Shut Lane

I am just looking at a 1916 book called "Walks Thro' Coventry" by Edwin Rainbow. This identifies a narrow road running alongside the Calcott cycle and motor car works on Gosford Street, called Shut Lane. This is described as being so-called because it marked the spot where both Edward IV and much later Charles I with their armies were refused permission to enter the city through the encircling walls, despite their demands and so were effectively "shut" out. It was Charles' son Charles II who ordered the destruction of the walls in 1662, which finished Coventry's postion as probably the best defended city outside of London. I have found one reference to Shut Lane on the forum by robskytoon in May 2013, on the "Coventry Dairies" topic. He recalls it emerging on to Gulson Road next to Astley's hardware. What happened to this historically important feature of Coventry? Where exactly did it run from and to. Are there any remnants of it?

Good question. It was a public footpath which ran between Far Gosford Street and Gulson Road. I used it a lot in the 1960s. Astleys had it blocked-off at both ends in 1981 "to prevent vandalism" to their premises. There were no objections at the time apparently. Nothing much recognisable remains of it. Full Planning Record

This is still in the area for the old mill that existed

Thank you dutchman for the very interesting documentation on how Shut Lane was consigned to history, and to NeilsYard for showing that the name is remembered albeit without any of the putative history attributed to it. I have looked on Google Earth and notice that right beside the old Calcott works is a wall which appears to contain a gate, and the sign "Far Gosford Street" above it. Is this the entrance to Shut Lane? Also interestingly at the Gulson Road end one of the new buildings there also sports a similar wall with a recessed "doorway" brick feature. Is this the other end of the lane? Could it be that Shut Lane still exists, at least for some of it's length, against all the odds, or am I just an old romantic?

Yes they are both entrances to what used to be 'Shut Lane' David but to put it into perspective, in the 1960s it was little more than a dirt track with high walls on either side and nothing to see along its entire length. I didn't even know it had a name until very recently.

It is very interesting that Shut Lane may have continued north and there is no reason to suppose otherwise as this would probably have been an existing, actively used trackway possibly following the course of the river Sherbourne even before Coventry's defences were built on the opposite side. Looking on Google Earth, south from the Gulson Road entrance to Shut Lane, a further footpath can be seen starting at the western end of Northfield Road and proceeding south. Between there and the Gulson Road entrance, industrial units will have obliterated any remnants of the path, but it is possible to see that its course if it existed would have followed the curving course of the nearby river. The footpath at Northfield Road continues almost due south along the side of houses, past Irving Road and crosses Humber Road, before merging east into the intriguingly-named Knight Avenue, or continuing on to the fields towards the ancient Charterhouse Priory, which may well provide a clue as to its origin and use. I think it might be possible that these footpaths (or "highways" as they were then called) may have enjoyed some right of way status from antiquity, which subsequent developments have had to build around, thus preserving at least part of the old road. Who knows?