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1. Sixty Years of Cycling - 1897 magazine article
2. The Arno Motor Company of Coventry 1908-1916, by Damien Kimberley
3. The New Bablake Schools - 1889 article
4. Public Baths - The Building News, Jan 24th 1896
5. A short history of Coventry's Theatres and Cinemas, by Bill Birch
6. The Brough Superior, by Damien Kimberley
7. Proposal for St. Michael's Campanile c1890
8. Coventry's Rich Heritage, by Pete Walters
9. Coventry, the Home of the Cycle Trade - 1886 magazine article
10. The Dragoon Cycle Company of Coventry, by Damien Kimberley
11. Edwin Brown, Victorian Animal Artist, by Stephen Catton
12. Coventry Volunteer Fire Brigade - Illustrated London News, Jan 4th 1862
13. The Great Flood of December 1900, and the lost Bridges, by Damien Kimberley
14. Coventry's Great Flood - London Daily Graphic, 2nd January 1901
15. New Drinking Fountain at Coventry - 17 Sep 1859
16. Henry Cave, and the 'Lady' Autocar of 1899, by Damien Kimberley
17. The Lion Bicycle Company of Coventry & Wolverhampton 1877-1882, by Damien Kimberley
18. The Beech on Wheels, by Derek Robinson and forum member Foxcote
19. Phil Silvers Archival Museum, by Paul Maddocks
20. Transport Museum pt.3 - Creating the Blitz Experience, by Paul Maddocks
21. What links a Spitfire's landing gear to a baby buggy? by Paul Maddocks
22. The sound that almost killed my Dad in the War!, by Paul Maddocks
23. D-Day and Monty's Staff Car, by Paul Maddocks
24. Transport Museum pt.2 - New Hales Street Entrance in 1985, by Paul Maddocks
25. Transport Museum pt.1 - How the Queen's 1977 visit sowed the seed, by Paul Maddocks
26. What links R2D2 to a Coventry Hydrogen/Electric cab company? by Paul Maddocks
27. Transport Museum pt.6 - The Royal Cars, by Paul Maddocks
28. Transport Museum pt.5 - The 1987 F.A. Cup Winners' Sky Blue Bus, by Paul Maddocks
29. The Tapestry and its Hidden Secret, by Paul Maddocks
30. Transport Museum pt.4 - Coventry's Land Speed Record Cars, by Paul Maddocks
31. Whitefriars Gatehouse and Toy Museum, by Paul Maddocks
32. WW1 and Wyley of Charterhouse, by Paul Maddocks
33. Miss Bashford, a Teacher's Tale, by Simon Shaw
34. Motor Panels (Coventry) Ltd, by Damien Kimberley
35. Not Forgotten, the 1939 IRA bomb attack, by Simon Shaw
36. Let's talk about Rex, by Damien Kimberley
37. Coventry, the Silk Trade and the Horsfall family, by Ian West
38. The Saint Joseph the Worker parish in Coventry, by Terence Richards - Part 1
39. The Saint Joseph the Worker parish in Coventry, by Terence Richards - Part 2
40. The Saint Joseph the Worker parish in Coventry, by Terence Richards - Part 3
41. A brief history of Saint Osburg's, in pictures, by Damien Kimberley
42. The First Tudor Feast, by Richard Ball
43. 1930s Austin's Monthly Magazine articles, by John Bailey Shelton MBE
44. Plan for the City Centre - The Architect and Building News, 21st March 1941
 

1930s Austin's Monthly Magazine articles, by John Bailey Shelton MBE

as originally published in Austin's Monthly Magazine from November 1832 to June 1939

Compiled and transcribed by R. W. Orland, 2005

I'm sincerely grateful to the Shelton family for their kind permission and encouragement to publish these works.

J. B. Shelton's post-war book A Night in Little Park Street can be viewed here (in PDF format).

Contents

Display ALL articles

Date:Subjects covered:

1932

NovGosford Gate
DecCo-op Site, West Orchard

1933

JanWest Orchard, Bridge etc.
FebBroadgate Excavations
MarBroadgate Excavations
AprBroadgate Excavations
MayBlack Bull Inn, Pepper Lane
JunBlack Bull Inn
JulCox Street - River Excavations
AugCox Street - River Excavations
SepCox Street - River Excavations
OctCox Street - River Excavations
NovCox Street - River Excavations
DecPark Side Excavations

1934

JanPark Side Excavations
FebBurges Excavations
MarBenedictine Site Excavations
AprBenedictine Site Excavations
MayBenedictine Site Excavations
JunBenedictine Site Excavations
JulCoventry Castle
AugBenedictine Site, Palmer Lane Guest House
SepBenedictine Site, Wooden Bridge
OctAntiquities Exhibition at the Drill Hall
NovWell Street Excavations
DecPriory Pool & Mills

