St Nicholas Street

Looking at this, Helen, I think it is a case of "nobody knows". This from British History online gives both points of view and explains why it is marked on the Ordnance Survey as being on the corner of Sandy Lane!

Anne, the Bradford Map has it at the junction of the Radford Road and St Nicholas Street.

Hi Helen, it is all very confusing. I have come across several references but of course we don't know where they get their facts from so it could be all wrong. In 1870 in Poole's History of Coventry he says after the new vicar in 1837 it was drawn out and applied towards the erection of the commodious vicarage house situated upon the Radford Road (a lot of the buildings in St Nicholas Street are referred to as Radford Road) on the site of the ancient churchyard. British History Online, The outlying parts, says in the 15th century the boundary of Radford in the south crossed Sandy Lane and St Nicholas Street immediately north of St Nicholas Church and ran across the Radford Road and hence to Hill Meadow. In the piece in my last post, it says St Nicholas Street was said to have run from the corner of Dog Lane by Bishop Gate to the further wall of the graveyard of St Nicholas Church and to the little lane leading from St Nicholas Street to Radford Road. There are only two lanes, Light Lane and Dark Lane. I would think that this would mean Dark Lane as it is past where I think the church was (it is a dark lane, I used to go that way to work a lot in the 60's, it was still a road, it was just about wide enough for one small car. I am sure there was a footpath and double yellows on it). The problem is Bradford's map, I can't work out where he has marked it, it is a pity that you can't see the rest of the street. He does have it very close to Barrs Hill which I would have thought was a bit further away. Another thought, would they just build over the graves? The site I am looking at is a building site at the moment, would they have to do any archaeology there before they build? It would be good if they did to either prove or disprove it. If it was further down, what would they be under there? I was also fascinated with the reservoir which is shown on one of the maps on Coventry Collection. This would be the between St Nicholas Street and Radford Road where some of the big houses were, including Rose Hill. What happened to that? It could not have been very deep to have been filled in there. I was also interested, when I was looking at J & J Cash for the picture I have posted on there, that he bought Rose Hill from Charles Bray and was living there in 1861 and 71. I would not have thought, staring out of my window on the 1st floor of the EMEB building, that there could be so much of interest in that little area, but I doubt we will ever find the definite answer.

On the 1850 map it looks like St Nicholas Street doesn't go beyond the parish boundary - running on the north side of the vicarage garden and the smaller of the two linking lanes - Dark Lane. The vicarage is looking increasingly plausible. Do we even know when the church was demolished?

I remembered that Canon Clitheroe, Vicar of Holy Trinity, lived there prior to it moving to Davenport Road. Looking at the 1939 Register, the Clitheroe family are at The Vicarage, St Nicholas Street. It is listed between 53 and 63 St Nicholas Street - the latter became Sunnyside Nursing Home, mentioned earlier in the thread, on the (northern) corner of Light Lane.

I haven't found out when it was demolished yet, Helen. Trouble is, most searches want to talk about the one on Radford Road that was bombed or the newer one which may have been demolished by now! I will keep looking.

I am even more confused now!! In 1911 Francis Norton Beaumont, vicar of Holy Trinity, is living at the vicarage at the top of St Nicholas Street by Sandy Lane. In 1939 Reverend Clitheroe is living between 53 and 63, that is down the bottom, probably where Helen showed us on the 1750 map. Help. Less confused now. The 13 bedroom Holy Trinity Vicarage on the corner of Sandy Lane and St Nicholas Street was sold in 1913. I believe it became a home for girls like St Faiths Reverend Clitheroe and his family were bombed out during the war.

Some very tasty maps are turning up on Digital Coventry. Here's one you might like from 1837. One of the interesting features is the lack of the railway line. It shows the St Nicholas graveyard. It shows Tower Street existed. There's an interesting line for the city wall in the north but I have my doubts. The tythe barn/chapel at Gosford Green is there.

Nice map, Helen. It also shows St Michael's graveyard or Burial Ground as it calls it. It does show St Nicholas Church Yard in the north of the map about the corner of where Sandy Lane would be, but it does not look right. There is a Terrace just to the left, can you read what it is?

It's not at all clear Anne but the only thing I think it could be is St Nicholas Terrace.

That makes sense Helen, that would be next door to Rosehill where George Eliot once lived and then John Cash, The map does not have the junction of Sandy Lane quite right but at least the graveyard is where I thought it was. If they are rebuilding on that land are they obliged to do any archaeology? I searched on Coventry Digital just for maps and they are some very interesting ones. I like the 19th century ones that show future plans!

The ancient concern for human remains were somewhat relaxed from what I've seen of archaeology. Lots of bones get left behind when churches vanish. As far as I knew the official church rules were that remains should never leave consecrated land but that didn't mean they couldn't be dug up, shifted about or broken. Once the grave markers had gone early developers weren't that fussed about finding bones or artefacts. Modern building rules require that bones must be dealt with properly - after all, they might be a modern murder victim. Also there is a possibility of pathogens remaining in the soil. Plots with known archaeology * (before building works or after it's started) must be assessed for potential finds by archaeology eg the foundations of a church. That assessment might not be in depth if the site has already been dug and finds removed. On balance of the information I'd say that there would probably be some archaeologic involvement in the development of the site, especially as early documentation of the site has been lost. *It doesn't have to be a church or fancy building. Even modest dwellings would be considered.

BFA shows the vicarage, just below the middle of the picture above the blue tag for Rosehill. North to the left of the photo.

That's a great picture, Helen. You can see the vicarage was quite big and can understand why it became too big for a vicarage and then even too big to be kept up as a home. There are quite a lot of big houses along there as well. There is a big one on the left by the railway I will have to work out. I worked in the shaped building in the middle of the picture called Daimler office block when it became EMEB and then we were moved down to what is called the turbine hall for the last couple of years. 1963 to 1972. My first job after leaving school. The building to the right of the offices was Merrick Lodge which was our social club and the house to the right of that is Weavers Care Home where my mum spent her last couple of years, and my nan was in one of the flats that were built where the big house was to the right again. So many memories round there. I can see the little wooden bridge that I sometimes used to cross the railway line to St Nicholas Street or walk further up Radford Road where you can just see the entrance to Dark Lane. The Coachmakers Club was where Rosehill is on that picture, where my dad helped call the bingo and mum sold the tickets. When mum was in the home some of the staff used to take them to have a game of bingo. I believe the Daimler office block was the only building left after the bombing. Thank you, Helen.