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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

Barracks Square, Black Bull Inn

January 1936

BARRACKS SQUARE

BLACK BULL INN

The excavations for the new market revealed how the ground had been filled in from time to time. At the corner nearest the old hospital buildings the depth of the natural soil was found at 9ft. 6ins. Also at the same spot the back roadway, shown on Bradford's map of 1735, was found at a depth of 5ft. 6ins. This was made of large stones which would be most suitable, as the ground was very marshy. The rick yard stood at the corner, outside the present building, nearest to the Arcade.

A number of the holes dug were found to have been quarried for clay, and in some cases had even reached the stone at a depth of 15ft. 6ins. Springs of water welled up in most of the holes, of which there were 50 or more. The digging had been done about the fourteenth or fifteenth century. The filling-in of that period corresponds with so many other places mentioned, viz., dung heaps and pieces of cattle sheds. As usual in such filling boots were very plentiful, some with tops and soles together and even the laces, but the flax stitching rotted away. Some tops were decorated, and pieces of leather cut from the hides and thrown away were in good preservation, in fact as good as the leather of to-day, or even better than some sold to-day. Two bone needles were found and the skeleton of a horse. Only a small quantity of pottery came to light and a fourteenth or fifteenth century spur with the heel strap in good condition. Riveted on to the strap were a number of buckles for decorations. One piece of a fourteenth century encaustic tile was found, also a boar's jaw in good condition.

In 1641 the "Bull Inn" was held by Norton Hanson, and a rent charge of 3/4 per year was given to Ford's Hospital. As this is the last Article on the "Black Bull Inn," I will describe the back way for their farm vehicles and cattle. The "Bull Fields," now partly used as a goods station and part as building land, including Regent Street, Grosvenor Road and Westminster Road, were held by them and derives its name in that way. The road commenced at the west end of the present Arcade, running on the outside of the rick yard, almost on the spot at present used for a road, turning to the south at the corner and running on the front of New Market, then between the "Geisha Cafe" and "Peeping Tom Inn," where it crossed through the site of the factory of Curtis & Beamish to the Grey Friars' Gate, at the bottom of Warwick Lane.

The field out of which Hertford Street was cut in 1814 was called the "Big Crab Tree Field," and was being used as gardens when Hertford Street was made, On the right of the gate were thirteen houses with wooden framework, belonging to Christopher Devonport. These were pulled down in 1643 and rebuilt in Warwick Lane, which, up to that time, was a lane only. This was a boundary of the Grey Friars' burial ground; with just one small place belonging to the Grey Friars, where the bell may have been rung for the dirges. This has been rebuilt and called the "Cheylesmore Inn," once "Bell Inn."

Where the monument of Sir Thomas White stands was a pond, at which their cattle would drink; on the right hand side, now "Sibree Hall" site, were several small fields, two of these, I believe, were called the "Little Crab Tree Fields." A drawing of 1731 shows hay being carted through the Grey Friars Gate to the ''Bull Inn."

About the eighteenth century the Barracks Square was made into a bowling green, and in 1793 the Barrack was built on its site.

Next month I hope to say more about the excavations in the river and St. Osburg's Pool.


 
 
 
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