Exhall

I attended Exhall Grange School from the 15 January, 1951 until July 1961 and gained a great deal from being there. The buildings I knew were erected in WWII as temporary accommodation for workers. I have been trying to find out what existed before these buildings were erected without much success. Can anyone help please?

I believe there was a hospital in use in WW2 at Exhall Grange as my great-grandfather died there in May 1943.

Did Exhall Grange have a swimming pool?

Hi Malcolm, welcome to the forum. Exhall Grange was further north, at the junction of Blackberry Lane and Wheelwright Lane. There is housing there now. In 1888 Most of the land to the south was just fields, apart from a cottage and a pub. Some time between 1919 and 1936 they built the Wheelwright Lane School. By 1954 there is a lot of school buildings and most of the grange has been demolished. Old Maps - zoom out a few times for old map

Hello 3Spires. Exhall Grange School has a swimming pool which was built in the 60s as part of the rebuilding programme. We used to go to the public baths for swimming lessons which was near the Lyric Cinema I think.

Hello Helen. The map was just as I remembered the school. There were clearly some ruins remaining but we were not allowed out of school until we were 12 and then we were limited to the Cross Keys to the north and the railway bridge to the south. I think the ruins must have gone by then.

Hi Malcolm and thank you. I had half remembered that a schoolfriend of mine, who joined the police after we left school (1974), was sent to Exhall Grange, as part of his training, to be taught to swim. Ironically, we had an open air swimming pool at our school but nobody used it as it was always too darn cold.

Exhall Grange was occupied in the mid 1860's by a Mr John Neale. He is advertising for builders in the 1860's to build a residence in Exhall, this could be the Grange. It is advertised in the Coventry Herald for sale in July 1894

Excellent Anne, it ties in with the name Neale's Green on the 1888 map. It retained the name until at least 1937 but in the 1903 maps onward there was a naming error and it became Neal's Green. By the time the school was built the name had vanished altogether. It should have been Neale's Green School.

The cottage mentioned was the home of my grandparents, aunties, uncle and father, they lived there during the 1940s & 50s. April 1957, my parents wedding reception was held in the Bull & Anchor pub. Lots of photos taken inside, but only 1 group shot outside. I don't know if the building in the background was on the school grounds. The cottage was demolished in 1958 or 59 for the pub to enlarge their carpark.

Thanks for that! I love how all this stuff clicks together. The map says that it was called Leighton Cottage?

Helen F. I do have a photograph of it somewhere.

The name 'Neal's Green' was still in use in and around Exhall when I was at the school 1951-61.

I just went back to look at Google and zoomed out. It labels the area to the east of Wheelwright Lane Neal's Green. So maybe the housing in the area is still addressed that way.

Can anyone please help in finding aerial views of the Bayton Road Industrial Estate in the 60's & 70's? Thanks in advance