Whitefriars

31st Jan 2010 -- 18:59

Does anyone know when Whitefriars will be open for the public to look around or who to get in touch with to find out. It wasn't open during last years Heritage days. Thanks, Jason.

31st Jan 2010 -- 22:16

Is it still owned by the Council or did they palm it off onto Coventry University? I'd love to have a look around it too - last time was a school visit decades ago.

1st Feb 2010 -- 13:28

One of my wifes relatives died there in the 1890's when it was a workhouse so it is of special interest. I'd also love to look through the Oriel window from where Queen Elizabeth I addressed the people of Coventry.

2nd Feb 2010 -- 19:54

Whitefriars is still owned by the Council and used as a storeroom by the Herbert Museum. Yes it would be great to return this back to the people and open it to the public, but like so many buildings [County Hall is another] WE may never see inside it agian even when it is WE who pay for it. I bet there is a long list of buildings that are like this across the country. John

11th Mar 2010 -- 14:57

I'm not sure how many of you aware of this but most of the former Abbey is buried under the Ring Road. It's a long story but the present route of the Ring Road is not the original one. Work on the road was halted in 1960 while a new route was surveyed but not before all the buildings on either side of the north-south leg of Whitefriars Lane had been demolished. These included a jutted three-story timber building and a former entrance to the Abbey located in Gosford Street. See this picture at Pictures of Coventry for an example: Former Black Lion Inn. You can just see the name of the lane above the entrance to the tunnel on the right which ran straight through the former inn. Local archaeologists were then given permission to excavate the site to find anything of historical interest. I remember their visit and indeed climbing into the pits they dug once they had left in the evening. A strict deadline for the conclusion of excavations was imposed before work resumed on an ammended Ring Road route. A woman who took part in the excavations has since told me the amount of co-operation they received from the council was a "joke" and that little could be found in the short time allowed.