Little Palace Yard

Not as far as I can tell. Little Palace Yard was at what is now the far end* of Little Park Street where the police station is sited. There were many unrelated buildings separating the two so I'm not sure how the name came about? *Little Park Street was quite a bit longer before the Ring Road was built. I believe Little Palace Yard is Court No 20 on this map.

Thanks Dutchman. The link just shows just how much an little part of our history sometimes gets missed. There are a number of stone carvings set in walls, as well as the arbour. The pictures show a quite run down Palace Yard, but it must have been a splendid place at one time.

That was a signature rather than a link Baz (which has since changed) and as I'm not able to edit the earlier post here is the link again for anyone who missed it: Little Palace Yard - Little Park Street (pictures) There are several more in the Library Pictures pages but I'm not able to link to the relevant index page so visitors to that site will have to search for them manually under the letter "L".

I've only just joined the forum but can perhaps shed some light on the Palace Yard in Little Park Street. My mother was born there in 1921 and grandma lived there until 1961 when she was moved to Cheylesmore into a prefab, as they were demolishing Palace Yard. It was just a short way from the Police Station in the direction of the old Council House. A pear tree, which used to be at the bottom of the yard was still visible on a car park but may have been uprooted by now as I haven't been to Coventry for a number of years. The yard was medieval and should never have been demolished. You went under an archway and there were 2 houses each side of a cobbled area. A mounting block stood at the end for riders to mount horses. Grandma's house was the 2nd on the right as you entered the yard. Next came another arch with a house on the right (my aunt and uncle's the Yardleys) on the other side of this arch were a line of stables on the left and two more houses on the right. Then a toilet block! At the end of the yard were some gates and a wooden building, which housed Bushills paper works. They had been bombed out in the Blitz and moved to this temporary accommodation. Originally this area I was told had been an orchard. This would have backed onto Much Park Street eventually. Grandma's house had no drainage for waste water. Just a cold tap in the kitchen and the dirty water had to be collected in a bucket and taken down the yard to the toilets. The houses must have been quite grand when they were built in perhaps the 15/16th century. The Yard survived the Blitz, even though it was very close to the city centre. My family were in a shelter near the Cathedral on the night of 14 Nov and knew that the Cathedral was badly damaged as men were running into the shelter with what treasures they could carry. The Bird in Hand pub was one side of the Yard and Michelmores on the other. Incidentally - does anyone know what has happened to the Pictures of Coventry website, it seems to have disappeared? It had fantastic pictures on the site.

See recent posts on the "Coventry photo collections on the Internet" thread

if you look to the left blue Library Pictures you will find it there.

Found them! Many thanks. The mounting block is clearly visible in one of the photos also my cousin, Trevor in his wheelchair under the outer archway. Can't work out where the ornate arbour must have been because neither my grandma or aunt had a back garden nor did any of the other houses as far as I knew. It could have been in the orchard area at the end of the yard though.