Radford

The Wiki entry says that the Gala Bingo building is adjacent to Poole Road, hmmm maybe I read it wrongly but as live very near to Poole Road, I would say it was a fair step between them.

Perhaps you have read it wrong, Elaine "the ford originates from a natural spring from the rear of the now Gala bingo building and is adjacent to Poole road" The ford . . . . is adjacent to Poole Road

I am quite puzzled now as Poole Road is on higher ground than Radford Road.

RADFORD Radford, formerly a hamlet of Holy Trinity parish, lay north-west of the city, beyond Bishop Gate, along Radford Road, a medieval highway and later turnpike. The Radford Brook runs south under Radford Road, enters the city at the site of the former Hill Mill, and joins the River Sherbourne. The ancient hamlet lay along the road on both sides of the brook. The south-east of the district is crossed by the railway from Coventry to Nuneaton, with sidings at the Daimler factory and a branch line to the Ordnance works in Harnall, and the extreme east by the Coventry Canal. The district has been covered almost entirely by housing estates during the 20th century. The eastern half of Radford seems to have lain within the Prior's Half since Hill Mill and Radford Mill on the Radford Brook were landmarks on the boundary between the Prior's Half and the Earl's Half in the mid 12th century. (fn. 35) Radford lay beyond the area of the city liberties which was defined in the late 14th century. (fn. 36) It was included in the county of the city in 1451, and after this had been dissolved in 1842 it remained in the rural area outside the new municipal borough of Coventry until the first boundary extension in 1890. (fn. 37) From: 'The City of Coventry: The outlying parts of Coventry: Harnall, Radford, and Whitmore Park', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8: The City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick (1969), pp. 71-77. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16013 Date accessed: 03 July 2012.

There's a photo of the brook here in "Coventry we have lost"

Midland Red - if you have a record of the name of the property, it should be possible to discover to which of the city luminaries it originally belonged.

That's very interesting thank you another piece in the jigsaw!

Amazing-how things have changed!

Marner Crescent was built circa 1935/6. My parents bought No15 in early 1936 for the princely sum of £620, and became the first owners.

That's very interesting! Something else that has always intrigued me are the houses on Lydgate Road. They are so big and roomy - I think they are really nice! Someone told me they were built as a 'garden suburb' or something similar - are they the same age as your parents' house?

Hi Anne, I'm nearly certain they were there well before Marner Cres and Tulliver St were built. The first houses on Middlemarch Rd also appear to be similar build to those on Lydgate Rd. The 1st house up Lydgate Rd past Tulliver St was owned by Fred Foster the local butcher. His shop was up the steps on Radford Rd next door to Kilburn's Chippie.

I'll go up to Middlemarch Road, when I get time, and have a look at those houses. It's funny how these things get under your skin!

Going back to the original subject, as far as I can tell the suburb of St Nicholas like Hill Street consisted mainly of weavers' cottages but specialising in coach lace which is a type of decorative ribbon. There was a cotton plantation to the north of the suburb which may have supplied the raw material? ("Radford" at that time was an isolated village clearly distinct from the Coventry suburb). The cottage side of the industry would have suffered when the huge St Nicholas mill was opened in the area between King Street and St Nicholas Street.

Thanks Dutchman - fascinating to hear about the cotton plantation! I thought that Radford and St Nicholas must be different places, but it's great to hear about both areas. I lived in Keresley End until I was 12 and the Radford Road was very familiar as we went into Coventry every Saturday. Now I've worked in various places around there - in various venues teaching for Adult Ed - I am building on the knowledge of the place. As I don't drive I walk a lot between classes and dream about how places would have been over the centuries! Oh, for Google Maps for each century!

I was born in Radford in the home of my grandparents. My parents eventually rented a house in Holbrooks but we would often visit my grandparents and I remember walking down St. Nicholas Street to get to the canal basin. My most vivid memory though goes back to when I had to go through the city centre to get to school on the number 15 bus. Was it for the whole time that I was in school (62-67) that the bus went down St Nicholas Street before going down Bishop Street? That narrow road - the policeman on point duty - the seemingly endless tailbacks of traffic resulting in me being late for school again and yet another detention. I remember one of the teachers (we call them masters) trying to persuade me that if I knew that there would be a delay I should leave for school earlier but that meant getting out of bed earlier and that didn't seem to make any sense!