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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

Park Side Excavations

January 1934

PARK SIDE, LITTLE PARK STREET GATE, AND DISTRICT

On the south side of Parkside were the quarries from which Richard the Second gave the stone for the building of part of the city walls, and, up to the present time, are called by the old residents "Park Hollows." Parkside, as will be seen to-day, is made up on a slope from "St. John Street," or "Dead Lane," as it used to be called, rising to its highest point where the city wall stood. It is most probable that the Corporation of 1423 or thereabouts made this up to the string course of the wall, thus it would be a pillar of strength to the wall at the inside of the City, and leaving about 5-ft. of the wall as a battlement to protect the soldiers who watched over the defence of the city. In 1423, a sum of 5/- was paid for an earthwork, possibly part of this embankment. It will be noticed the same earthwork extends along Much Park Street and in 1430, the Carmelites, or White Friars, asked permission of the Corporation to make an earthwork from New Gate square tower (corner of White Friars' Street) to the round tower or half round tower at the top of Gulson Road (then called White Friars' Mill Lane) which tower was built the same year at a cost of £77-13-4. This earthwork is to be seen to-day.

Coming again to the Parkside, it has been recorded that a burial ground was there, but recent excavations reveal that no disturbance of the ground had taken place from the level of the present roadway. In one garden beneath the made-up ground, a large heap of round boulder stones were found, which, no doubt, had been used for ammunition as it is on record that the women carried stones and helped in the protection of the walls. It was in 1641 that Charles the First attacked the city, coming from Whitley Abbey, and the citizens deciding not to receive him with his 400 men, he attacked the walls from the Park and off Styvechal Hill. In readiness for this, 300 soldiers were despatched from Birmingham, to give us assistance, and the enemy being repulsed, made their way to Stoneleigh Abbey.

As no gardens were allowed to be made within 20 feet of the wall, one can visualise the soldiers marching to and fro on the earthwork inside the wall, with a fourteen feet drop on the outside of the wall, besides the ditch which would be where the present roadway now is, and about 9 ft. deep by 12 ft. wide.

In the year 1643, after finding the quarries had become a menace to the city by the protection they gave to the enemy as trenches, it was decided to fill them in, and the men being engaged in strengthening the walls and protecting the city, the Quaker women decided to do this work. Groups of women went into the quarries with a leader named Adderley, who carried a club on her shoulder, and each with a mattock and spade, worked until evening, when Mary Herbert fired off a pistol as a signal and marched through Little Park Street Gate home. A wall which divided the Little Park of twenty-three acres from the Large Park was also pulled down as it also afforded shelter for the enemy. This year there was also an extra Tower built along the Parkside, and its foundations were discovered a few years ago, being about six yards square and was made for cannon to be placed in at each corner.


 
 
 
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