Little Palace Yard

There are some interesting pictures on Flickr which are from pictures in the Herbert. I think I am ok in sharing a link to this. I was interested in the animal motifs on either side of the door. Are they similar to the ones with the porch? Entrance to the cloister.

Well spotted. The lion looks similar and might tie in with my theory that the lion might have been contemporary with the arbour in Little Palace Yard, but not the other animals.

Thanks to my friend Cliff Berwick this one has turned up (well it was new to me!) of LPY - it's looking west from within the court towards to entrance to Little Park Street just out of shot to the left. Cliff just had it as a court on LPS but I spotted it instantly as it's the same but earlier view of my photo showing my dad's cousin Trevor. The house where the lady stands was No.1 of 10 houses split within the court. Note the comparison with my later image - I love that little window in the corner!

The Old Palace Yard, or court houses, were often built in a parallel round a square, where each side looked at its likeness opposite, as if it was seeing itself in a looking glass in a small world of its own. Men in shirtsleeves would shout to each other from open windows, and boys played marbles and got underfoot. In the evening across the court you would see the shadow of a hand moving against a drawn blind in motion. The suffering, care-worn men, much like the small bird in the cage on the wall, seemed to struggle through their lives, between work and want of the ribbon manufacturers, who lived in large houses and could toss his dog enough meat that would make the poor workers and his family a dinner.

In the second picture the stone 'Mounting Block' is clearly visible between the two ground floor windows. We children loved to climb onto this and were told that people used it to climb onto their horses. This should have been removed and preserved when the Yard was demolished. It may have been the last surviving one of its kind in Coventry.

George Checketts took over a Liquor Vaults opened a few years earlier by a Mr H Chittem. On the day of opening, Nero his famous lion sent him a poem. The seventeen year old lion tamer was virtually eaten by the tiger, the few remaining pieces buried in Wombells grave.

I was able to quickly identify this 'mystery' image that appeared on FB recently. It's LPY at night-time - very spooky and atmospheric! That's 'Uncle' Ray's house to the right of the arch as per earlier photos in this thread, Rosemary! And the same lamppost but looking the other way to Cliff's photo above.

I know we've seen this shot of the old stone arbour before, however with the clarity of the latest upload to Coventry Archives I've never noticed that circle on the left hand side (with a star inside?). Can anyone make out what it is? Is that a 17 etched above it? Someone on FB mentioned some time ago that one of those which appear to be Trebuchet balls is sat in the Memorial Park somewhere by the aviary, but I cannot find it. With the collection of stone animal images I'd love to see a full image of the complete garden - surprised there isn't one somewhere, considering the others taken.

You're on fire with images this morning. It looks like a flame above a garden planter to me. A goblet? A chalice? Hard to search for as Harry Potter dominates the results. It's also a symbol for the Unitarians and that might be a likely link. The Meeting House on Smithford Street was Unitarian and the Bird Family who built Kirby House and possibly the Castle Grounds were key funders and members of that building/religion.

Hi Neil, have only just looked at your picture of the lit gas lamp in LPY. You are quite correct in its location! Rosemary

Looking back through the posts on here, the picture on your your post 130 of the arbour in the park looks as if it also has the circle symbol on the other side as well. Also, the sign on post 88 says it is dated 1701. Would that be your 17, Neil?

Anne, it looks more like a J or a swirly I to me but that makes no sense.

I agree, Helen, does not look like too much of a 1 but they used to do funny writing then! The idea I had that it was the 1701 I referred to does not stand up though, looking at it again the two letters/numbers are in the middle. Can I see a word at the bottom of the circle as well?

Is that a factory behind the arbour?