Old Cathedral and Church of St Michael

Great photos. I thought these old crypts were going to be opened up to the public at some point?

This was posted two and a half years ago

Could take up to two more years to dry out. New nothing about the crypts until I checked my photos, "Within this wall are Interred the Ashes of W. Wyley etc"., found the Will of W. Wyley at the Herbert, died in 1939. . . (£500 towards maintenance of the crypt chapel [now known as the Wyley Chapel])

According to the newspapers he lived at the Charterhouse. I would imagine that Wyley Road in Radford was named after him. It would make sense as the road one side is Dugdale Road and the other side Poole Road, all names of historical interest in Coventry.

I remember when Sunday services were held in the Crypt before the building of the new Cathedral At the time we had a housekeeper (after my mother died when I was aged 12) who came from Boston, Lincs where she attended the church known as Boston Stump, and insisted in going to Coventry Cathedral rather than attending St Michael's, Stoke, Church.

When I re-read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers recently I was pleasantly surprised to find a reference to St. Michael's (about 2/3 down the page)

I've often wondered what happened to all those Cathedral plans for the crypts. The whole site is a great heritage asset of dwindling national importance that could do with finding a new lease of life.

Another of my brother's photos, must have been taken from the tower, again not very good colour, but interesting.

Rob. There was a special service at the Cathedral, it was packed, I had to sit half on my mother's knee and half on my father's knee, and people stood and listened outside - there had been some tragedy. And that's all I can remember. I've searched this forum and googled Coventry Cathedral but found nothing. Wondered if you or anyone knows anything or if the Cathedral has records of special events. I don't even have dates, I was about 7/8 years of age, that would make it about 1934/5 time. There was also another time, and I went with the school, when kids from many schools attended the service, and I was a little older. The statues and carvings were cold and frightful, but the Cathedral was magical. The girls were in lovely dresses and white socks and we boys had our socks up to the knees. Glance the other way and the big golden eagle looked as if it was ready to tear you apart if you as much as blinked your eye or coughed. The large bible with the red sash, and gold embossed letters, and the stories were magical, but unbelievable. Then came the part where we were all sinful, made you feel guilty - why do churches do that? But that service had to be special as well for all us kids from all over Coventry to attend. There must have been some record of that too, but where does one look?

I don't know a definitive answer to this Kaga, and I'm not sure if anything might be documented or not, but either way your description gives us all such an authentic feel for prewar life. It must be wonderful to have real memories of these events, while most of the rest of us can only read about them and try to use our imagination. As for what the event might've been though - could it have been the death of a monarch, like George V? Mind you, that wasn't until January 1936, although not too far removed from the year you've guessed at. Let's hope someone else reading this can come up with a possible sad occasion to match your recollection.

Hi Kaga & Rob, I think that's a good guess from what Kaga's describing. I couldn't find any newspaper accounts of a commemorative service for King George in Coventry Cathedral (most probably due to gaps in the newspaper archive), but I did find a commemorative service in St. Mary's Church, Warwick (Tamworth Herald [Page 8], 15 February 1936). It says there was a congregation of 1400 present, I can only imagine a similar service took place in Coventry (and elsewhere).

Could it have been the King George V Silver Jubilee celebrations in May 1935?

Rob. Got it or think so, my son has found it I believe, Googled tragedy 1934/5. Welsh mining disaster, hundreds died, Sept 1934. In those days most of us kids went to Sunday School, so we knew all the biblical stories, so at that special service, I sneaked a hand out and touched one of the pillars and pushed. Many years later I stood beside Sampson's tomb, it had small railings round to prevent kids clambering over it. I must say it was in very 'mature' condition. Part of the Cathedral floor looked like giant slabs of nougat, dark yellow with flecks of darker colour, but it was a very long time ago.

I looked for newspaper records of a service in Coventry for the Gresford Colliery Disaster and couldn't see any (again probably due to gaps in the records) but I did find a mention of a dance being held in Stretton-on-Dunsmore where £18 was raised to be given to the Mayor of Coventry's Gresford Colliery Relief Fund (Rugby Advertiser Newspaper [19 Oct 1934]). This suggests Coventry was quite involved in the relief effort and may well have had a memorial service.

Garlands Joke Shop, It seems to fit the bill, Coventry had a great tradition with mining a few years before that event, but no I'm not sure why we had the service, but thanks for the replies.