Barr's Hill

A nice set of old postcard images of the long-demolished school

Dutchman mentioned in the 'Turner Painting' discussion that there was a 'Barrs Lane' once. Was that where the school got it's name? I walk up the hill from town on the Radford Road a few times a week, towards Light Lane, and I always call it Barrs Hill to myself! Any information would be great, please.

The school is named after the hill Anne. "Barras Lane" is the modern day mispelling of "Barr's Lane". It's not known if if Barr's Lane was named after the hill to which it leads, is a corruption of an earlier "Barons Lane", or is named after the cattle bars which supposedly once stood near its junction with Spon Street. Looking at Turner's sketch/engraving I suspect the cattle bars were further up the lane at the junction of what is now Holyhead Road.

That's very interesting - thank you for that!

Just spent two days on line looking for photos of the old Barr's Hill Grammar School. Can't find any. Talk about culture. The main building belonged to the Starley (sp?) Family, the founders of the biking industry in Coventry. There are many bike racing enthusiasts here in Tucson, Arizona, USA who come here to train for the Tour De France and participate in the "El Tour De Tucson race" (A race for all skill levels). I am sure they would be fascinated by that piece of Coventry's cultural heritage.There's some funny BBC footage filmed in Coventry in the 1960's - a program called "on Yer Bike". Anyway Cultural Heritage people - you can have the idea of a bike race for all skill levels to be held in Coventry for free. Back to Barr's Hill Grammar School - I was a pupil there in the 1970's. The first school in Coventry to focus on educating girls and I can't find a thing on line about the school during that period of time. It's time to recognize the school and it's cultural contribution that shaped the lives of young Coventry women.

Welcome to the forum, Oneputt - there are some old images in the opening post to this thread which may be of interest

Wife and I chatting yesterday about schools that we had attended. Conversation drifted to schools that are no longer here and all I could think of was one on Bell Green Road, Technical College in the Butts and Wheatley Street but there must be more, mustn't there?

Yes, LesMac - there must be plenty If you hit the "Categories" button, select no.5, it will list all the schools which have their own thread on the forum

Great photos. Thank you. Re: the photo of the beeches. The new science block - as we called it - was built where the shed is on the left side of the picture. Mrs. Vincent taught me biology there. She put fear into you with her sarcastic wit, however her enthusiasm for the subject made me look forward to the classes about genetics and the discovery of the DNA helix. We also used a Geiger counter to measure a sample of radiation material kept under lock and key in the physics lab. I wonder if they would let teenagers do that today? Somebody stole the sample. I wonder if they ever found it. Still looking for photos taken in the 70's if anybody has some.

Hi Oneputt, There are some photos of the school in the 1980's and 1990's in this Coventry Telegraph article (see the Gallery). There is also another Coventry Telegraph article showing photos of a 1980's class reunion. Also there are some plans of the school as it was in 1976 on the Coventry Planning website. Hope this brings back some happy memories.

Interesting plans. They look like they are for the current school. Did they knock down any of the other buildings to build this? The science block? The music block? The wing? The main building (the house)? It's been so long since I left that I feel like a ghost truly from the ghost town as sung by The Specials.

If you read The Story of Coventry by Peter Walters he confirms it is Barrs Hill. If I remember rightly Barras Lane was towards Spon End not far from Bablake School and Nauls Mill Park. Recommend that book, our town has a fascinating history that all Coventrians should be proud of. Eddy Harding.