"Burglar Bill" and other old tales of Radford

The "hardware shop" was owned and run by the local plumber Mr Jones who had a very attractive daughter whose name, I think, was Rosemary. This was the late 40's.

Was the hardware shop on the same side as the paper shop or over the road ?

The shop that the plumber operated from was at the end of Engleton Rd opposite the common. It is now a chiropractic and optician.

Radford Kid - If you can get your hands on a copy of David McGrory's book, The Illustrated History of Coventry's Suburbs, then on page 105 there is a picture of Summer Row taken during a flood in the 1940's. It's a bit before my time, but the chapter also talks about the springs in Radford, and may mean more to you than me. I remember floods on Radford Road in the 60's when I came past on the bus on my way to school, but I think the houses were gone by then.

I have searched the net for a copy of the above book. Nobody has one, and it's out of print.

It's on Amazon, but expensive!

Thanks for taking an interest and thanks for the info, must say though it's a bit before my time also but I can't wait to see it but by all accounts it's not easy to come by, still I am sure, knowing the people on this site as we do someone will find one cheaper than Amazon! I will have a look round for it in the hope, you never know. Thanks again Disorganised1. Colin.

Colin, I have a spare copy of this book, contact me direct if you are interested.

Hi Annewiggy, It is people like you (we have so many too) who add value to our forum with your very nature, leave alone the contributions in your posts. You make me proud to belong. Thank you so much.

Hear Hear... I had never heard of the book unfortunately, but I've had a gander at both 'Amazon' & e-bay today without success, however I've left a comment on the sites 'wish list' in case one gets listed in the future. nb it's still overcast and cloudy again today Philip

I have to endorse all your comments regarding the nice people we find on this forum, and as for Annewiggy , I have to say thanks, I have sent you a message in reply to your posting and look forward to receiving your reply, thanks again. Colin

Just sorting out some old slides and spotted this brief shot of the garage on the Radford Road behind a picture of some guests at my cousins wedding at St Nicholas Church 1971

I have just taken a copy of this book out of the library and now I'm wondering if they will notice if I keep it. It's an excellent book, full of interesting facts and I have been trying to buy a copy. There are 2 on Amazon at

I was just reading back and catching up with some posts and it got me thinking about the spring. Most years, there is water running from the corner of Poole Rd and Three Spires Ave. This year it was especially heavy after all the rain. The water runs down Poole Road and down the avenue to Barker Butts Lane. I wonder if this will continue after building work starts on the old Poole Road nursery site. there are plans to build 12 houses there, much to the annoyance of the neighbours. Apart from the congestion in Christchurch Road from parking, everyone is concerned about the fate of a very old oak tree, (it has a TPO on it). One of the reasons that the nursery closed was because of the high water table. The residents of Christchurch Road still have this problem in the entry at the back of the houses, with one person having to pump water out of the pit in his garage on a regular basis. There has been a small amount of bogginess in some of the gardens. When the area was farmland prior to 1929 when the houses were built, there were 3 ponds in the area joined by a stream. The council culverted the stream in the entry but I'm not sure when. I was told that the children used to play in the stream and there was always watercress growing there, which they picked for their dinner.

They have done the same close by me, built houses and bungalows on where the ground floods which the contract builders stated to a local gentleman who attends area meetings, in which he replied, I could have told you that, I wonder if they have a pact with insurance companies As for the preservation tree like here they had to build around the trees that have preservation orders on them, in which the contractors stated was a nightmare.