1935

JanPriory Pool & DIstrict
FebNew Buildings, Tower Foundations
MarCity Wall, Cook Street Gate, Plumb House
AprPriory Tower
MayPriory Tower, Gulson Road, Round Tower, New Gate Foundations
JunBroad Well, Burges Ford, Palmer Lane
JulWhite Friars
AugMeeting House, Smithford Street
SepMeeting House, Smithford Street
OctMeeting House, Smithford Street, St. John's Hospital Excavations
NovSt. John's Hospital, Barracks Square, Black Bull Inn
DecBarracks Square, Black Bull Inn

1936

JanBarracks Square, Black Bull Inn
FebButcher Row
MarButcher Row
AprButcher Row
MayButcher Row
JunOwen Owen's Site
JulOwen Owen's Site
AugOwen Owen's Site
SepOwen Owen's Site
OctTrinity Street
NovTrinity Street
DecTrinity Street

1937

JanBenedictine Museum
FebPool Meadow to Priory Street
MarPool Meadow to Priory Street
AprPool Meadow to Priory Street Excavations
MayBull Ring, Pottery Kiln, Hippodrome
JunHippodrome, Rex Cinema
JulBablake Excavations
AugCow Lane Site Excavations

1938

MayRex Site, Trinity Street
JulBroadgate Excavations
SepBablake Excavations, Co-op Site, West Orchard
OctTrinity Street, Bull Ring
NovSt. Mary's Cathedral Site, Bull Ring
DecSt. Mary's Cathedral Site, Bull Ring

1939

JanPost Office Excavations
FebSt. Mary's Cathedral Site
MarArt Gallery and Museum
AprArt Gallery and Museum
MayArt Gallery and Museum
JunBablake Excavations

Art Gallery and Museum

March 1939

SITE OF THE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY

My readers may be interested in the site of the Museum and Art Gallery, which munificent gift by Sir Alfred Herbert will be welcomed by the citizens of our no mean City.

On this site stood some very ancient dwellings, up to the time of demolition. Two old overhanging timbered cottages with trefoil doorway standing in Bayley Lane, must be of the 14th cent., some of its timbers being in good preservation. In the long ago, as a print of Bayley Lane shows, many houses of this kind stood in this street, and in our library are numerous drawings of "Barge Boards" from these dwellings. In the two cottages mentioned, two barge boards were found which had been taken down possibly 400 years ago, and fast-ened to the walls inside the houses, where they had been plastered over with clay, which had helped to keep them in sound condition. They are about 10ft. long, and have carvings of the four petal rose, trefoils, etc, and also on one end of each board a wyvern, an imaginary animal sometimes represented in coats of arms, with the forepart of a dragon, the tail of a scorpion, the feet of a bird, and wings expanded.

While it is usual for me to use a large quantity of boiled linseed oil on such carvings, it is not necessary on these, being so well preserved. The old trefoil doorway was very rotten, and was broken in the course of demolition.

Near to these houses stood the Catherine Bayley's School, adjoining the Draper's Hall. This school was founded at this place in 1723, but later moved to Little Park Street, where Catherine Bayley lived, and died in 1730, aged 52 years; the building is now occupied by Messrs. Middlemore.

In a cellar opposite Much Park Street is a pebble roadway leading towards Much Park Street, which was probably a lower road in that direction, This road runs at such an angle that I think it must cross beneath Bayley Lane, and may be found on the site of the Museum.

On the Earl Street side a part of Messrs. Wheeler's building was found to be old, possibly 17th century, but the shop adjoining appeared to be at least 15th century, and its clay plaster was still adhering to the hand-cut laths. On St. Mary's Street side, the building in which the mobile police have their office had once been a house, and the thin bricks show its age to be about early 17th century.

The Drapers' Hall, built 1829, stands on the site of two previous Wool Halls, and no doubt the "Searching house" stood there from a very early period. In London and Oxford we find the Guilds as early as Henry I., 1000 to 1035. It is thought that the Drapers' Guild of Coventry may have been founded even earlier to the Guild in London. Mention is made of the Drapers of Coventry, in 1247, who with others were in trouble because they had buried a man who had been drowned, before an inquest had been held upon him.

Many cloth merchants from Ireland, Devon, and Cornwall came to Coventry, and also undressed cloth from Gloucestershire. These merchants were restricted by the Drapers of Coventry, and had to hold their sales in a house called "The Drapery," near the Drapers' Hall, which had been given for that purpose by William Walshman, a great benefactor to St. John's Guild.

In 1320 mention is made of a place in the market where cloth is sold. From 1425 to 1455 an illicit market was held in the south porch of St. Michael's Church. Not only did traders come here, but trade with foreign parts was increased, for we find in 1398 a quantity of frieze worth £200 lay in the Baltic port of Stralsund. No doubt the mills, of which there were thirty-two between Spon End and Whitley, played a great part in the trade of cloth manufacture. Not only did the Guild help in the building of churches, etc., but they also found 59 men to man the city walls, and 93 suits of armour, in readiness for any trouble arising over the Wars of the Roses. In 1619 the Drapery had a clock over the door, on the dial of which was inscribed - "Ecce ut hora sic fugit vita."


 
 
 
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