St Nicholas Hall / Leather Hall

Does anyone know anything about St Nicholas's Hall that used to be on Smithford street? I think it sat on the site of the post office shown here:- Site of old Post Office Map of Smithford Street It incorporated the White Lion Hotel, which is the white gable just right of centre and stopped before The Lady Godiva which is the building just off camera to the right. Thanks in advance.

There's a great link on here, John Shelton's excavations, compiled and transcribed by Rob. Excavations in West Orchard

Hello Helen The only record I can find for St Nicholas Hall shows it as being in West Orchard and the only hall I'm aware of in Smithford Street was the Great Meeting House which was just below the White Lion and may well have incorporated it as suggested by this engraving: Pictures of Coventry

Thanks for those replies. I was going on this map 1750 Map So was the map wrong or did the Hall incorporate buildings from West Orchard to Smithford Street? Still more maps put the Hall in the middle.

There is an article in The Coventry Herald dated 29/8/1862 under the heading "The Nonconformist Bicentenery" which mentions St Nicholas Hall but it says "commonly called Leather Hall". Unfortunately it does not say where it is.

I realise that this is Wikipedia, but it does contain this : James II's declaration for liberty of conscience (11 April 1687) restored Grew to his congregation, who obtained a grant of St. Nicholas' Hall (the 'Leather Hall') in West Orchard, and fitted it up as a presbyterian meeting-house.

Interesting map Helen, thanks for posting it but I think the labelling of both halls in Smithford Street is placed a bit too far to the left?

Just comparing the two maps in this thread - in the 1750 map The Great Meeting Hall is obviously the building below the 'g' in "Meeting" St Nicholas's Hall would certainly appear to be covering the site of the (later) White Lion and Post Office PS Just perusing the 1753 map - I hadn't heard of Tittle Row before!

The 1750 street map is on this site in "Street Maps" "Old map scans"

The thanks for the map goes to Anne, who kindly scanned and sent me a copy of her paper copy. I've been working from it and it was as I was searching for a map to illustrate this query that I found the same map online. Following the links back to the site hosting it, there are more versions of the map including a colour version. It doesn't indicate a location. British Historic Towns Atlas It was based on information known about 60 years ago. Having now read references to the hall (thanks for those) and looking at the 1888 map on Old Maps.com 1888 map it does seem like it was half way between West Orchard and Smithford Street with access from the passage next to the spread eagle. and the reason I can't find an outline for it is because it had probably gone/radically changed before the first detailed maps were created. From the site with the maps- "Coventry ceased to be the seat of a bishop, the cathedral church and the domestic buildings were destroyed and the Bishop's Palace fell into ruins. The priory site finally came into the hands of the Corporation. By this time much stone had been robbed, but the great central tower was probably still standing. The Charterhouse was the last of the four Coventry houses to be dissolved and became a dwelling house. From 1545 St John's Hospital, Spon Hospital and the guilds and chantries were dissolved, St John's going to John Hales who transferred there the Free School which he had founded at the Whitefriars. Most of the properties went to local merchants and gentry and some to Crown servants. Bablake church and College, which were purchased by the Corporation in 1548, fell derelict and St Nicholas church and hall became redundant. The church was apparently already in a state of decay in 1535 and, though still in use until 1547, had disappeared by Dugdale's day. St Nicholas Hall may have been reconstructed as the Leather Hall which was later the scene of crowded conventicles." And also "In 1701 a new Presbyterian Great Meeting was built near or partly on the site of the old Leather Hall". I think the problem is solved

Just reviving this Helen as I'd not heard of this one before and must have missed this thread when originally posted. Was browsing a 1954-'59 map and noted this:

I'm intrigued but tantalisingly I can't see the image.

There always seems to be some problem about placing St Nicholas Hall. This is an article from a 1917 Coventry Standard from the newspaper archive site.

Another article says that The Great Meeting House congregation is in direct descent from the first dissenting community established in 1662. The meetings were held in St Nicholas Hall (Leather Hall) on the south side of West Orchard. When Leather Hall became too small Great Meeting House was erected in 1700. Poor pictures but shots of the inside of The Great Meeting House