Antiquities Exhibition at the Drill Hall

October 1934

EXHIBITION OF ANTIQUITIES AT THE DRILL HALL, COVENTRY

Excellent reports have been published by several newspapers concerning this fine Exhibition, including one by the "Nuneaton Tribune," which is as follows: -

"Great interest has been taken in the exhibition of historical 'finds' by Mr. J. B. Shelton, the well-known Coventry antiquarian, in the Coventry Drill Hall, on behalf of the Coventry and Warwicks Hospital £100,000 Appeal Fund.
"Mr. Shelton told our representative that the gem of the collection was an old Norman lamp that looks very much like a miniature christening font, and is a beautiful specimen of 12th century work. Only one other like this has been found before, and this was recovered from near the site of St. John's Hospital, which was run by olden time monks.
"On a board there is exhibited the mummified remains of two rats, an adult and a young one, and also the remains of an old shoe. These are many years old, and were recovered from a rat's nest in a house in Smithford Street. Mr. Shelton stated that a small booklet, dated 1715, and still remarkably well preserved, was also found in the nest, and in this is printed the Catechism, the alphabet, and numbers 1 to 300. The covers are of parchment.
"A boat paddle, thought to be early English or Saxon, was recovered from a depth of 16-ft. 6-ins. below the Burges where there was a quarry in olden times. It is of oak and is very well preserved. Encaustic tiles, one bearing a representation of a deer, and which was formerly in the Roebuck Inn, Little Park Street, brings memories of the Wars of the Roses, for it was here at the Roebuck Inn that many meetings of the various followers took place.
"Mr. Shelton also has in the Exhibition a photograph of the Bull Inn in Smithford Street from an old print taken before the inn was pulled down just before 1793. This is interesting in view of the fact that John Wynter Robert and Stephen Lyttleton, of Gunpowder Plot fame, stopped there on November 4th, 1605. Curiously enough, it was on this same day that Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I., was brought into Coventry, and it is thought they had been searching for her.
"Other notable relics include pilgrims bells whirls for spinning wool, various tools, dagger sheaths, keys, an old iron brand all in one piece, a chalice made of pewter, such as was used for placing on the breasts of dead priors and bishops; and square-toed shoes of the 16th to 17th century.
"Mr. Shelton has also discovered one of the original wheels of the Prior's Mill, which was recovered from a depth of six feet."