West Orchard

Good question Mike. Short answer - I don't know of them. It is in a logical position to be the west orchard for the priory. However a wild guess would be that west didn't always mean west and could sometimes start out as 'waste'. Stan Beasley has West Orchard called Vastum Gardinum, which translates as waste garden. Waste didn't necessarily mean waste as in a modern sense but as uninhabited land, hard to cultivate. An area very prone to flooding might fit that bill.

You know, there's always someone, or even something, to throw a spanner into the works. We're all aware that Coventry evolved from the Anglo-Saxon name: "Cofa's Tree". Considering the history of Coventry, including the "sent/d to Coventry", could it be that West Orchard is one of those that has become evolved/mutated over time? Could 'orchard' have evolved from 'ostracised or ostracise', meaning 'to exile', something relating to the former prison references from the English Civil War years ?

Worth thinking about Mike The Leather Hall off West Orchard was one of the places they put prisoners during the Civil War.

I've just noted that the Sherbourne flood in 1607 was the same year as the huge Bristol Channel flood but June instead of January.

From the 1880 directory - I need to research the maps but this can't have been too far from the Chapel -

Goody, goody gumdrops! I've been looking for images from that part of West Orchard. It was about halfway from Cross Cheaping to the bridge over the river. Only image I've seen of the Thistle Inn. Just to the right would have been the first Matterson and Huxley building. Woo hoo. You're on fire today Neil.

I wondered if you had that bit Helen! Maybe we can use it for the Pubs section Rob - Thistle

It had a bit of a makeover, as did the other buildings sometime before 1920ish. You can just see them in the aerial photos. For your next trick can you find an image of the Anchor Tavern that was a few buildings to the east. I suspect that there was a stretch of nondescript 3 storey 1700s and 1800s decrepit, brick, three storey buildings all the way to the well known timber alms houses. When they wanted to build the foundry buildings they just demolished the whole lot. The rears were probably timber though and went the same way.

What a super find - I never thought we'd ever get to see any sort of picture of the Thistle! Yes, it will make a great addition to the pub website - the Thistle page currently only has a general view of West Orchard to illustrate it. By the way, where did you find the 1880 directory? That's one I don't believe I've seen.

It was posted on FB Rob. There was another capture of the Stevens Works I'll add to the Cox Street thread in a bit.

J E Parbury, I used to use their Albany Road shop for many years. If I recall correctly, they had larger premises somewhere else in Coventry which I have used, but cannot remember where that was.... I had to do a double take on The Thistle pub, with thanks to Rob's pub history pages, put my mind at ease, there was a Thistle pub at the bottom end of The Arcade, almost opposite Electronic Services.

According to the CET they had a shop in Parkside, Mike.

Many thanks for the confirmation Anne. I sort of felt it was Parkside, but wasn't confident enough to say, and recall on many visits parking there.