventry Cross cycle works (Warman and Hazlewood Limited) also had premises in West Orchard called Albion Mills. We blame modern planners for getting rid of old buildings but it makes you wonder how much the Victorians demolished but I suppose it did provide lots of employment.

Another image from the air of West Orchard, but with a sketch map identifying some of the buildings. Prominent is Victoria Mills, home to Ribbon Manufacturer James 'Paddy' Hart for many years.

If you look at Old Map scans under Street Maps at the 1750 map and move it round it shows the route of the Sherborne, Neil. Although this is not West Orchard and I shall get into trouble again it fits in with the route of the Sherbourne and the bridges.

If you zoom in on this 1946 image at Britain from Above you can follow the route of the Sherbourne all the way from West Orchard to the Burges: Corporation Street and Cross Cheaping, Coventry, 1946

I'm pretty sure that the Meteor Works was the first home of the Rover Car Co. Did Rover descend from the Starley Co? They later moved to Solihull.

This thread on The Birmingham History Forum confirms your thoughts

Yes, it became the Rover Cycle Company, named after the Rover safety cycle. They went on to produce motorcycles and then cars

Ok, I think I've identified the location of the buildings in the background of one of Anne's pictures. It ties in with a later painting by Sydney Bunney though by then the market had been built.

I suppose I ought to know some of the answers, since...... On another thread, there was mention of the hanging for murder of Edward "Duckfat" Bradshaw, and my interest in the "victim", a William Lines of Spon End, who I thought was probably my 3x great grandfather, who it seems was injured but not killed in the incident [I am still waiting for further news on this case] Anyway, I have been researching further along the Lines line, and I found that I had work to do concerning one of his grandchildren, Mary Jane Lines (a daughter of my 2x great grandfather, also William Lines) Imagine my surprise to discover this morning that one of her daughters (Lilian Gertrude Lissaman) married John Kemp Starley (1877), son of John Kemp Starley (1854) - sadly, she appears to have died in childbirth in 1903 (daughter Gwendolen Lilian Starley surviving) So, my genealogy software tells me that John Kemp Starley (1877) was the husband of my 1st cousin twice removed - I wonder if I qualify for a bike or a Rover Car at a discounted rate

This must be John Kemp Starley senior. c1896 nephew of James Starley father of the cycle trade

Thanks Anne - that would be the father of my "relative"