What happened on THIS day in Coventry's history?

19th May 1977 Coventry City manage an infamous 2-2 draw with Bristol City, which keeps both teams in the First Division. The match kicked off 15 minutes late, apparently due to bad traffic, which meant that 15 minutes from the end of the game, the news that Sunderland had already lost allowed both teams to stay up if the match was drawn.

20th May 1340 King Edward III gave the men of Coventry the right to form their own Merchant Guild, the guild of St. Mary. 20th May 1773 The city flooded when the river Sherbourne overflowed - up to 7 feet deep in places.

21st May 1971 The final Triumph Herald, a 13/60 convertible, rolled off the assembly line at Triumph's Canley factory. Well, as that was the final Triumph, this is the final "on this day" today - we've finally come full circle - a whole circumnavigation of our Sun's worth of snippets from our great city's history! I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed, but in particular Midland Red and mcsporran, who between them provided me with many missing Coventry facts.

Hello Rob, I can't thank you enough for the wonderful world you led us into with this topic, each and every one of your posts I was taken back to the days and events of that time, like yesterday, King Edward 1340 took me back to visiting Warwick and other castles, suits of armour that fitted 5' six" guys or large banquets with whole deer on spits. Today reminded me of 5 years of helping to make those Triumph Heralds and the people I met. So thanks again Rob for bringing back my life.

That means the world to me Kaga, thank you so much. I must confess though, when you mentioned King Edward in 1340, I thought blimey, I know you're old..... but not THAT old, surely!!!!!

Rob, sometimes it feels like it

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo I love this thread.

Yes, I agree with Gilly. I have used this thread to decide on party names and dates here at Willowbrook. People here are surprised at some of the Coventry stories.

Type 42 Destroyer HMS COVENTRY was lost during action with Argentine aircraft in which several bombs hit. 19 sailors died, most of which were in the Ops Room and Dining Hall areas where bombs hit. She is remembered to this day in the Warwickshire city she took her name from. A cross of nails from the old Coventry Cathedral that had been presented to the ship was recovered by divers and sent to the present Coventry Cathedral for safe keeping. It is now on display on HMS Diamond outside the Captain's cabin

On this day 102 years ago (1916), a lot of Coventry men lost their lives or were wounded on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, widely regarded as the worst day in British Military History.

I was present at the Levelling Stone ceremony, though I remember little about it. I think it was approximately where there had been a static water tank beside Smithford St, near Broadgate. I have an idea some of it remained at the time. I would have been eight years old at the time (1946)

Zig-zag, wearethemods, Thanks for your posts - something we should not forget. At the time I was angry that some of the weapons the Argy had were recently-bought French weapons that allowed them to go to war - that's what I read at the time.

Wearethemods, I can only add, that Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll designed the war cemeteries to evoke dignity and peace. Lutyens did the landscape with English trees and Jekyll did the borders with English flowers and a scattering of poppy seeds.

The reference to Colonel William Purefoy is interesting. He had a long association with Coventry before and during the Commonwealth period and fought alongside Lord Brooke during the Civil War. The history of his home, Caldecott Hall, is particularly interesting and his wife's defence of it against Prince Rupert make interesting reading. There are many references to Purefoy and Caldecott Hall on the internet for those interested.

The gallant Colonel had been a member of Warwick for some years before being asked to represent Coventry in 1654 and 1656. It's debatable that he may have signed the death certificate of Charles I, but he died just before the trial of the Regicides after the Restoration, and so escaped punishment. When Charles I was given the 'red card' at his trial, he was said to have been nervous when placing his head on the chopping block. Really? Does surprise me, I fancied the gallant Roundhead Colonel picking up his head and declaring "Yep, guess that does the trick".