Crabtree / Crabmill Lane

I am helping a Coventrian write his biography and he refers to Crabtree Lane, I have searched maps and it doesn't appear, can any one help please? I think it was either in Coundon or Radford.

Crabmill ? Lane

I have never heard of a Crabtree Lane in Coventry, there is Crabmill Lane, which is off Stoney Stanton Rd.

I think you may be right, my interviewee is 93 and his memory might be lacking. Many thanks

This and another article from the newspaper archive about 5 boys doing some damage say Crabtree Lane, Paradise. As Crabmill Lane is Paradise it sounds as if a lot if people got the name confused. Just found one of the boys on the 1911 census and his address was CRABMILL Lane!

Annewiggy, Hold on a minute. 1869 was a long time ago to judge against a 1911 census - the name could have been changed. Makes you think, it certainly was a beautiful place back then, half a mile away was Bird Grove, so called because of the number of trees and birds. Surrounded by heaths and fields. Crab.... ran off Eden Street, so did Paradise Row, and the little pub in Eden Street was named Adam and Eve, so it was all named as they saw it. I doubt there being more than a dozen cottages all told, and the two advertised were little different from the one I was born in, so it made me smile to read your post. Thanks again.

There was also Ash Grove which, as I understand it, was flattened by bombing during the war. After the war the only evidence of it was Ash Grove petrol station (still there).

It would be interesting to read a description of that area throughout the years. The image that springs to my mind, I would assume when it was built, a growing sense of delight simply by being in an area of trees, flowers and gardens, with the gentle flow of life, a suburb outside the city walls and the canal like a stream of water, meandering through orchards and gardens of all sizes with the wild crabtree, damson, etc - and street names reflected this. The wild calendula would be in abundance, the glowing orange marigold - useful for flavouring soup, turning butter golden - the leaves that made a soothing ointment for stings, herbs for healing, fennel for weak eyes, camomile for headaches, feverfew for fever. The strike and depression of the 1920's had a lot to do with area. By 1930 the area became run-down, a lot of the houses over a century old, and the city was expanding, but the war held up the rebuild for a time, and I have no idea what the area became, except for Greg's photo that shows that the public house has more or less been rebuilt.

My grandmother was born at 81 Stoney Stanton Road in 1894. By 1913 when she got married she lived at 24 Crabmill Lane and had 7 children between 1914 and 1936, all at Crabmill Lane with 3 husbands. Her first husband was killed in 1916 in Belgium and is buried there. She married again in 1919 to my grandfather, he died in 1921 when my mother was just over 1 year old. He was a horse soldier and shoesmith, the gas in the trenches affected his heart. She married again in 1924. She still lived in Crabmill Lane till 1940 when her house was bombed. She was married for 53 years to her 3rd husband and she died in 1983 aged 89.

Hi, here's the page for Crabmill Lane in 1935.

Mr Blue Sky, What did you think of Annewiggy's post? 'Capital Well of Water', wonder if your grandmother drew water from that well? How the well was so important in those days, pantry and coalhouse, all the mainstay of a house, more than bedrooms, or what we look for in property today. In 1940 we had one a customer in Crab---- lane, I drove a pony and trap down there, remember little of it today.

Greg, Wartime - and that pub had only two bars, one each side of the doorway. It was weathered brick and not such a high roof and those houses were not there. From Eden Street back to the 'Navi' there was a row of about eight well-weathered terraced two up, two down cottages that stood back from the main road, giving them about a ten feet front garden. The gardens were neglected with broken wooden pailings giving it the look of being very run down and named Paradise Row. So try telling a bunch of GI Joes that it was Paradise, and the Adam and Eve pub in Eden Street. Cameras were clicking - you can see how England was portrayed back in USA after the war.

Kaga, I really do believe that every little street in Coventry has its own little piece of history and without over-dramatising that's what makes Coventry unique. My opinion of course but I know the overall picture has changed dramatically since the war years. PS. Kaga, hope you are keeping ok.

Dreamtime, Keep plodding on, still waiting letter letter for op. Yes, Coventry was always full of history - bet you had no idea that the Yanks took dozens of photos of the old Navigation and around that area, must have been about 1943 time. Before the Blitz there were dozens of little cut through alleyways from one street to another, no names, hardly a couple of feet wide, wide enough to take a pram - if you met the chimney sweep, you either backed off, or got soot marks on your clothes. Good for learning to roller skate if they were paved. Rolling a big heavy mangle down them was hilarious, hard, and a nightmare. I even saw a piano rolled down one, but it got stuck for hours before retreating. You just had to love the old place.