Gosford Street

It's amazing how many places you take for granted but once they are gone you cannot recall and wish you had taken more notice (or even a photo or two!).

Another one for Helen. Gosford Street No.4 with the entrances to Courts 2&3. Just to the east of the junction with Cox Street, opposite the Campbell I think. (c) Historic England

I like most of the photos in the HE boxes. Ones like this are invaluable because they're so square on to the camera. I've got a lot of old images of this stretch in their timbered state to dial back the years but this gives me good dimensions.

Helen have you seen this before - new to me. The rear of The Mermaid Inn being demolished in 1967. Have not seen the rear before. Thanks to my friend Cliff Berwick on FB.

Very good photo Neil, and no I hadn't see it before. I was fairly sure that the Mermaid was a lot older than it looked from the front and that it was 3 storey but this confirms it. The left hand side is not so obvious but I'll work it out. Possibly. Gosford Street had a number of 3 storey buildings and was clearly a well to do area at one point. The Mermaid was a big beasty. Say thanks very nicely to Cliff Berwick for me Incidentally, it was this building under which I think the Red Ditch ran. There was certainly an ancient ditch there of some sort. It was connected to various rumours about tunnels from White Friars. There were discoveries of 'secret tunnels' at various points between the Mermaid and the river near the Bastille Gate. The reality is probably more prosaic and it was a substantial drain built into a turning point in the old ditch system. It seems to have stretched from the river near Ram Bridge, all the way to Fords where it curved towards Little Park Street; went right by Kirby House; through the end of the garden of the Palace Yard; through Much Park Street, curving closer to Gosford Street as it went and intersected with a north/south feature at the Mermaid. I'm not sure if the drain connected to White Friars, as the ditch possibly predates the Normans and anything more modern.

The Mermaid Inn was well known in the mid 19th century for its Electrical Scientist meetings and demonstrations.

This would have been next door but one to The Mermaid.

A version of this photo and a raft more are at Historic England, Neil There were several sets of these post-war, pre-demolition photos that got separated. The Herbert has some and Historic England has others. Some of the photos are at both. I suspect that there were some photos taken that aren't in either collection. I don't see why they wouldn't have recorded all the buildings of interest that were about to go.

Hi Helen - yes I recognised it as a HE one but think they may have added some additional ones recently as I could not recall that one. Time to review the collection again!

I keep seeing them about the place and think 'ah, a new one' only to discover that not only have I got a copy of it, I've worked out where it is and put it where it belongs on a street page. The other picture of MPS isn't exactly the same as its Historic England twin as there's writing on the bottom. These may be a totally separate set.

Hello! I'm new to the forum. I live in Weymouth, but my mother and her family were born and bred in Coventry and I've managed to track them back about 300 years or so. My 4th GG Thomas Gardner was the publican for the Blue Pig in the 19thC for over 30 years, followed by his wife Jane. This section of the forum has proved invaluable in seeing photographs of the building - thank you! I can see that it stopped being a pub in 1907 and took on various other businesses after that. Can someone tell me what ultimately happened to the building? Thanks for producing a really excellent forum

Hi QueenLozza welcome to the forum As far as I can tell it became a post office after the war, at least for part of the time. It survived until the late 60s, early 70s when it looks like it was demolished as part of (but not essential to) the work for the ring road. The land it stood on and its neighbours became part of the college. Link to location of well that probably served the Blue Pig Ha, ha Neil, snap. Incidentally, it's worth searching for the Blue Pig because it appears in more than one topic.

Great minds, Helen! Wonder if there are any remnants in those bushes? I need to get on my bike and have a rummage!