County Hall & Coventry Gaol

Great photo Tony. It's good to see that a very neglected building is going to be used again. It looks like it's being sympathetically restored too.

Well done, Tony - I agree that it is pleasing that the old building is being restored and put to some use after years of neglect

I support it! Coventry needs some decent restaurants. I generally go to Leamington or Kenilworth to eat out. I just hope it doesn't end up being another 'towny' bar with Sky Sports and wall-to-wall Happy Hour. I do wonder whether there's demand for restaurants: Belgrade Plaza can't fill its units. Don't we have enough museums and things related to the past? Herbert Art Gallery, Priory Place Museum, Watch Museum, Transport Museum to name four. What about the present day or future? Well said. The Precinct has become a shopping ghetto. I suspect a lot of people park in West Orchards and never even leave it. It's no wonder the surrounding streets are dead. I remember 20 years ago Corporation Street used to be busy with cars and people. It's absolutely dead now.

TonyS started this thread as a discussion about the interior plans for County Hall As the development has now been completed, I've taken the liberty of changing the title of the thread to encompass the building as a whole Externally, it hasn't changed very much, although it has been considerably spruced up, which can only be a positive from the development. However, this may only mask the consequences of allowing this historic building to become what it has - I guess the early hours of the morning is a good time to judge that

A misty impression of Cuckoo Lane by artist John Henry Morgan in 1929ish. Holy Trinity is on the right, the Gulson Library in the middle and the Country Hall is in the distance.

Hello Coventrians! Hoping someone might be able to help me with photos of the County Hall interior. I found a few online in its manifestation as The Establishment hotel (I believe it is now the Slug & Lettuce). I have a lengthy court room scene set there in my 'based on the life of' novel about my ancestor Thomas Burbury, convicted ring leader of the 1831 Weaver's Riot in Coventry. It would be so useful (and I would be so grateful!) if someone could go in for a pint / burger and take photos of the judge's oak chair (has apparently been preserved but I can only see the canopy above it in the online photos), the stairway up from the cells (I'm assuming my ancestor would have come up there to stand in the dock for the trial), where the jury would have sat and the witness box. Also interested in roughly how many people may have crowded into the courtroom that day - the newspaper reports of the day say it was packed out - your estimates welcome! Also, could they have overflowed into a corridor beyond the court room as well as the galleries above or is there no 'corridor'/hallway of that nature. The trial was nationwide news of the day so there's plenty of records available online (including Coventry Herald detailed reporting and the Judge's Notes) but visualising it all will make it easier to tell this riveting tale! Thanks in advance for anyone who can help!

Hi SJT, I popped into the Slug and Lettuce and took a quick photo (not paying their prices!). The judge's alcove is empty and I didn't notice the chair elsewhere. The public entrance is at the rear left (in direction of photo). There are steps up to a balcony (public gallery?) at the rear of the court, no hallway, just a glass lobby now. A walkway extends along the right hand side of the court, but this looks too narrow for any seating. The underside looks wider, but the curved roof suggests this was probably the original width. I would estimate about 50 people in the gallery as I'm sure they would cram in as many as possible. No health and safety in those days. The cells are through the opening on the right after the bar. The "Governor's House" is located behind the judge's chair and is presumably where he would have stayed. I presume the doorway on the walkway was used by dignitaries to get to the public gallery without going outside. There are more photos on TripAdvisor which may be useful. The steps down to the cells were in front of the bar and can been seen in some photos. Hope this helps. Regards, Peter.

Peter, thank you so much! This is excellent information. Only around 50 people and no corridor for overflow

Many thanks, Peter, for the great photo of the old courtroom. It brought back many memories for me of giving evidence here as a Policewoman when it was the Quarter Session Court in the early 1970s. This was in the days before Crown Courts. The Judge sat in his big chair in the centre and the prisoners were brought up from the cells below, directly into the Dock. The public sat at the rear where you must have been standing to take the photograph. It's sad to see the old place as a pub, but at least the building has been saved and a lot of the interior too.

Jemmy Grant kept a small shop in a passageway off Pepper Lane, but he was had up before the bench for exposing nude dolls in his shop window. An old woman named "Sandy Nannie" applied to the parish for relief, when a Mr Downes nicknamed 'Seven-sides' upset her, so she said "What have you to do with it, Seven-sides?" A man on the board promised her a reward if she explained to them what 'seven sides' meant. She said "He has a right side, a left side, a back side and a front side, he has an inside and a outside, and a blind side". Mary Anne Wiggins was tried for murder at Warwick Assizes, found guilty. After the trial she was sent to Coventry for execution on Whitley Common. From Coventry gaol she was taken in a cart painted red with blue wheels, sitting on her coffin all the way.

Question for my trusty Coventry history buffs: It's about 6.30pm on 24 March 1832 and you're standing outside the courthouse (County Hall) in a crowd of people gathered to witness the trial of the men arrested for the notorious weaver's riot of 1831. The court is in recess and you step outside for a break as the sun sets. What do you see? Which buildings are silhouetted to the west before the setting sun? Does a church/cathedral bell chime the half hour? What about the 7pm? What else might you see/hear/smell/feel? All contributions warmly received and any ideas adapted for use in my historical fiction novel centering on the riot will be gladly acknowledged in the book (I'm keeping a list of you all!). I've attached a map with a red dot showing the location of the courthouse and gaol (I hope it's right, let me know if not*). Credit to Rob Orland, creator of this site and the maps

Would have to be the local tavern, SJT, all pouring out and moaning about how much longer is this session going to last. Then if you are facing the glorious west, you would be getting the waft of a very welcome brew. If it was today, that watering hole would still be standing and well preserved.

Not an easy answer because it was a position where different lanes met and a lot could be seen in all directions. I suggest you use google street view to get a feel of the area. One of the best pictures looking to the west at the hall and prison is in A HISTORY OF COVENTRY DAVID MCGRORY in figure 163. It shows a lot of the area in 1838. An outstanding book. I'd love to know where the painting is, so I could get a colour photo. As you came out of the County Hall, straight ahead would have been St Michael's. The light would be from roughly behind you so if the sky was clear you'd be in the shadow of the court. The picture below shows that end of the church (it wasn't designated as a cathedral until 1918). The area in the foreground was being cleared to build the prison. Holy Trinity is to the left with the archway. Sorry this view is quite poor but it's one of the few images that shows the area outside the court. Clockwise from St Michael's there would have been a view down Bayley Lane with St Mary's Hall easily visible. Then there was a row of timber buildings all the way to the corner of Hay Lane looking south to your right. Then there would have been a partial view down Pepper Lane with the Golden Cross on the corner. The top picture is the building next to St Mary's Hall and the bottom picture is The Golden Cross in about 1820 with the edge of the judge's home next to the County Hall. Then there would be the hall and next to it was the prison. The prison blocks were set in a fan shape. This view is from when they built a church on the corner of Bayley Lane and Hay Lane. Then the prison and Holy Trinity. Finally you'd see the churchyard and the Georgian part of Priory Row.

Helen do you think perhaps that painting of St Michael's is in the Herbert? Does Dave McGrory give a ref?

Yes Prof, the night painting above is at the Herbert I believe but the one I'm after is unknown to me. It's painted from St Michael's tower looking west. It gives details that aren't to be found elsewhere. the copy suffers from being shrunk, black and white and low dpi. I asked in the history centre but they didn't know about it.