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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. The Old Vicarage, Binley, by Anna Eddleston
13. Coventry Volunteer Fire Brigade - Illustrated London News, Jan 4th 1862
14. The Great Flood of December 1900, and the lost Bridges, by Damien Kimberley
15. Coventry's Great Flood - London Daily Graphic, 2nd January 1901
16. New Drinking Fountain at Coventry - 17 Sep 1859
17. Henry Cave, and the 'Lady' Autocar of 1899, by Damien Kimberley
18. The Ira Aldridge Trail, by Simon Shaw
19. The Lion Bicycle Company of Coventry & Wolverhampton 1877-1882, by Damien Kimberley
20. The Beech on Wheels, by Derek Robinson and forum member Foxcote
21. Phil Silvers Archival Museum, by Paul Maddocks
22. Transport Museum pt.3 - Creating the Blitz Experience, by Paul Maddocks
23. What links a Spitfire's landing gear to a baby buggy? by Paul Maddocks
24. The sound that almost killed my Dad in the War!, by Paul Maddocks
25. D-Day and Monty's Staff Car, by Paul Maddocks
26. Transport Museum pt.2 - New Hales Street Entrance in 1985, by Paul Maddocks
27. Transport Museum pt.1 - How the Queen's 1977 visit sowed the seed, by Paul Maddocks
28. What links R2D2 to a Coventry Hydrogen/Electric cab company? by Paul Maddocks
29. Transport Museum pt.6 - The Royal Cars, by Paul Maddocks
30. Transport Museum pt.5 - The 1987 F.A. Cup Winners' Sky Blue Bus, by Paul Maddocks
31. The Tapestry and its Hidden Secret, by Paul Maddocks
32. Transport Museum pt.4 - Coventry's Land Speed Record Cars, by Paul Maddocks
33. Whitefriars Gatehouse and Toy Museum, by Paul Maddocks
34. WW1 and Wyley of Charterhouse, by Paul Maddocks
35. Miss Bashford, a Teacher's Tale, by Simon Shaw
36. Motor Panels (Coventry) Ltd, by Damien Kimberley
37. Not Forgotten, the 1939 IRA bomb attack, by Simon Shaw
38. Let's talk about Rex, by Damien Kimberley
39. Coventry, the Silk Trade and the Horsfall family, by Ian West
40. The Saint Joseph the Worker parish in Coventry, by Terence Richards
41. A brief history of Saint Osburg's, in pictures, by Damien Kimberley
42. Trinity National Schools - Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal, Vol.XVII, 1854
43. The First Tudor Feast, by Richard Ball
44. 1930s Austin's Monthly Magazine articles, by John Bailey Shelton MBE
45. 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

Cox Street - River Excavations

August 1933

COX STREET EXCAVATIONS (Continued)

Close by was a pond of water called "Hobb's Hole," and a Mayor of Hobb's Hole was chosen yearly, and dipped in the pool. The small brook running through the Swanswell empties itself at the new bridge. The fields (now Godiva Street) had large beds of marshy ground, and willows growing in large quantities, which were cut for the making of baskets, fencing, etc, while the bark was carried away and used by the wheelwrights for heating the cart and wagon tyres when hooping.

Mill Lane was a very narrow lane, and old citizens still living remember when it was difficult to take a load of hay down without fouling the house fronts. A Mr. Brown, of Ford Street, aged about 96 years, and still able to walk around, remembers the Mill Gate, or Bastill Gate, when he was a lad of about 10 years old. At that time it was occupied, and when taken down in 1847 Mr. Brown kept as a memento a part of the old lock from the door. Close by the Gate and on the right hand side of Godiva Street from Cox Street end, beneath the brick houses are yet to be seen the stone foundations of the old Malt-house. This building joined up to the Gate, and the houses were built there about 80 years ago. Mr. Molesworth's house and shop with stone fronts, and standing at the bottom corner of Cope Street, was built about 1843-7 by a Mr. Connop, who was a builder, and who lived at the opposite corner house, now a butcher's shop. The stone front which was thought to be from Mill Gate, was stone from the Earl's Mill, and not Mill Gate.

It is still within the memory of some when only a small bridge of wood crossed the river.

Now to come to the many finds of various things - a rubbish tip of hundreds of years ago is the paradise of an antiquary, and so this spot proved to be, as will be seen. Scores of bones for the making of buttons were found. Usually rib bones were used, as they needed very little paring to make the required thickness. The method of cutting must have been by an instrument with three cutters, the centre cutter or borer being longer than the two outer, as in no instance was the bone cut clean through, but only half way, when the bone was turned, and the centre cutter inserted in the hole it had pierced, so the boring was as level as though it was done from one side. Bones found in a Norman fort in another part of England were cut out in the same manner. If a bone was wide, and two buttons could be cut from it, this was done, and each button was cut close to prevent waste. As the bone narrowed one larger button would be cut. Strange it seems, but up to the present no buttons have been found.


 
 
 
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