Council House

Here you are, Neil

War wounds? I hadn't realised just how many marks there are on the walls of The Council House - this is just one small area

Very observant of you MR. I have a feeling you may have disturbed a hornet's nest. I wonder how many more older buildings in Coventry have the same apart from the wounds on the old cathedral.

The foundations go up for the 'new' Council House in 1915.

Nice picture Neil. Now go back in time and ask them to photo the plot before they knocked the houses down.

I keep searching Helen! It's funny in the Earl Street thread the only images are with that gap and not before. Here's the laying of the foundation stone in 1913

That's a photo I've never seen before. I think the reason that there doesn't seem to be a before picture is because the demolition took so long. One section was demolished early enough for a small park to be laid over the plots. I'd be surprised if Wingrave never took a photo, especially of the St Mary Street end but none seem to have survived. There may be one in some collection, with nobody able to work out where it is. The same goes for the other side of the road in the same area.

In the first picture Neil, what is the old building at the rear of the site with leaded windows. Is it the back of St Mary's Hall and to the left 22 Bayley Lane?

Comparing with Google maps and the 1897 insurance plan. I believe the buildings behind are all part of St Mary's Hall. 22 Bayley Lane would be to the left of the picture but is not quite visible. To the right of the crane you can just make out Drapers Hall and the row of buildings on the east side of St Mary Street. These buildings are now the grass area between St Mary Street and Bayley Lane and The Herbert. My ancestors lived at 3 or 4 Bailey Lane in the mid 1800s (which is now the other side of that grass area facing onto Bayley Lane!)

Close Malvern but I think from left to right. Caesar's Tower, St Mary's kitchen, some later building with a gothic window that I think was part of the kitchen too, the police station and then I think it's the middle of St Mary's Street on the right. I think that most of that end of Bayley lane was 3 storey or above and wasn't demolished until after the Council house was built.

I think I agree Helen, The 1897 insurance plan describes the whole area as St Mary's Hall with from left to right. A brick arched bast (the Hall itself) then the Police Offices with the court behind and the Muniment Room at the rear. in 1897 the side facing onto St Mary Street was under construction and included Cells and concrete floors, but the Fire Engine House further up St Mary Street towards Earl Street was already in existence but seems to have gone by the time this photo was taken. Drapers Hall is mostly obscured by the crane then the buildings visible on right, which you correctly state are half way along St Mary Street, are described as vacant, with a silk warehouse and then G Carey Franklin Ribbon Factory on the corner of Earl Street and St Mary Street. The warehouse and factory would have been to the right of this photo. I have details from the Coventry Standard 23 July 1864 regarding the sale of 23 Earl Street and 3 and 4 Bailey Lane. The freeholds were sold following the death of Harry Chetham. At the time 23 Earl Street, which was to the right of the above ribbon factory which occupied 19 to 22 Earl Street, was let to Mr Goodfellow at a "low" rent of £60 per annum. The property included a ribbon warehouse to the rear which then connected through to 3 and 4 Bailey Lane which was let to my ancestor, Thomas Carvell and Charles Clarke at "rents producing £21 per annum, exclusive of rates".So my ancestor's house would have been to the rear of the buildings seen on the right of the picture.

That photo was taken from the Council House History website. Interesting site so thanks to the owner if he/she is here!

1936

Walking down St Mary Street I noticed the initials "ST" (or "TS) set into the side of the Council House. Does anybody know what the initials stand for and why they are there? Peter.

"The building is faced with Runcorn stone and roofed in Cotswold stone. The rich display of heraldic carvings mostly centred around the main entrance includes the arms of many historical characters associated with Coventry's history, from the time of Edward the Confessor until the 16th Century. The full list is: Edward the Confessor; Henry II; Queen Isabella; Edward III; Edward, the Black Prince; Richard ll; Henry VI; Queen Margaret; Queen Elizabeth l; Mary, Queen of Scots; James l; the Earls of Chester, Cornwall and Northampton; the Dukes of Norfolk and Hereford; Neville, Earl of Warwick; Sir William Dugdale Thomas Sharp; John Hales; Sir Thomas White; the Botoners and Swillingtons, Thomas Wheatley, Thomas Bond; William Ford; Dr Philemon Holland; the Davenports: the Hopkins and Jesson families; Sir Skears Rew the Harringtons of Coombe Abbey; the Berkeleys of Caludon Castle; the City of London; and the See (bishopric) of Lichfield and Coventry. This is the list published in the programme to the official opening, but when the devices were repainted in the 1950s, it was found that Ford and Rew were not among them but another - Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick - was." Listed is the name of Thomas Sharp, born in Coventry in 1770 an antiquarian, all about him here. Could well be a contender.