Highfield Road 1967 (2 Viewers)

[CambridgeCov]

Evening all. Quick check online confirms 29th April will mark 58 years since the famous Wolves match! My dear Dad was there, many others remember the game? We could do with that kind of passion in the next couple of games.
Got hold of this sign a few years ago, I've not got round to cleaning it up yet. Can't find any actual photos online of an original street sign, although I believe there is a modern one there now. Anyone remember if there was one, and exactly where it was?!

 

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[Hobo]

That looks like a sign around the time we left. But not like the street signs when I was a kid and I grew up in the sixties. They were much thicker and heavier than that.

But why clean it up? Keep it original. Looks more authentic like that than if you try and clean it up and make it look pristine.

 

[CambridgeCov]

I wondered about trying to get the worst off but probably better to leave it. It's reasonably heavy, this is the back of it.

 

[JAM See]

My dear departed dad was there (he arrived late, so had to climb over the fence to get in).

I was three months old.

 

[SwanLane]

As Hobo said, most of the old signs were thick and ornate things, presumably cast-iron. Often mounted at high level on the walls of the first available brick wall in the street. I grew up near HR but can’t remember all the sign locations tbf. I would guess yours isn’t from Cov as the font and spacing (even for later signs) doesn’t look quite right. But still a great keepsake.


Later font

 

[Bad Boy]

Google Earth image.

I suspect the Highfield Road sign you have CambridgeCov was a more modern one similar to that which in situ today.

Btw, I was there sitting on the pitch behind the goal line at the covered end.

 

[skyblueinBaku]

Street name signs were indeed cast iron and very heavy.

 

[eyesee]

my dad was there, despite the fact that my mum had only just had a baby 6 days earlier. me.

 

[Colin Steins Smile]

I was there as a 6 year old and got passed overhead to sit pitch side in front of Spion kop. Great day.

 

[shmmeee]

Street name signs were indeed cast iron and very heavy.

Bring back proper street furniture and not the cheap crap we have today.

 

[bigfatronssba]

Google Earth image.

I suspect the Highfield Road sign you have CambridgeCov was a more modern one similar to that which in situ today.

Btw, I was there sitting on the pitch behind the goal line at the covered end.

You can see the outline on the bricks just to the left of the window where the sign once was

 

[glasgowfan]

Evening all. Quick check online confirms 29th April will mark 58 years since the famous Wolves match! My dear Dad was there, many others remember the game? We could do with that kind of passion in the next couple of games.

I was there, in the Main Stand. I think that was the match where they had a motorcycle display team charging back and forth in front of the stand. Brilliant atmosphere and great result

 

[CambridgeCov]

Thanks for the replies all, we now need a similar Wolves-type performance on Saturday but I'm confident

 

[Gibbo]

I was there aged 14. Persuaded a mate to go with me. Got a position immediately in front of the Sky Blue Stand where there was a ledge higher than the others, so I could see the game. Still beats the Cup Final for me.

 

[Bad Boy]

I posed the question on The Historic Coventry Forum regarding the original HR road sign and a forumite kindly responded as follows ......

I could be wrong but one of the original Highfield Road signs may have gone before 1937. Stepping through the maps, the east side of the street used to have about 4 more properties on it. They were demolished to extend Thackall Street. Instead of a road, there was a footpath leading to allotments and on to Swan Lane. It seems reasonable that the Highfield Road sign was on the first of the demolished terraced houses as it would have faced travellers as they approached the corner. The west corner doesn't have its full set of decorative brickwork on the ground floor and looks like it might have been a shop at some point. The sign, if there was one, could have been removed when it was turned into a shop or when it was converted back. There don't seem to be signs at the other end either. They may have vanished due to renovations to the buildings (eg rendering) or to a light fingered fan. The sign at ground level on the corner in Google Street View vanished between 2020 and 2022.

Another forum member chipped in with the following.......

The corner house in question was a general grocery shop which was run in the 60's -70's by Jack Patience. If my memory is correct he was at that time the chairman of the Coventry City Supporters Club which was housed under the stand opposite. The entrance to the shop had a corner door entrance, common to shops of 1920's build and large windows to both sides. There was a bomb site on the opposite side of Highfield Road and on match days there was a man who sold tickets to look after bicycles which he charged around 3d per cycle. A couple of my mates lived in Highfield Road and I can remember being chased of the allotments several times as there were a couple of apple trees on them which backed onto Ranby Road and were accessed at the other end of the street........happy days

 

[oscillatewildly]

My Dad lived on King Richard Street from birth (1943) until about 1960/61.
From the age of about ten until I think 15/16, match days were a nice little earner for charging to store bicycles in the hallway and enclosed back yard. I think lots of kids in the immediate area used to do this. A well organised operation, as you say with tickets administered.
He would also sneak into the ground at some point late in the second half to collect any empty beer bottles for the return price (1d?)

 

[Captain Dart]

I posed the question on The Historic Coventry Forum regarding the original HR road sign and a forumite kindly responded as follows ......

I could be wrong but one of the original Highfield Road signs may have gone before 1937. Stepping through the maps, the east side of the street used to have about 4 more properties on it. They were demolished to extend Thackall Street. Instead of a road, there was a footpath leading to allotments and on to Swan Lane. It seems reasonable that the Highfield Road sign was on the first of the demolished terraced houses as it would have faced travellers as they approached the corner. The west corner doesn't have its full set of decorative brickwork on the ground floor and looks like it might have been a shop at some point. The sign, if there was one, could have been removed when it was turned into a shop or when it was converted back. There don't seem to be signs at the other end either. They may have vanished due to renovations to the buildings (eg rendering) or to a light fingered fan. The sign at ground level on the corner in Google Street View vanished between 2020 and 2022.

Another forum member chipped in with the following.......

The corner house in question was a general grocery shop which was run in the 60's -70's by Jack Patience. If my memory is correct he was at that time the chairman of the Coventry City Supporters Club which was housed under the stand opposite. The entrance to the shop had a corner door entrance, common to shops of 1920's build and large windows to both sides. There was a bomb site on the opposite side of Highfield Road and on match days there was a man who sold tickets to look after bicycles which he charged around 3d per cycle. A couple of my mates lived in Highfield Road and I can remember being chased of the allotments several times as there were a couple of apple trees on them which backed onto Ranby Road and were accessed at the other end of the street........happy days

I used to cycle to matches in the early 70s and put my bike in a property in Swan Lane opposite the stand & a bit below where the plumbers merchants are now. The cost was less than the bus fares from Whitley and back.