Books on Coventry

They are very fine, thanks MR. It's interesting to see the colours, we're so used to seeing stuff in black and white. I'd have been very interested if I hadn't already bought the uncoloured book of prints.

I've been informed that one of our members is already bidding on this Staunton Folio, and if he wins he will share them with us all. I thought I'd let our members know this, in the hope that we don't all dive in with bids and falsely push the price up. Let's just hope that some "outsider" doesn't have grand plans to spoil our fun!

Just to let you all know, The Staunton Folio is now in the hands of a member of this forum.

Well done 'whoever' it was Not cheap but the sellers have cottoned on to the value of decorative plates sold as individual pages. I bought a rough monochrome copy of the book so I can scan them and put online without worrying about copyright. The stains and spots don't detract from what I need. It was still pricey.

With many, many thanks to "whoever it was" (!) who lent me the now infamous Staunton Folio, I'm chuffed to say that every page of it is now available to view in the gallery. I've taken the liberty of making the images much larger than the gallery normally allows, but I think it's worthwhile breaking the rules for treats like this occasionally!

To quote another mysterious person - brill, brill and brill! Thank you, Sir Rob, for some superb work

Absolutely b.brilliant. Enlarge lovely on my computer. Thank you Sire (when did that happen !)

The pleasure was all mine, but the real hero is the forum member who splashed out some serious cash to secure this folio for us all..... and I don't think we need to scrutinise the forum too hard to see who it is!!!

A real treasure! Quite wonderful to see in such rich colours. Thanks to Rob and the donor. Excellent.

Many thanks! The coloured copies add a few nice details that aren't obvious on the black and white versions, not to mention being works of art in their own right. My set is missing the Brinklow Camp, which has useful dimensions and a cross section. It offers an interesting template for Coventry's earliest castle, the mound fitting very well within a circular parish boundary on the later maps and the outer and inner ditches fitting well with known ditches around Bayley Lane.

Brilliant Rob, really well presented.

This may interest some members In October 2018 Graffeg Publishers added a number of items to their range of "Lost Tramways of England" books, including one on "Coventry". I've just ordered a copy online, and found that it's on offer for £4.50 plus P&P (list price £8.99). The city of Coventry was to suffer devastating damage during World War II, with much of its historic centre - including its medieval cathedral - largely destroyed. Amongst the casualties was the city's small tramway network; never extensive and already under threat before the war started, hostilities had resulted in the tramway initially been given a stay of execution - indeed services were restored to one route - but the attacks by the Luftwaffe, culminating in the disastrous raid of 14 November 1940, saw the final trams operate. Now, however, little remains to remind people of this once important form of transport other than historic photographs. The Lost Tramways of England series documents the tram networks which were at the heart of many of Britain's growing towns and cities from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century. Transport expert Peter Waller, author of numerous works on the regional tram systems of the UK, guides you along the route of the network and discusses its key features stop by stop.

Excavations at the cathedral and Bendictine priory of St. Mary Reasonably priced copy of this rare archaeology book by Brian Hobley

"Ships of Heaven" by Christopher Sommerville, is an excellent new book on English Cathedrals. He devoted one chapter to Coventry which I think is excellent. His only error, as I see it, is he "meets a Coventrian with a 'sing song' accent" (had to be a Welshman surely?) but apart from that his description is sensitive, detailed and enough to attract anyone to visit. Thoroughly recommended!

I have just purchased and read a book entitled "The Secret History of the Blitz" by Joshua Levine. It mentions Coventry periodically throughout, but has a chapter dedicated to the city, entitled "The Klondyke of the Midlands", pertaining to the influx of workers from many towns and cities throughout the UK including RoI, the population having grown from 90,000 in 1931 to 250,000 in 1940. The chapter primarily concerns the November Blitz, but also references the IRA bomb of 25th August 1939 and The 'Rex' being bombed a year to the day after and other raids. Albeit I have read 'Moonlight Sonata' there are anecdotes which I was unaware of. Obviously for copyright reasons I cannot narrate exactly, it mentions that a surface shelter in Silver Street suffered a collapsed roof, trapping a number of people. Another shelter on Greyfriars Green had 12 trapped who were communicating with rescuers, however two UXB's were located nearby so the rescue had to be temporarily abandoned. When they had been defused some three days later, only one survivor was found. On a darker note are reflections of the level of crime. Apparently all manner of thieves were committing all manner of offences, from rescue workers, soldiers & labourers. One person received a three month sentence with hard labour for stealing a Georgian church register from the Cathedral ruins! An Irish labourer was convicted of looting bottles of beer from a premises on Windsor Street (looting could be punishable by death!) There are many uplifting memories as well, including Pearl Hyde's famous "Devil's Kitchen" operating out of an underground room at the Central Police Station. Many 'High Society' volunteers helped, including Lady Mary Lygon and the Duchess of Marlborough! Apparently JB Shelton, a local draying contractor, was also an amateur archaeologist who found Roman artefacts/coins unearthed by the bombing. He was the only person apparently allowed to search ruins etc. without fear of arrest for looting! Finally, another anecdote in the book is the story of the caged bird that Kaga referred to previously, in fact it was Hull not Coventry unfortunately. A good book which I encourage you to get from the Library. Post copied from topic The Blitz - 14th November 1940 on 8th Oct 2019 6:13 pm