Coventry Martyrs

Thanks NeilsYard. That photo I think shows the memorial too. Long before the ring road took over. Not entirely sure what the memorial was about though. Will try to find out.

Dutchman thats a very interesting link. Many thanks. Now I know what the martyrs memorial means.

I wonder if it was the normal procedure for the memorials for the more religious people such as 'martyrs' to always be made with the cross on the top. That would be a clue as to who they stood for.

The idea for a monument to the Coventry martyrs was first proposed in a letter from 'Spectator in Warwickshire' to a local newspaper. A committee was appointed and, chaired by the Mayor William Lee, first met in September 1908. Nearly £200 was raised for the monuments by public subscription, although the donations mainly came from Coventry some came from further afield, including America. The cross was unveiled by the Mayor on 15 September 1910, at a ceremony conducted by F. M. Brodie, the Vicar of Christ Church and in the presence of nearly one thousand people. William Lee was born in Roadway, Bedworth around 1851 and was Mayor of Coventry five times.

Re-reading this year-old topic, I looked for a picture of the martyr's mosaic. This is the best image I could find of it. I have a better one before it was hidden away and the disabled access ramp was installed, I'll try to find it.

This is the image I used for my digital model of Broadgate. I can't recall the original source.

More about the Martyrs from a piece I wrote some years ago.

I recently had to carry out some research into John Wyclif (who was based in Lutterworth) and his religious sect called the Lollards. It has only just dawned on me that the Coventry martyrs must have been from around the same time period. Does anybody have any information about them? Does the Martyrs' Memorial still stand in the same place? Was there in fact a link between Wyclif and the Coventry martyrs?

Hi all Some light reading for revision - Laurence Saunders

I wonder if any of their children, children etc. still live in Coventry as the priests of Coventry took and kept the Martyrs' children.

The memorial now stands about 50-100 yards from its original location. Whenever the Orangemen walk in Coventry (which seems to be every 3 to 4 years) they lay a wreath at it and from time to time the "Protestant Alliance" hold a service at the memorial. Inadvertently walked into one of these once some years ago, a passer-by asked them why they don't remember the (Roman) Catholic 'martyrs' and it all got very amusing - the "Protestant" chap politely told him he needed to be "saved" and offered to pray for the fellow. I walked away at this point. Better than burning each other at the stake I guess