20 facts you might not know about the Coventry Blitz (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter ccfcchris
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ccfcchris
Well-Known Member
20 facts you might not know about the Coventry Blitz – Coventry City Council
20 facts you might not know about the Coventry Blitz
www.coventry.gov.uk
Covkid1968#
Well-Known Member
The darkest of dark days in our history - and we still suffer from its impact now. Imagine how big a tourist pull our beautiful medieval city would have been. We would be a completely different City now.......
Captain Dart
Well-Known Member
Much damage to the character of the city was done by Donald Gibson's brutalist Festival of Britain redevelopment of the city centre.
The German city of Dresden was rebuilt as was after the war, the same could have been done here.
The like below shows how it was from the limited photos that are available, it wasn't medieval but it was an historic provincial town with a proud heritage and some beautiful architecture.
Virtual tour of Coventry: Late 1930s
Coventry, a photographic virtual tour of our City in decades gone by.
Sky_Blue_Dreamer
Well-Known Member
I agree with CaptainDart that a lot of the stuff was done post-war, even some that did not need knocking down.
There is still a fair amount of history there - some of it is hidden away behind more modern facades (i.e. many timber framed buildings were covered with brick in Victorian times to make them seem more up to date). Others are a lot of it is spread out so it doesn't give an impression of a historic city. Even some of the stuff that is, like Spon St, is fake as many of the buildings were moved there as part of the plan and so it isn't actually in context and therefore not really 'historical'.
I'm not sure it would have been great had we kept everything anyway - while the city centre may have looked nice and old for tourists, how well would it serve the needs of modern society? Would we have just needed to spread out to allow for all the new stuff that was needed, and then we may have ended up just being attached to the 'Greater Birmingham' area, with it stretching for here to Wolverhampton.
In my perfect world I'd have moved all the older buildings (where possible) into the area around the three spires (say Greyfriars Lane) and made that the historic quarter, keeping the character with narrow streets etc. and maybe even making some of it like a living museum, used for education linking in with the Herbert. Then tried to make Manor House Drive and Greyfriars Lane link up better and connect that route directly to a route from the train station. I'd also have kept the area north to north north east from the train station free from any tall development to give an unobstructed view of the three spires from the train station.
Sky Blue Pete
Well-Known Member
The Benedictine monastery had to close as no one bothered to visit
We don’t deserve nice things
We don’t deserve nice things
SkyBlueCharlie9
Well-Known Member
The 60s Highways obsession for building ring roads and ripping out the historic fabric of places would have still happened, as it did in pretty much every city in England.... even those not bombed.
Gynnsthetonic
Well-Known Member
Had a walk round Oxford after the game last week. High St, Cornmarket St and George St. Couldn't help think how Coventry was like this and wish it still was
Houchens Head
Fairly well known member from Malvern
My grandad was killed that night. Just an ordinary bloke doing a night shift in a local small factory.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
Connection to a man born 160 years ago, remarkable
Houchens Head
Fairly well known member from Malvern
I never knew him personally, but my nan, (his wife), died when I was 15. I knew her very well. I adored her. She was born in 1899 in Cork.
Houchens Head
Fairly well known member from Malvern
My mum's experience of that night.
Houchens Head
Fairly well known member from Malvern
Only 150 years. He was 65 when he was killed.
Brighton Sky Blue
Well-Known Member
My phone typo apologises to the big manOnly 150 years. He was 65 when he was killed.
ovduk78
Well-Known Member
My mum was 11 years old and she, her 8 year old sister & mum sheltered under the stairs in their house in Green Lane whilst her dad was involved with watching the bombs fall on the factories & raising the alarm, probably a title for it but I don't know what it is/was. They hid under the stairs as my grandad loved his garden and wouldn't have a bomb shelter in it & didn't want one in the house either!