City Wall and Gates (inc. Cook Street)

Helen. I've always wondered if all that sandstone that lines the walls around Barras Lane area was ex City Wall?

I've wondered the same. There was still a lot of city wall left in 1750, although I'm not sure how much was surfaced in fine blocks. By the early 1800s people were spreading out of the original areas and potentially a lot of stone was still available for those with money. Owners of the wall may have been keen to get rid of walls because they acted as a significant barrier to development. Images of the wall show substantial sections. The Spon Bridge and raised causeway connecting it to the higher ground was supposed to be made out of the remains of the Spon gate and the Cross in 1771. Alternatively they may have still been working some of the original quarries - one in the Cheylesmore Park and one at Spon End.

I've always thought the same, NeilsYard.

The Coventry and Nuneaton railway was constructed in the year 1848-9 and the bridge at Spon End fell down in January 1857. The bridge had been unsafe for some time, was of red sandstone, and the spotlight fell on the contractor - when he was approached about the safety of the bridge and arches, he replied that they would last as long as he lived, and he died the day before they fell down. This I suppose was the best prophecy heard in Coventry for many a year. The new arches were made of blue brick. Some of the oldest deeds of property adjoining Spon Street abutting the Sherbourne gave the owners the right to fish for pike, perch and trout. The word Spon was probably the span or stretch of ground between the town and the old Hospital of Lepers.

The neighbourhood of Swanswell and Hillfields greatly changed at the beginning of the 19th century. A new road from Cook Street to Red Lane, and many streets that connected with it, was almost a new town. A centuries old mill stood at the bottom of Cox Street, foundation stones and timber had to be hauled from long distances to build it. There was a house outside the town walls near Mill Lane Gate, a trackway extended outside the walls to Swanswell Pool, which was known as 'Catchem's Corner', the junction of Primrose Hill Street and Swanswell Street. In 1830 Paynes Lane was only a minor road, hardly passable. A cart track with great ruts stretched from there to Harnall Brook towards the town. For centuries like this, marshy ground, a few houses stood but not being made, its surface was in such deplorable condition that the miller's wagon got stuck in the ruts up to its hubs. Life was hard in those days.

I have expounded my theory that the Cook Street Gate never had round towers as appears on the Hollar view of the north prospect. At the Beake talk the other day I found out that Hollar didn't do the original sketches, which ties in with my theory that the final version misinterpreted a corner tower and the Cook Street gate in line as one structure.

Hi Helen, I am glad you are finding evidence about the round towers. I have just looked at a couple of books I have with pictures of the gates and it is a vert square tower illustrated by other artists. Kaga, I have just read your interesting post in May which I must have missed while we were on holiday with no wifi. The mill and mill gate at the end of Cox Street, which was previously Mill Lane was known as the Bastille Gate. The gate was occupied by my ancestor John Yardley who was mayor in 1689 and his father was a miller in the 16th century. There is an article on here somewhere that I wrote a few years ago called 400 years of Yardleys in Coventry giving a bit of information about the gate and the mill. You can find it if you search on Google.

Another snippet that pricked my interest was a comment about a Yardley fined by Beake for grinding corn on the Sabbath. Beake's diary had a lot of details of sinners, rather than what we'd consider crimes today. We'd make the guy faint... well I would. There were a few round towers in the wall circuit but the 1610 map doesn't show any at Cook Street, so it was unlikely that two would be built in the ensuing time period to what is a very minor gateway. The Spon Gate, Greyfriars Gate and the Newgate were the exceptions (I'm not sure when Newgate lost those towers). The only other gate that looks like it had something like towers is the Gosford gate/St George's Hall, which might have had towers on the north edge, or they may have been stairwell turrets. Several of the towers, like the Bastille gate seemed taller but some of that height was due to post defensive additions, when they were turned into homes.

Thanks Helen, I don't think the Yardleys were saints, there are a lot if documents about how he came about the Bastille Gate to begin with and managed to finish up paying a peppercorn rent. Kaga, Rob has sorted out my article now and is listed under Members Articles.

Thank you, Annewiggy. John Hales was supposed to have had a club foot, Lady Hales was killed by a King Charles cannon ball during the siege of the city in 1642. There was supposed to be a round circular raised mound on Whitley Common where King Charles pitched his tent at the seige of the city.

Don't think I had seen this one before - a rare view, as usual ones of the gate are taken from within the city walls looking NE/E. This one is taken from the other side, looking into town. I had not realised that the Old Tower Tavern was still there up to 1963ish - M&B had presented it to the council as a building of historic interest but yes, you guessed it - they still knocked it all down.

My mother was born in Tower House which, she told me, was attached to Cook Street Gate, but was it on the inside or the outside? Also, my mother's grandmother, whose house it was, was named Cook so was there a connection? Finally, being a Riley enthusiast, there was a cycle manufacturer called Bonnicksens, who were bought out by the Riley family at the turn of the century, in the same street, I think, but where?

Bonnick & Co Ltd, perhaps? Ah, yes! This is it From the links on that page, it looks like it may have been King Street.

The 1912-13 directory lists a T Cook, umbrella maker, at 37h Ct7 Cook Street, between Chauntry Place and St Agnes Lane

Thanks for that Cliff, could you please have a look in your little black book and see if Tom Cook had premises in Broadgate in the 30s?