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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

Benedictine Site, Palmer Lane Guest House

August 1934

EXCAVATIONS

Excavations for a new river course over which the new Trinity Street is to pass have been going on for a year or more, and are still being proceeded with. In the made up ground of from ten to sixteen feet depth of rubble, cattle dung, sand, clay and stone, one would expect to find a host of things revealing the doings of the Benedictines in their early habitation of Coventry, or as spelt at that time "Covaentree," and this is proving to be so. Palmer Lane is the road over which the Palmers, Guests, or Pilgrims came to the Guest House, and we can picture a number of pilgrims arriving from ships which landed them on our shores. Each one arriving carried a piece of palm-wood to denote they had been to the Holy Land. They also carried tokens or signs of lead, pewter, or brass, a number of which were found in 1852 when dredging the river Sherbourne. Others are coming to light, some of pewter and brass, with Latin inscription inscribed on, also a small token of brass, shaped like a shell. This no doubt is "The Compostella Cockle-shell." The Palmer in "Piers Ploughman" says: -

"Ye may see be my signes that sitten in myn hat
That I have walked ful wyde in wete and in dry,
And soughte God seynts for my soules helth."

The old Guest House stood at the corner of Palmer Lane until 1820, and before this was demolished a fine drawing was made by Alderman Phillips. It is impossible to say when this House was built, but no doubt early in the 13th century or perhaps earlier. The building was of stone foundations, which can be traced to-day, they having been used for later buildings. Houses were built on this site as early as 1643, when a siege was expected to be made by Charles I., and some of the Guest House was utilised.

One large side of an inner wall was discovered, about 20 yards wide, and three stories high, and when the 17th century plaster was removed, large panels of clay, measuring 4-ft. by 3-ft. were discovered. Being an inside wall, the clay was bound with straw, while usually on an outside wall coarse hay (or rushes) was used, as it would be more fibrous, and stand the weather better than straw. An old doorway to a bedroom had been cut through one of the original windows of the Guest House, and fortunately one section had been left complete. Large oak timbers, roughly cut from the trees, morticed, and fastened together with wooden pegs, came to light as the present bedrooms were stripped of the wallpapers, showing the massive room where once the pilgrims met and dined, and discussed their pilgrimage.

An old stone chimney was discovered in a house a little way down the lane and can be seen in its original state to-day. This chimney was possibly in the kitchen of the Guest House as shown in a drawing. A little lower down the lane stood the stables for the guests' horses, and it would appear that a roadway led into the Guest House yard next to the outside of the chimney.

I hope to discover a bridge which crossed the river at Palmer Lane end, and would join up to Priory Gate, St. Agnes Lane, Cook Street, Silver Street, and College Square. It is most probable this Lane was Catesby Lane, as a washing-pool (perhaps for sheep) was at the end, and would be near the river, where a certain woman pulled down the gate, and the Leet compelled her to put it up again. The Catesby family of Gunpowder Plot fame were established in Coventry as early as 1324, and Catesby Lane is missing from the list of names in the Speed's map of 1610.


 
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