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Places in this section...
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Some History of our Town Wall....
Introduction - Building of the Wall The 12 Gates of our Town Wall Tour of our Town Wall remains.... Swanswell Gate Lady Herbert's Garden & City Wall Cook Street Gate Bishop Gate Watch Tower near Lamb Street Wall at Well Street Well Street Gate Hill Street Gate Wall at Bond's Hospital Wall at Fleet Street Spon Gate Greyfriars Gate Cheylesmore Gate Little Park Gate New Gate Wall at Gulson Road Gosford Gate Wall near Cox Street Mill Lane Gate Wall around Pool Meadow City Wall overlaid onto present day Coventry |
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A little further east and the next section visible is an incredibly substantial length of wall still in use alongside Gulson Road.
Although showing the wear and tear of the passing centuries, it still retains more character than any modern structure.
At the furthest east stretch of this segment of wall would have stood a very large circular watch tower. This tower would have been positioned approximately opposite to Harper Road. At the time that John Speed's map of 1610 was drawn, White Friar Mill stood just beyond this tower. The road that led there skirted the outer (south) side of the wall and was called Mill Lane. By the middle of the 19th century, due to the changes brought about by the industrial revolution, the road had been re-named Brick Kiln Lane. It wasn't until early in the 1900's when the name Gulson Road was used for the first time in tribute to one of the city's great benefactors, John Gulson.
At the watch tower, the wall turned sharply at right-angles to head northwards and intersect with another grand design; Gosford Gate, (Victorian engraving on the left). From here, the wall roughly followed the line of the River Sherbourne until it reached beyond Mill Lane gate. The river provided a natural moat for the east side of the city.
As this plaque explains, and the sketch, above left, testifies, the view here from the outside of the gate (in Far Gosford Street) shows St. Georges Chapel adjoining the gate on its northern side. The River Sherbourne flowed underneath the chapel and in the photograph below can be seen from behind this plaque in one of the few places where it actually shows above ground. During the late 19th but mainly the 20th century, most of the river was culverted and in the town centre, only one brief glimpse of the river is available - behind Palmer Lane.
Town Wall at Gulson Road
A little further east and the next section visible is an incredibly substantial length of wall still in use alongside Gulson Road.
Although showing the wear and tear of the passing centuries, it still retains more character than any modern structure.
At the furthest east stretch of this segment of wall would have stood a very large circular watch tower. This tower would have been positioned approximately opposite to Harper Road. At the time that John Speed's map of 1610 was drawn, White Friar Mill stood just beyond this tower. The road that led there skirted the outer (south) side of the wall and was called Mill Lane. By the middle of the 19th century, due to the changes brought about by the industrial revolution, the road had been re-named Brick Kiln Lane. It wasn't until early in the 1900's when the name Gulson Road was used for the first time in tribute to one of the city's great benefactors, John Gulson.
Gosford Gate
At the watch tower, the wall turned sharply at right-angles to head northwards and intersect with another grand design; Gosford Gate, (Victorian engraving on the left). From here, the wall roughly followed the line of the River Sherbourne until it reached beyond Mill Lane gate. The river provided a natural moat for the east side of the city.
As this plaque explains, and the sketch, above left, testifies, the view here from the outside of the gate (in Far Gosford Street) shows St. Georges Chapel adjoining the gate on its northern side. The River Sherbourne flowed underneath the chapel and in the photograph below can be seen from behind this plaque in one of the few places where it actually shows above ground. During the late 19th but mainly the 20th century, most of the river was culverted and in the town centre, only one brief glimpse of the river is available - behind Palmer Lane.
At the place where Gosford Street becomes Far Gosford Street, this rather nice plaque has been affixed to the wall next to the place where Gosford gate once proudly stood.
This gate would have been the primary eastern entrance to Coventry from other major places (in medieval times) such as Rugby, Lutterworth and Market Harborough, all thriving market towns.
...take a short walk along the Town Wall near Cox Street
Greyfriar's Gate to the London Road < - Gulson Road to Gosford Gate - > Town Wall near Cox Street
Click here to see the exact route of the complete wall overlaid onto a present day map.
Click here to see the exact route of the complete wall overlaid onto a present day map.
Counter provided by Rob Orland
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