Conduit Yard

Hello, my mother was born in Conduit Yard, her name was Elsie Kathleen Stafford. All her siblings were born there also, Irene, Burt, Connie and Jim. I wonder if this helps your quest? Colin

Thanks very much Radford Kid. It seems that Conduit Yard housed many families, lots of people tightly packed in. In all the research I have done in the last year I still have not found any layouts of the yard or any photographs (apart from the photos on the Coventry Council web page and that is just an entrance way that I can't relate to). It says on his business card 24 Conduit Yard, does that refer to the Yard being number 24 or his business? I'm still unsure and have a lot of research left to do. I'm always sifting through auction sites in the hope some info will pop up at some point. That's why family history is so much fun, and frustrating! All help is greatly appreciated

His business. All yards in Spon End had separately numbered buildings.

Thanks for the help, Dutchman

I have been looking for trade addresses in Conduit Yard for 1940, the last Kelly's that I can access for free. I have been tempted to look earlier but have stuck to the 1940 one as people seem to want to know about the traders there just before the Blitz. I have seen loads of inhabitants on the census up to 1911 but these are the traders in 1940 on Kelly's Trade Directory. Walter Sydney Burditt - Carrier Herbert Chapman - Carpenter Albert Thompson - Scale Mftr and Saw Doctor to all Trades J & H.B. Jackson - Metal Merchants Hope it helps someone's research. Frustratingly, no numbers of houses, all on the census that we can't access.

Just found out, there wasn't a 1941 census due to the War, there was a population count on 29th September 1939, resulting in the National Register which was later used to develop the National Health Service Register. Also, a census taken on 26th April 1931 but was destroyed in a fire (accident not warfare). I have been having a struggle with the geography of some of these old yards, courts and pathways and I know the Dutchman has been great providing some great material for us on-line for free but I have just ordered some Ordnance Survey, large scale maps from 1904-1912 only £2.50 each from 'Alan Godfrey Maps' hopefully there will be good detail of all the courts and yards around Fleet Street area, to lay on the carpet and get a sense of direction of the various areas that the folks write about on here.

Thanks Foxcote It's fantastic that there are so many people on this forum wanting to share there memories and help others. Without any of these people I for one wouldn't have been able to research any of my family or find out about the wonderful diverse city I once lived in. I've always believed that any information no matter how small is priceless. Like that missing bit of the jigsaw that you need to finish the top corner, you can't complete it till you find it! So you carry on with the rest and then out of the blue it pops up! I also have been struggling to find the exact location of Conduit Yard (I had hoped that it was going to be fairly straight forward!) It's hard to pinpoint it from a map on to what you can see on Google earth. It wasn't until Dutchman told me that the entrance to it wasn't where I thought it was. I have just brought a book on ebay called "Spon Street & Spon End", 200 years of everyday life, John Ashby. The first section covers Conduit Yard (which I didn't realise when I brought the book) but again there's no details of the court layout, there is a photograph taken from the GEC works in 1962 looking back down Spon Street towards St. Johns church. At the bottom you can see that opposite St. Johns there is a chunk of building missing. I'm guessing this is part of Conduit Yard that was bombed out in the war. It's hard to get a perspective on where exactly it is as the Lower Precinct is being built. Hopefully the maps that you will be getting will shed some light on what the courts layouts was. Thanks again for the help.

Thanks for the help, Foxcote, I'm really fond of the names they used to use back then like "Scale Mftr and Saw Doctor to all Trades". You just don't here interesting names like that any more! Another name that has just cropped up is "J & H.B. Jackson - Metal Merchants" - it was interesting to see them as my father was a metal merchant for 30 years in Coventry and I remember him talking about the company. I'm guessing to have a metal merchant in a court would mean that it was fairly large? I'm still interested to find were exactly number 24 was in Conduit Yard. Dutchman has said in the past that it would have been more to the south side by the pub that stands there now. Still some good info Foxcote and good leads

Thanks for that, I am just finding some more info now, your new book sounds a winner I shall try to get it myself. Because of the industry going on there, I have found a great site - Grace's Guide. Just put 'Coventry' in as a search and you won't want to get off it! I found that the famous 'Frank Birch' (bicycles) had a garage down Conduit Yard approx 1923-32 and found him on there, but all the industry in Coventry is listed.

Jackson's is shown on a planning application for an unrelated business in Queen Victoria Road in 1947. There are unfortunately no planning records prior to 1946.

There's a pretty clear image of Conduit Yard in the middle of this picture although you will have to login to Britain from Above in order to zoom-in: Corporation Street, the Rover Engineering Works and environs, Coventry, 1931 - Britain from Above

That's brilliant Dutchman, I am able to zoom in up to about 4-5 times on my PC and get a great idea as to where I am - I think. Is that St. John's bang in the middle there? I usually look for the churches and start from there. Thanks for that one.

Yes Dreamtime. Foxcote deserves all the credit as it was she that put me on to it

Just to revive this following recent topics - Dutchman's assessment from here proves conclusive following this image from the Britain from Above site. A quick and easy register will allow you to zoom in. Dutchy has "pinned" Conduit Yard's location. What an amazing city it was.

Just to update this - whilst researching for something else I noticed Conduit Yard is marked on this 1889 map