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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

May 1939

SITE OF THE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY. [Continued]

St. Mary's Hall, built at different periods, stands as a monument of beauty. Caesar's Tower, which may really have no real connection with St. Mary's Hall, was built in the 12th century. The first part of St. Mary's Hall was erected in 1340, while the joining together of the Guilds of St. Mary, Trinity, and St. John enlarged the hall in 1394 -1414. Where a gate-way stands leading down the West side of the hall stood a building connected to St. Mary's Hall, called the Buttery, where the food of the Guilds was scored. The barge boards from this building were preserved, and used on the house next to it and still standing, a house of beauty, and possibly built at the time of the Church. At one time this house was called the Church House, and quite possibly was the dwelling of the vicars of those times.

Near St. Mary's Hall stands an ancient well, and at one time was looked upon as belonging to the "White Horse Inn", in Hay Lane, and now used by the Corporation as offices. The lightning conductor of St. Michael's Church is or was earthed into its waters.

From this house to the corner of Hay Lane where now the St. Michael's Baptist Chapel stands, stood old houses very similar. Thanks to Dr. Troughton, we have a picture record of these buildings preserved. St. Michael's Church stands on the North side as a monument to the family of Botoner's, - the spire a landmark for miles distant from Coventry. Weighing 6226 tons, and soaring to a height of 295 ft. 91/2 inches, the tower and steeple was built in 1373-1394. Two earlier churches stood on the same site, and called the "Church on the Hill." Its earlier burial ground is near the front of the Drapers Hall, and is on the roadway passing between St. Mary's Hall and the Church, and is mentioned by Earl Hugh Kenilock in 1187.

On the North side, opposite St. Michael's Baptist, stood several houses which joined up to the St. Michael's Tower, and in 1812 lived the woman owner in the house next to the Tower, while adjoining it was a barber's shop, and standing at the corner facing the County Court, stood an Inn in which a political party called the High Party, who strongly opposed the swearing in of the new Mayor (Joseph Eburne,) plotted to capture the mace and sword as he passed to St. Mary's Hall, but this was frustrated, as the mayor knelt on a cushion in Fleet Street, at the former Mayor's (Abram Owen) house, and being warned of the plot, entered St. Mary's Hall another way. On the north-west side, where now the County Hall stands, built 1784, once stood a Guild Hall but which Guild I cannot say, and between this and the Library building, stood two old timbered houses near which a conduit was built in 1632, when a large undertaking for the supply of water to the citizens from the Swanswell by Bartholemew Bewley, a plumber, and Thomas Sargeson, a mason. A print of the old house, called Swanswell House, is yet to be seen, but I do not know of any print of the stone tower 35ft. high, which held a large tank and gravitated the water in lead pipes across Pool Meadow, up Priory Row, to this conduit or reservoir. The water was forced to the top of the tower by a water wheel, which worked where the little waterfall now runs near the Swanswell Inn, and some years ago I had the pleasure of chatting to an old lady, who, as a girl, used to take her father's meals to the water wheel of which he had charge.

On the site of the Golden Cross Inn, once stood an older building, which earlier still was the Coventry Mint from the time of King Edward IV. The present Inn, looking so ancient, is modern, but its ancient looking timbers were used in 1794 to build a framework for St. Michael's bells, and was used for nearly a 100 years. The frame cost the sum of £3752. On this same side several other half timbered buildings stood, and some are yet standing. I believe another roadway exists at a depth of about 8-ft. beneath this part of Bayley Lane.


 
 
 
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