Coventry's Markets

Helen is right Kaga. The newspaper site have just scanned the papers, they are adding more all the time. It is good because being digitized you can search for anything and filter by areas or newspaper and even say you want anything illustrated. I have recently found a picture of a marathon basketball team in 1968 for a Leamington site which was in the Coventry Telegraph, which now goes up to the early 1970's. The team are now discussing a 50 year reunion!

Helen, Anne, thank you very much for your information, most helpful, regards Kaga.

Coventry markets 1874

An interesting close-up of the market clocktower with the two spires.

Heathite. Yes way back in those times when they built the market tower Coventry was more historically and tradition minded, so don't you think someone thought "let's bring back the cross, only much higher to show off our new market, not so many figures but show what we're good at today - time pieces", so they built a high tower. A beautiful brick structure, placed in the same place as the cross in relation to the market, which was north-east of the market. The corn exchange was to its south, with its concert and entertainment halls like the great fairs of the past. Broadgate and Cross Cheaping were wider now, their medieval names still retained. They could have built the tower in any number of places they liked with all the building going on, but they didn't, so why exactly there?

I never thought of the tower like that Kaga but yes, it was a sort of modern golden cross. The old one was originally at the heart of the market set in Broadgate (only later moving to the area near the tower). Both would have been visible from some distance, calling to traders and buyers 'here we are!' The old cross would have been a sort of sun dial, telling traders roughly what time it was, like the clock on the tower. Both represented Coventry's success.

The Tower looked quite lonely post-blitz

I can't say I condone this as it does not appear to have been done with permission but as it's freely available on the internet - some interesting images here from someone who climbed the 'new' market clocktower just before it was demolished.

NeilsYard. Maybe the tower was lonely, for a good many years an old shabby woman stood close to the tower, a basket of apples at her feet. One morning there were 4/5 of us boys close by arguing the toss about something, when suddenly Billy said "Did you seed that?" "What?" I said. "The old lady just spat on a apple then rubbed it on her arm." "Yer telling fibs agin, Billy." "Yer calling me a b..... liar, Kaga?" "I see d it as well, Kaga" said Peter. We were all staring at the old woman. A woman stopped, looked at the apples and a couple of us sang out "Lady", shaking our heads - it must have sounded bad because she hurried over. "What's a marrer, boys?" "The old woman spat on the apples." "No!" "She did 'n all." "Oh!" She turned away saying "Fanks", then turned back, took out her purse and gave us tuppence. "Get some sweets between you, boys" and she was gone.

Recent talk on one of the FB Coventry pages referenced the Market clocktower and one lady Betty Farndon was aware of the incident with the young boy who was killed which ultimately led to the decision to bring the tower down - we've mentioned this before but I had not seen or heard of any evidence until now - I remember it but not in too much detail, I am thinking the boy's surname was Bullivant and lived in Sewall Highway not far from the junction with Tackford Rd, as far as I remember he was hit on the head with a piece of slate falling from the clock tower. Betty thought he was around 14 when killed

The only entry that fits in the register of deaths at Coventry is Peter Bullivant died 1942, age 12.

That's the one. There is a report of the inquest but it is too long to print. The boys had gone under the railings and the man on the tower who was demolishing it shouted at them to go away. A piece of timber fell off. The boy died later in Gulson Road.

Interesting Anne - so it was not the boy's death that brought about the demolition.

Here is a shorter report. There was more detail at the inquest but that would be difficult to copy, but this says it all. Reading the inquest it is obvious that as always the boys were somewhere they shouldn't have been!