St Nicholas Hall / Leather Hall

Thanks Heathite, your map collection is most useful. Though I'm not sure the map makers knew where it was. And thanks Anne that snippet is very interesting. The meeting hall was outside the boundary of the parish of Holy Trinity, suggesting it wasn't there. In addition the 1610 map puts the hall somewhere in between the two streets and maybe a bit closer to the river. Bit of a head scratcher still.

Hi. Neilsyard should be credited for the map. I'm sure he posted it before me. Then later on it had dissappeared. So I tried, partly out of curiosity to see if my posting dissappeared, to repost it. It's the same year as Neilsyard's map. I'm often forgetting to date the maps.

Another description from Taunton's History of Coventry. 1870 At the close of the seventeenth century the congregation purchased th "Hall" (Leather Hall) which they took down and in 1701 erected upon its site the chapel which is now standing, a little below the Post Office, in Smithford Street, receding a few yards backwards. Of course, when first built, it was accounted as an edifice of some importance, and was called "The Big Meeting", - a name by which it is still commonly known. It is a good sized chapel, strongly built of brick, with stone dressings, and fitted up with old fashioned oak pews and capacious galleries. For more than a century it was enclosed in front by a high wall, with door in the centre; but some years ago this wall was taken down , and iron pallisades and gates were erected in its stead. The accompanying map shows it in Smithford Street, to the west of the Post Office and almost opposite the entrance to the barracks.

The post office was slightly west of the Barracks. This assumes that the Leather Hall was ever the St Nicholas Hall, which might not be true. Perhaps the Leather Hall was the meeting place, situated where the post office was built and St Nicholas Hall was where the new meeting hall was built further west? One of the things that might confuse people - when we hear 'hall' we think something like St Mary's Hall but of the others in Coventry that I know of, they weren't necessarily impressive buildings. It might not have even been built of stone. The outer buildings like the kitchen would have been even less impressive. The hall itself might have been well into the middle of the two streets but some of the buildings attached could have fronted Smithford Street or West Orchard.

This is Taunton's map 1689 Helen. I did not think I could scan it as it is attached to the book so I have taken a picture with my ipod so it is not very good. The meeting hall is number 40, the post office 54. Number 53 is the market hall. 55 is the Theatre Royal.

Thanks Anne. The 1850 Board of Health map is more detailed than an OS map albeit not 100% accurate on global position. It labels many of the key buildings including the post office. There's nothing on that map that jumps out and says 'old hall'. Here's the old 1610 map from the Antiquities of Warwickshire. The number 30 is St Nicholas' Hall. I'm not 100% sure they did their homework because 37 is labelled Cross Cheaping but for all we know the name might have covered a larger area originally.

Thanks Heathite and apols Helen - seems my photobucket site is down at the moment where that linked image was but it's the same one Heathite posted

Here's a free book from google with a chapter on a Coventry residents diary. The year is about 1690. If you google with the search terms 'St. Nicholas Hall (Leather Hall) Coventry', and go to the bottom of the page, then that is the link. The image is just for help.

Is there any photos or etchings, sketches of St Nicholas Hall?

Hi Garbett, welcome to the forum I've moved your post to join the others - I assume that you mean the same elusive building? Alas we don't even have a confirmed map location, let alone an image. Although I'm fairly sure that it was between West Orchard and Smithford Street.