Maps of Coventry

Thanks for looking anyway Anne. I must have seen this version before now but never noticed that they were different. I may have to bite the bullet and order from America.

I have a 1000 piece jigsaw of the Speed 1610 map of Warwickshire with the maps of Coventry and Warwick in the upper corners so if you fancy an interesting historical challenge I can thorougly recommend it It costs £11.99 or less, depending on where you buy it from.

I haven't seen these large scale maps of the city in 1750 mentioned on here before: Coventry west 1750 Coventry east 1750 Maps are copyright

There is a black and white copy under the "Historic Coventry" button, old map scans. It is nice to see it in colour though. Rob has put several maps on there including the fire insurance maps which are very useful

Ooo, look what I found Coventry Illustrated Souvenir I'm visiting next week so I'll book it for viewing.

So I'm back home from my treks and have reviewed my spoils. As planned I got a copy of the map and it is different to the other two but alas and alack it's not old. It's a copy done for the booklet by H L Deere-Jones. I have to say that I was dubious about the map because there were differences in 1656 that should have shown up on a map drawn at that time from even a casual observer of the city.

At last.... a copy of Coventry Illustrated Souvenir has come up on eBay! I've put a bid on, so fingers crossed. Of course, it goes without saying that if I win it, I'll scan the map and make it available to everyone on here.

It arrived! Please enjoy the 1656 Ground Plott of Coventre.

Thank you, Sir! It's a big improvement on Speed's original, which I have in Levi Fox's book

Most interesting map. Names I have not come across before that I need to investigate.

There is an interesting article and very similar map in the Coventry Herald dated March 1938 titled 'A Tour of The City Walls' The article is by A.E.Feltham

Well done We spent soooo long looking for that. While a great idea, the map isn't that close to what we know of 1656. We know that many houses were moved from outside the city walls and rebuilt inside. So as far as I can tell, all the buildings outside Greyfriars were demolished and reassembled on Greyfriars or Warwick Lane. The London Road was denuded at least until it turned south. Everything to the east of the River Arthur in Gosford until Far Gosford was torn down. Everything between the Spon Gate and Victoria Road (which was built on the gap) was cleared. I'm not so sure about demolitions to the north and west of the city because they weren't considered as vulnerable but certainly some buildings didn't survive because there is a record of at least one owner being given a semi derelict building in the Bishop Street area to compensate. The Hollar Prospects don't show buildings outside the gates that can be seen, although that might be artistic license. This demolition was to remove potential defensive positions for attackers to hide behind. A kill zone. A few features are put in, the Bablake School, Greyfriars Spire, the Palace Yard and Fords Hospital but some are missing such as the houses along St Michael's and the library to the Grammar school (not sure when it was built). I'd love to have a go at creating one of these based on what I and others know.

For anyone interested in how the Stoke and Binley areas looked well over a century ago ("mostly fields" is the quick answer!), I have recently purchased a First Edition 1887 Ordnance Survey map, and it is now scanned and online for all to view.

Thanks Rob Though I think I'm addicted to maps, so this is another fix.

My pleasure Helen. I've also always been fascinated with maps - I can look for hours, and still find features that I'd never noticed before. This map is particularly special to me though, as the top left quarter of it covers the area where I grew up (and currently live - on the letter "y" of Wyken House).