London Road Cemetery

What a huge difference in the width of the road from then to now!

Ah, I will have seen it Rob but as I've not really looked beyond Coventry's walls I didn't store this view in my memory. It's not come up while I've been searching the web for things for sale. Some images are rarer than others. There's a vibrant market for Coventry postcards at the moment - as in, I've been pipped at the post a few times Good to see that The Historic Coventry image stores have all the great views

Helen - Derek (Robthu) on here can do you a terrific LRC tour next time you are in town (Hope thats OK to mention Derek!)

"There might be stone salvaged from the old city there..." Hi Helen, I think you'll find it's the other way round, as the cemetery was built within one of the old city quarry areas. Regards, Derek

Hi Derek. I noticed all the sturdy stone walls lining the road, though I was thinking more of decorative bits of stone within the cemetery. Just outside the cemetery gates to the north was Old Windmill Hill. More or less opposite the driveway that comes out onto Quarryfield Lane from the cemetery was a point marked as 'Winning Post'. I assume that it relates to horse racing in the park? There were several very old stone quarries round Coventry but I didn't know that the LRC had been one of them. In 1750 and 1850 the only quarry shown on the maps is further west off Mile Lane. The road to the west of the cemetery was called Green Lane before it was renamed Quarryfield Lane. By 1888 the land to the north of the cemetery is marked 'old quarries'. For the Civil War the citizens were tasked with filling in pits and quarries near the southern walls so that Charles I couldn't use them as dugouts. Such an activity could have buried a quarry near to the New Gate that could have been reopened between 1850 and 1888. I'd have thought that the cemetery would have been too far to worry about during the Civil War but may have become clogged with bushes, gorse and leaves so that it vanished off the maps. The picture is called The Distress at Coventry - weavers employed in levelling Whitley Common and burning the gorse. Dated 1861. In the background you can see a railway line. I'm thinking that this is the south end of the cemetery? It might have been the same type of landscape north of the rail line before the cemetary and even the railway were built. Map showing cemetery in 1889 It looks like the cemetery predated the rail line?

Derek - fyi, I got in touch with the Historic Coventry Trust who are supposed to be looking after LRC after securing the £2m of funding from the Heritage Lottery, chased up what was happening and I got this response - We are working with Coventry City Council on this, and it is the City Council who are undertaking the work funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. They have started working on this big project, but you'll see most of the physical works carried out and completed in 2020, ready for 2021 when we are UK City of Culture.

Hi all, I note that just recently the London Road Cemetery has been spoken of more, and I thought that so I don't incur the wrath of the moderators I should use the correct topic! Please find here a link to my site, to the "Buildings Gallery" and within that, the Old Entrance and Mortuary that I have just returned to and renewed. Some of you might not even realise that this lrcemetery.co.uk site exists, so please feel free to go on and enjoy - it is for you! Derek.

I've heard they are opening the old entrance up again as part of the Charterhouse project over the road. I suspect they're going to remove the wall/blast doors that formed the air raider shelter & take it back to the original arch.

The Clock RH Gatehouse of Cemetery Courtesy of Robthu

'fraid I don't know Dream, they didn't give me one! Perhaps so they would not be late for work!!

My great grandfather manufactured and installed the clock, the cost I think was £10. My mum has a receipt for this will try and find it out. xx

Helen, We know that Cheylesmore Park had a racecourse of some size long before 1861, and before that the London Road railway bridge was built of Derbyshire stone, plus the cemetery was built in a quarry. Could I suggest that after the cholera epidemic of 1831 time, bodies were taken to the common where the gallows were and people had been buried. After 1831 Coventry had to clean up their act, fearing another, around 1845, so called in Paxton to build one. I believe your sketch was the beginning? Would value your thoughts on this.

I think that the sketch was the clearing of the southern half of the current cemetery but they didn't use it immediately. In the 1749 map you can see the winning post for the races although the race route isn't apparent. The only obvious quarry is the one in the middle of the park. There seem to be no quarries in the London Road area but that doesn't mean there weren't any. The main park area had no trees except for along Mile Lane, the road running passed the quarry leading to the Little Park Street Gate and an orchard just outside the New Gate. The park looks like rough grass - common grazing land - crossed by a few foot paths. The area just to the north of the future cemetery was called Old Windmill Hill but by then was missing its mill. By 1805 the park was filling up with hedges and market gardens or allotments. Racing would have been difficult if not impossible. By 1840 the railway had arrived and and the cemetery is marked and the park is crossed by many small tracks/roads. In 1850 it hadn't changed much. By 1888 the whole park was full of trees and marked out as garden plots but the southern half of the cemetery was still vacant. The garden plots extended south of the railway. By 1906 the cemetery was full size and the park is being filled with factories and houses. I'm not sure when the major health movements started in Coventry. The Board of Health Map was obviously part of it. I'm getting information on old buildings demolished from the slum clearances. Some of the health information is in the city's annual reports. Some are viewable at the Wellcome Collection - many reports to look at.