Much Park Street

Don't think we've seen such a good one of this before. I think they moved later to Whitefriars Street as Anne mentioned a while ago on the LPS thread.

Helen, am I right in thinking the Hammertons building was originally The Green Dragon?

Yes and no. I'm not sure if the original pub included the buildings at the front or just one in the courts behind. On the 1850 map it's one of the buildings at the back on the south side of Bell Court. On Old Maps the court to the south of that is called the Green Dragon Court. Was the Green Dragon the Bell at one point? The gateway under the gabled building is Bell Court and the one with the open door to the left is the Green Dragon Court.

Fred has that on the pub section yes. Rob has these interesting ones in the Library images. This one says looking out of the back of Hammerton's but isn't that the Morris works in the background, meaning it can't be the rear? I can't work out which way it's looking. Actually do you think it's further back in to the court looking at Hammerton's rear and the line of Much Park Street beyond - meaning that would/could be the Morris works? There's also this one - 122 (which was Hammerton's) rear looking at 121. I'm trying to work out what parts were used to move to Spon Street.

The roofless building below the camera was the north range of Bell Court and was part of the Midland Brewery. It's the building with crosses on in the pub photo. I'm not sure where Hammerton's started and stopped. If it was the roof to the right with the skylights, potentially it fills in Bell Court and stands over the Green Dragon plot. It's the wrong time direction for me to have looked into. However the front range is often described as Hammerton's and was moved to Spon Street minus the gabled section. The photo is looking east.

Over the other side of the two huts/sheds to the left is the Green Dragon Court.

I've recently been passed a great collection of old photos and papers by a lady named Angela Bolton via FB - there are some new crackers turning up. This is the rear of the old Phillips & Marriott Brewery in its last days. It says its taken in 1971 but I was under the impression it had gone by the late 60's? States the property on the right dated from 1720 (wouldn't this have been the rear of the Hammerton's building, Helen?). That was known as Ashleigh House apparently and says that Mr Phillips from the Brewery lived in it? Great rare shot anyway. 'Auto Repairs' can be seen using an old section of the brewery as their garage.

A great photo Neil but it's actually a view from the front. The building on the right was relatively new, which is why it survived the war, I'm guessing. The destroyed buildings fronting the left side were older, although they had been re-fronted. If my guess is correct, it was originally Mr Wright's house. A grand Georgian town house, built in the 1720s by one of the Smiths of Warwick - a very well respected firm headed by Frances Smith. He was renown for building on time, to budget, although his work wasn't considered trend setting. I want to get hold of a book about him and his descendants to see if it is one of his designs - like Kirby House. The roadway on the right was partly over the original coach way to the rear (true no matter who built the house) and the buildings on the right are over the front garden plus houses to the north of it.

I did wonder how the cars got into there, Helen?! So does the photographer have his back to the MPS road?

That's it. There's another photo from further back, that you posted in May 2018.

Maybe of interest... There's an image on Britain From Above here, in which this distinctive building can be seen from above - it features in the top, left-hand quarter.

Thanks Helen. I didn't link it to that one initially thinking it was the rear but can completely see it now

Hi Neil Are you still looking for images of the intersection of Much Park Street and Short Street? I don't know if you've seen these before, but I found them some years back when I was doing some research on the Globe at 103 Much Park Street. My great grandfather James Stringer (1827-1912) was licensee there from 1868 to 1891. My grandfather William Stringer (1878-1960) and two of his siblings were born there and grew up in the pub. Both photos were found on the Web and I don't recall the source(s) but my notes say the first one is the corner of Much Park Street at the intersection of Short Street circa 1917. The second one has the title 'No. 103 Much Park Street, Coventry and Nos. 4-8 Short Street, Viewed from St. John Street' Hope this helps Paul

Hi Stringer and thanks - yes these are part of the Coventry Archives collection at The Herbert so we've seen before but always great to view again

Not quite MPS but Deano's Bass Daimler Bottle car image above links to this. It one sold in 2009 - apparently they only made about 5.