Derby Lane, Pepper Lane and the Cathedral Quarter

Pepper Lane looking towards Bayley Lane and Cathedral

Another eBay rarity. This time the east side of Hay Lane with the High Street.

I know that that stretch of Hay Lane was modernised in brick quite early, whereas I have very good Troughton images of the timber buildings on the other side of the road but it's the first decent picture I've seen of the brick buildings on the east side from the north. The only images I've got in timber for that side is the north corner where they built the church.

Rare to see that side of the Baptist Chapel, Helen

Helen, Your 1910 picture of the Masons paying respect to Edward VII funeral. This was a massive funeral and vivid scenes. Procession, led at a horse's walking pace, behind the gun-carriage rode King George V and the Kaiser, behind them his favourite charger, with boots and stirrups reversed at walking pace. Next followed King Edward's dog, Caesar, which bore on its collar the inscription "I am Caesar and I belong to Caesar". Then came the procession The 1910 Austin (Ascot model) car was £420. A 15hp car, hood, screen, windsheets, and headlights were extras.

This is an interesting one from Coventry Digital which has it listed as 'Broadgate Subway' which I can only think might be the one that exited at the very southern end of Trinity Street and came out by the Owen Owen side door on the other side. You can clearly see the Derby Lane sign though in the background, so that's the Gulson Library upper left and tantalisingly close to that tall building that remained on Derby Lane for some time (Pope's Head/Alley, Helen?) Those must be the cobbles that led off Broadgate by Hilton's towards Spicerstoke.

Another good one Neil. The cobbles are the Spicer Stoke and the subway would be dug into the foundations of the lovely timber buildings that were on the corner of Derby Lane and the Spicer Stoke. The Pope's Head Alley would have been under or beyond the building on the right.

Yes, it's the subway at the end of the temporary shops on Broadgate. The building top left is, as you say, the library.

The building against the excavation was at the back of the temp shops. Behind that can be seen the side wall of what was once a shop but became an overflow store for the City Archives. Between the two was a fenced off area with a long drop into a waterway. Most of this side of Derby Lane was taken up by the municipal works canteen, a corrugated roofed building, mostly used by bus workers, especially when the cashup office was round by the wooden bell tower.

That's very interesting, diggerdave. I know that there was a well in that area but not that it was a moving water source. The area was close to the castle. If there was an underground stream it would add weight to the idea that the castle had an excellent potential supply.

Helen this is about the best shot I know of so far of that tall building that remained on what was Derby Lane taken from the Broadgate island. I'm still amazed despite constant searching that nothing better has turned up of that one post-blitz - though I'll keep looking.

Hi Neil. I think that one of the reasons it wasn't photographed better was because it was a modern building. Also explains how it survived the bombing. The picture below is the same building as seen on Derby Lane before the war - on the right hand side of the photo looking south. Despite some similarities I'm fairly sure it wasn't the same building as this one.

Helen, found these two last night showing that tall building even clearer. It’s interesting, it’s more apparent in these it’s a newer structure, however the style of building (taller but with a small footprint) makes it initially appear to be older to me.

I thought the same Neil and it wasn't until I closely compared the two images on Derby Lane that I concluded they weren't the same building with one refurbished. The key detail is that each floor is slightly taller. Adding about 1 to 1.5m to the full building. The medieval buildings either side restricted the overall footprint. The old version was only a brick front as the back and interior were still half timber.