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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

Art Gallery and Museum

April 1939

SITE OF THE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY. [Continued]

The members of the Drapers Guild were expected to attend Church services and they employed a Priest at a stipend of £5 per annum. If a member of the Guild died, the members must follow the corpse to the Church, and any absentee had a fine of sixpence imposed upon him. Members of note were often interred in the Lady Chapel in St. Michael's, like Thomas Bond, founder of Bonds Hospital, 1506, and Julian Nethermill, whose tomb is yet to be seen. For every apprentice and journeyman employed by them they paid a sum of fourpence each toward the light which burned before the rood or crucifix on the rood loft. Twopence per year was also paid for the purchase of strawing the seats with rushes in summer, and peastraw in winter, as also for keeping clean the chapel. Pageants were held by the Guild, one of the most popular being the pageant of Doomsday, and as early as 1392 they rented a room in Little Park Street for the storing of their properties. Rules prevented the stretching of cloth beyond a reasonable size. Many fields in the city were called Tenters Fields, where stretching was done. All cloth bought must be bought in the Drapery, and not in any man's house. In 1607 a Charter of Incorporation and Monopoly was obtained from the King, which had it been carried out would have ruined the mercers, who dealt in many kinds of materials. The mercers however successfully fought it and won the day.

Some well known people were members of the Drapers, such as Sampson Hopkins, of Palace Yard, Henry Davenport, Phillip Adams, Sir John Harrington, who schooled Princess Elizabeth at Coombe Abbey, and others. At this Drapery the sealing and search-ing of cloth took place, and only perfect cloth had the hallmark placed upon it, viz., an elephant in lead. No elephant in lead has yet been discovered, but I hope one may be found in excavations on this site. A hall which joined the Drapers Hall, where many of their meetings were held, stood at the entrance to St. Mary's Street, near St. Michael's Church, and at its demolition in 1728, the "Half Moon Inn" was built on its site, and the cloth fair was transferred to St. Mary's Hall. The grounds of the "Half Moon Inn" were used as a site for circus performers. It was pulled down in 1861. Referring again to Bayley Lane, it was spelt in some places as Balylane, and Baylilane. In front of the Drapers Hall on the north side was crowded together a number of old brick and timber houses, and only a narrow path running between the houses and the church wall.

Leading from the south corner of the Church was a footpath, the stile being joined to the Church. An old print or engraving has been discovered dating before 1743 which shows this stile and the path leading across to the present factory in Priory Row, a gate being opposite the factory,

The Avenue as we know it to-day was not made until 1852, nor was Priory Street made until this period. Following the course of Bayley Lane to the West, many buildings of 15th century stood where the Police Court buildings join up to St. Mary's Hall. One of these houses stood out on to the footpath, and was an old Inn. The roadway here was once a burial ground even going back to the Norman period, and is mentioned by Earl Hugh Kenilock, 1173.


 
 
 
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