Ironmonger Row

I was looking at the Now & Then on Ironmonger row and I had a feeling the positioning wasn't right. So I used a piece of map from pre 1936 and a piece of present day map from Google Maps, on both of them I drew a line from the New Buildings entrance, on the old map along the Ironmonger Row line to its Cross Cheaping exit and on the new map a line to Cross Cheaping exit of the supposed remains of Ironmonger Row, which the council now calls Palmer Lane. The resulting drawn lines are very different angles and from Cross Cheaping side with the roads themselves one goes down and the other goes upwards.

Yes, there were four buildings between what is now Forbidden Planet and the corner of pre-war Ironmonger Row. Rob wouldn't have known that when the site was first constructed as there was very little information available at the time. There's still much doubt and debate about the exact location of some places in Coventry.

The red line on the later google map has been drawn at the wrong angle. The dead end street to the left of Donnington House is the remnant of Palmer Lane (shown on the old map) and should meet the red line at right angles.

Osmiroid is correct, the entry pictured on Rob's Now and Then page is not the remains of Ironmonger Row.

Thanks Dutchman. Yes, it was about drawing a line from a known point, the New Buildings entrance, to the two locations in the Now & Then.

I did an overlay to give a general idea, although matching two maps together wont be highly precise. I think a rough guess is that the Ironmonger Row entrance location is about two thirds across from the KFC side of that block.

Super work Osmiroid, well done. If I'd done that "now and then" nowadays I would indeed have done the same as you, by overlaying maps to get the correct place - as I did for some of the later ones I added. At the time, however, without knowing the exact place that Ironmonger Row popped out into Cross Cheaping, I simply plumped for somewhere that modern day folk could identify with, and sort of looked like it could be the original street exit. Next time I'm around there I'll try to remember to take a camera and get closer to the real position. Many thanks again for your good work, Rob

Just had a look around, but can't find anything constructive Interesting, though, looking at Spennells 1912/13: Left-hand side of Burges, from Hales Street, ended with no.30 Home & Colonial Stores Left-hand side of Cross Cheaping, from Burges, started with no.29 Coventry Cross Coventry Cross subsequently became no.31 Burges, the address it carries today! Who decided to move Coventry Cross from Cross Cheaping to Burges, when, and why??? Forbidden Planet is at 31 Cross Cheaping, the address that the building had in Spennells (ie two doors up from no.29 Coventry Cross) The pub in the "Now & Then" photo is Cross Cheaping Vaults, 37 Cross Cheaping, on the corner of Ironmonger Row

Rob, no problem glad to help Cliff, I think the real Ironmonger Row may be all covered by buildings now? A strange one which I don't get is the council using the Ironmonger name for what was virtually and maybe partially Little Butcher Row!!!

I did this other one, I wanted to see how the modern day "Ironmonger Row" related to the Little Butcher Row location and also show visually how far it is from the original Ironmonger Row. I used a piece of Google Maps for working it out. (No guarantee of how accurate my work is) It makes the council look like they really messed up! They decided to use an historical name but used one from a different location!

Image showing Ironmonger Row 1939 Little Butcher Row did run roughly where the modern Ironmonger Row is today but it was demolished before the war. Both Butcher Row and Little Butcher Row were gone but Ironmonger Row remained. Trinity Street was created and formed a wedge with Cross Cheaping around the then new Owen Owen store. The store was heavily bombed and at some point the area was rebuilt in a different layout, removing the linking Ironmonger Road but shifting it to the blunter end between Trinity Street and Cross Cheaping/The Burges. So it wasn't so much using a historical name as moving one that was already in use.

I'd come to the same conclusion as you, and this afternoon also made an "overlaid" map, which, as you can see below, is extremely similar to yours! The original Ironmonger Row is highlighted in turquoise, while the new layout of the same streetname is in pink.... uncomfortably close to the original Butcher Row in green! As usual, logic and reason go out of the window!

Nice bit of work there!!! Yes, it's at the very least right next to LBR on the one side, and as you've shown probably actually on it.

From another thread: