Meeting House, Smithford Street
August 1935
THE MEETING HOUSE, SMITHFORD STREET
This building was originally called "The Great Meeting." In 1672, when Dr. Green, of St. Michael's Church, and Dr. Bryan, of Holy Trinity Church, were expelled from their churches, the congregation met for worship wherever possible until 1687, when King James granted liberty of worship to the Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters; after this they commenced to worship in the large Hall in West Orchard, called St. Nicholas Hall, Corpus Christi Hall, or more commonly called the Leather Hall. This hall was of great importance in the mediaeval period, and the Leet was sometimes held there. Seats were erected, and for a period of thirteen years they worshipped there, calling themselves Presbyterians.
In 1690, William Tong, a friend and biographer of the celebrated Matthew Henry, came to Coventry, and after ten years of preaching at the Leather Hall, commenced in 1700 to build the "Great Meeting" in Smithford Street, at the south east of the Leather Hall. The cost was £800 for the ground and the houses in Smithford Street which were demolished, and the building, which held 1000 persons. Matthew Henry preached here, on passing through Coventry,
The giving of this short story was necessary in view of what I shall have to say about the excavations on this site in next month's issue of the Magazine. It has often been said that the Meeting House was built on a part of the Leather Hall, but as this hall was not under the destroyer's hammer until seven years after the Great Meeting was built, it proves the surmise to be wrong.
