Horse-drawn Outing

e begin this section with an outing - in a slightly more relaxed manner than we're used to today! This wonderful photograph was sent to me by Simon Shaw, and belongs to June Gibson of Wyken, Coventry, who has several photos that were from her granddad, William Kent. Most of the photographs appear to be from the 1900 to 1920 period.

Maybe you can recognise a relative in this photo? Or maybe the pub or its location? Perhaps one of the horses??? Whatever you might know, please contact me so we can share it with the world.

Well, we appear to have an early success with this old photo! Huge thanks go to Kim Pateman, who wrote to say; "I think the pub in the picture is the old Hand and Heart in Far Gosford Street before it was extensively rebuilt."

I certainly have to agree with Kim about this. When we compare the above photo with the one on the left, which appears, as Kim pointed out to me, in John Ashby's great book "The Character of Coventry", we can see that the window design, the recessed panels below the upper bay windows and the trapezoid lintel above the doorway, all perfectly match.

So, thanks go to Kim for working out the location so quickly.

We also have a further contribution from Luciano Giampaglia....
"In your first photo, look at the windows on the left building - there's only one set of buildings that had windows like that in the entirety of the city`s history. The old silk weavers. They were specially made to allow as much light as possible into the premises.
"Whilst I can't narrow it down more than that, I am confident that this is indeed somewhere on Far Gosford Street. I hope this helps."

Now, I wonder if anyone can tell us anything about the people in the photograph?

Indeed we do have more.... the plot thickens! Jacqui Adams has emailed me with some more wonderful old pictures, and we have a possible match for the driver of the above charabanc.

Here are two images of Dick 'Crack' Adams. We know it's definitely him on the right. On the left is a close-up of the driver in the first photo on this page.... could this be him, too?

Her husband's great grandfather was Richard Adams, known as Dick 'Crack' Adams, who I display here on the right to see if he might be cracking the whip in the first photo above. He ran a charabanc service known as 'Pride of the Midlands'.

Another possible link between these photographs comes in the form of the chap standing at the front of the horses in the last photo, below. On the left is a close-up of this man, and he bears a certain possible resemblance to the chap in the same position outside the Hand and Heart in the first photo on this page. Both have a fob-watch - are they the same person?

Brian Stote, who successfully located the village pub on the "Leamington Ales" page, also adds weight to the argument for the connection between the two photographs....