Rambling, Coundon Wedge Area

I'm not an expert on photography or anything but some of the best pictures I've seen on the internet were taken with a mobile phone!

I can't think of The Elms as anything else but the 'Paybody'. My grand parents were the gardener and housekeeper there from 1929 until their deaths in the mid 1950s. They lived in the white cottage that stood in a thriving vegetable garden and provided much of the produce for the hospital and nurses home. My late father and his three brothers, one who is still alive at the age of 94 still lives in the village grew up in the cottage. The house was bought for use as a hospital by a Coventry coal merchant Thomas Paybody. We uncovered the Paybody family grave in the London Road Cemetery last year which had been obscured by ivy for many years. If of interest I will have a go at uploading some images. Going totally off topic, a question about pipe organs for Phillip. We have just opened a new exhibition at the Parsonage Heritage Centre in Bedworth about the Topp family of Bedworth. One branch were notable organ builders between 1860 and 1920s. I am trying to establish how many are still in use, one was in the chapel at Longford and two that are still used are in the United Reformed Churches in Nuneaton and Bedworth. Any help appreciated Regards

Hello, without visiting each church, I can not tell you nowadays. The high cost of maintenance means that pipe organs are vanishing as fast as pubs. This is no joke. Several years ago, an organist friend of mine was invited to play for a special service at Walsgrave Baptist church. When he turned up to play, the organ had been taken out.

Hello Phillip, Thanks anyway. I tried to get an appeal for help from BBC C&W but it met with deaf ears. Two chances to hear a Topp organ next week at the Nuneaton URC, lunchtime concerts on Tuesday and Saturday with Martyn Lane at the controls.

Two very sad images of the old cottage at the Paybody just before demolition. Two images of the Paybody grave at the London Road. I'm obviously doing something wrong in attaching images,this is my third attempt. Apologies if they all post.

Well, hi everyone First of all I would like to say that it's great to find so many people as passionate about the area as me A little history about me, well, brought up in Coundon (Shorncliffe Road), now settled in Rosslyn Avenue. Served an excellent and memorable apprenticeship at Coventry City Council, working there for 18 years until leaving in 1998 to work for the private sector. Coundon Wedge Footpath is an ancient public right of way which is the subject of a claim for addition to the definitive map by the Ramblers Association under the citation CAP 30. This public footpath was awarded in the Coundon and Keresley Inclosure Award 1848 and runs from Church Lane to Hollyfast Road. It appears that the route round the southern edge of the school is under the extended playing fields, however so, it remains legally a public right of way. The path is clearly shown as a public footpath on every Ordnance Survey map since 1906 (the first map to show FPs). Whilst this information may not have been available to Planning at the time of the P/A in 2003, what is indisputable is that for most of its length, including the section across the school grounds, the footpath is adopted and maintainable at public expense by the Council. Anything erected over the footpath constitutes an obstruction to the highway and is illegal. Sadly, I learnt recently that Coundon Wedge Footpath has been closed off illegally, by Coventry City Council/Coventry Education Authority. A planning application was submitted by Coundon Court School in 2003 to close the footpath. This was met with opposition, so the application was withdrawn. However, the school continued to carry out the closure under the watchful eye of the planning department and with no intervention whatsoever from the Highways Dept. (I have documents that were downloaded from the planning portal that support this claim). I have contacted Councillor Gary Ridley (Conservative, Sherbourne Ward), Geoffrey Robinson (Labour MP, Coventry North West) Mike Natrass (MEP West Midlands), John Hall (Coventry City Council Rights of Way Officer) and Steven Wallsgrove (Ramblers Association Area Footpath Secretary). Although nothing has been done as yet to rectify this wrongful act, Mr Wallgroves recent comments were most interesting (his words). "There is little further that I can add. Your attachments clearly show that the relevant officers at the time were aware of the public nature of the paths and the Highways Act contains the necessary enforcement powers to have illegal obstructions removed. Their problem is how to enforce against themselves if the school is an Education Authority school. If the Highway Authority do not take any action, then (in many cases) it is possible to go to the Magistrates Court to ask them to instruct the Council to take action. However, I have never used this procedure so cannot give an advice on its use. On a technical point, although the correspondence refers to planning permission being required for the fencing, since it is said to be 2m high planning permission may not have been required. This does not stop it from being an illegal obstruction however - despite the significant time lag between the event happening and the recent day". It is important that this right of way be re-established as soon as possible. We have already seen the contempt with which Coventry City Council treats Arden Forest Green belt land. One does not have to be reminded of the "Wedge Road" and how we were told how necessary it was to the area (we all know how that has gone now!) It is most concerning that if they are allowed to get away with this we could well end up with a new access road for the Coundon Court Academy or a new housing estate wedged in, similar to what the occupants of Browns Lane have suffered (increasing to twice the size of the original planning proposals!) The government and council are eager to make their housing quotas at whatever cost to the environment etc and have no regard for people's wishes that get in their way. I have documents to back up my claims about the footpath and am willing to share them with anybody who is interested or wishes to help. Kindest regards, Glyn

I spent 2 years (1944-1946) in Paybody's Childrens Orthopaedic Hospital as it was then called. So we missed out on the street parties to celebrate the end of the war, we did have a cake and extra sweets handed round though. Like Philip I also experienced snow on the bed blown in through those ever open French windows, fresh air was the order all year round, you'd have thought it was a TB hospital not an orthopaedic one. Although we were in hospital they were very happy days, we were looked after extremely well and those young nurses were superb.

I never managed to post the images of the old cottage at the Paybody where my grandparents lived from 1929 until 1955, so have tried again. Many fond memories from the cottage and its wonderful garden. Now the site of the pub's carpark. I have also included a photo of the Allesley Bell ringers at the Rainbow one Christmas in the late 1940s. Its a favourite photo with both my parents, grandfather and uncle on it as well as Jack Tatlow and Mrs Tatlow who kept the pub for many years.

When the Singer family lived here they could see the Three Spires from inside the house. By the way the old house is haunted. If you can you want to get a photo of inside of the stairway landing, a sight to behold. It's fantastic. My children use to go to this school. Mr Kershaw a Justice of the Peace used to be the headmaster. Another haunting was at Penny Park Lane farm where a fight broke out between Broome and Shaw over Sadler, hence Sadler Road where I was bought up and Broome Croft.

The question is-: (Big drum snares and trumpets) Who stole the 'bust' from the stairs?

The bust fairy.

It could have been Peter Pan with Wendy losing their marbles thinking it might have been Tinkerbell in Never Never Land. I just wondered, if Mr Kershaw had known who stole it, what sentence would he have given

How sad to see your photographs of the old cottage in the Paybody Hospital grounds. My husband's father took over as gardener from your grandfather. My husband lived at the cottage from 1955 until we married in 1968, and his parents continued to live there until his father retired in 1974.

Hello & welcome to our site, Allesleykid Hope you enjoy. I spent years of my childhood in Paybody's, but that is another story which I have shared in other topics. Thank you for your pics.

Hello Allesleykid, Life never fails to be anything but a small world. Out of the four sons brought up at the Paybody one still lives in the village and will be 95 in May. We keep an eye on him but he generally looks after himself. He still has fond memories of the Paybody and some stories of the nurses that perhaps should be forgotten.