Belgrade Square and Plaza

Great stuff, the skyline of Coventry is definitely changing!

...for the worse!

In your opinion.

Mods note: This conversation developed into a wider discussion about the "attractiveness" or otherwise of the city Those posts have been moved into the "What would attract visitors to our city long term?" thread, to allow this thread to remain on-topic

Came across this paper, as usual looking for something else! It was written by Northamptonshire Archaeology about Belgrade Plaza 2005-2007 (pity they spelt it as BELGRAGE). It is a bit long winded but the maps are interesting. Also the names of early Coventry families who lived in the area. Neil may be interested as there is mention of Yardleys living in the area from 14th to 16th century. It would be great if I could link to these as it would take my family back in Coventry another 200 years! A lot more research to do. Archaeology at Belgrade Plaza 2005-2007

They dug up footings of the city wall, didn't they? (I read this years ago, but can't remember much about. I can't believe it's ten years old!)

A few photos here of the dig.

Just a thought, - Babbling-Lake, babbling brook.

Nice find Anne. Why is this archaeology stuff so hard to locate? Flood maps of Coventry If you follow the links to the second map, you can see that quite a lot of Coventry is in a big loop of what was probably an old river line. You've got the Radford Brook cutting through the site from the north west. The monks possibly took the river Sherbourne more to the south, under Palmer Lane to feed the mill there? Even on the early maps the excavation area looks boggy and that would have been enhanced by digging a floodable city ditch.

A large area of the city centre was once a lake/marsh. 'Lac' is an old German word for Lake or body of water (Saxon Mere was Lake) Babble is also a Saxon word, but its saxon form is not 'Babbu' It might be a person's name - Bab (I think u at the end means something in Saxon.)

There are/were several Babbelaks (middle English) in England, so it's not unique to Coventry from "The Placenames of England and Wales": Babba- Babbicombe (Torquay). 'Valley of Babba' or ' Bebba,' several in Onom. Cf. Bablake, Coventry, 1344 Babbelak, and Bablocklithe, Oxon, which mean ' Babba's pool ' (O.E. lac, see Oxf. Diet, lake sb^ 2), and ' the landing stage ' or ' Hythe ' beside it.

As I was "visiting Coventry" today, I thought this would be an appropriate place to ask this question: How much did it cost "The City of Coventry" to acquire this in 1986? Oh, and why is it hidden away amongst the bushes? And, for the ladies . . . . . just what are "the two sides of a woman"?

The subject "Two Sides of a Woman" is one the sculptor has returned to several times. Blumenfeld

Hi all, As a female of the species and being of a certain age where we prefer more traditional art, I have to say I think I know why it's in the bushes not my favourite sculpture that's for sure... as to two sides of a woman, I was always lead to believe this refers to the roles of wife and mother, but I could be wrong.