Priory Row

Hi Sarah, welcome to the forum. It's a tricky one as those either side were photographed but that one was missed. On page 3, post 31 you can see number 13, a wines and spirits business. By the war, 14 and 15 were combined with 13. There are pictures of Priory Street looking towards Holy Trinity but 14 is barely visible because of the angle. On the right you can see a red brick building with a white band. Then a white building with two windows. That's number 15. 14 just peaks out beyond that.

That's great thank you everyone. I walked down there this morning to see if I could see where it could have been. Was the new cathedral built over where they were?

Part of number 14 looks like it was just west of the cathedral but the bulk was under the modern cathedral which might have had it over the tip of the apse of St Mary's cathedral. If you walk down the ramp next to the Georgian house and then double back you can see the north side of the apse which would have been under gardens. In 1850 there was nothing obvious on the surface to indicate there was something so interesting underneath but some of the houses on Priory Row had parts of the cathedral in their cellars. That said, I doubt that something as interesting as the apse wouldn't have been mentioned if it was known about before the war.

Hi, looking on Ancestry, there is a Joseph BAGSHAW on the 1851 census that is probably 'your man'. But his residence is given as Bailey Lane. Looking at the baptism record for David BAGSHAW, son of Joseph BAGSHAW and Sarah (BARNWELL) who was baptized on February 6 1830 their residence is given as Priory Row. Joseph's trade is said to be a tailor. There are many 'trees' on Ancestry for Joseph BAGSHAW, born around 1788 in Birmingham and died "Feb 1860 Side of St Michael Churchyard, Coventry, Warwickshire" Below is an image from the 1850 Coventry directory and shows Joseph BAGSHAW as a tailor in Priory Row. There is also a Mary BAGSHAW, an umbrella maker, trading in Butcher Row. Joseph BAGSHAW is not to be found on the 1861 census in Coventry.

Scratch most of what I've written, sorry. Jumping back and forth between the maps and Rob's link, it looks like the right hand side of this was number 14. But I'm not sure. Which would make all of the building I pointed to as number 15. If correct that would put 14 under the modern carpark and definitely over the old cathedral. Below is the fire insurance map for 1887 with the cellars marked on. You can see why it's not obvious which is number 14.

This is the earliest page that I have with the whole page for numbering in Priory Row. It is from the 1911 Directory. Those Collins Wine Merchants were at number 14 as early as 1828 but as said above I don't have the whole numbered page for that year. It is from a commercial type directory so not useful for residents. Also, Charles BAGSHAW son of Joseph BAGSHAW and Sarah is said to have been born December 6 1822 and residing at Priory Row, no number given.

Part of the confusion is down to large buildings being split up or combined before or after they started the numbering. So 13 and 14 may have been different floors or front and back. On the fire insurance map, it may be that the surveyor couldn't work it out either and left 14 and 15 off the map. Looking at Heathite's directory it looks like several of the buildings had multiple business occupants.

Found this on Pinterest. I can't decide if I've seen this picture before or if I'm thinking of a sister photo starting on the left and going off in the same direction.

I posted this view before but the foreground here has more.

Helen, I keep seeing references on Coventry Digital to the Priory Guest House that was demolished. Do you know where this was at all? Post copied from topic Ironmonger Row on 11th Oct 2021 4:48 pm

Hi Neil, I've moved the original answers to Ironmonger Row but left the question. Yes there was a guest house there but the Lychgate Cottages are also referenced as guest houses for the priory. Obviously these haven't been demolished.

Zoomable copy of the page about the wine merchant

Interesting to see how Priory Row connected with Butcher Row.

From a little later - a helpful, slightly different, angle. There's a JJ Ward image of Priory Row looking towards this junction with fly posters all over the front of the building too. That was taken in 1911.

Here it is. Ward had a super camera and knew how to use it.