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Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough, in the West Midlands of England. With a population of 303,475 at the 2001 Census (306,000 est. 2007), Coventry is the ninth largest city in England and the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom.[1] It is also the second largest city after Birmingham in the English Midlands by population. Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of London and 19 miles (30 km) east of Birmingham, and is notable for being further from the coast than any other British city. It was also the world's first 'twin city' when it formed a twinning relationship with the French city of Saint-Etienne in 1955.
Coventry is famous for its modern Cathedral, which was built following the World War II bombing of the old cathedral by the Luftwaffe. Coventry has since developed an international reputation as Europe's major city of peace and reconciliation, centred around its Cathedral, and holds an annual Peace Month [1]. Coventry is also notable because .
Residents and those born in the city are called "Coventrians" (or in the vernacular locally "Cov Kids").
Coventry is traditionally believed to have been established in the year 1043 with the founding of a Benedictine Abbey by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva. Current evidence suggests that this abbey was probably in existence by 1022, therefore Leofric and Godiva most likely endowed it around 1043. In time, a market was established at the abbey gates and the settlement expanded.
By the 14th century Coventry had become an important centre of the cloth trade, and throughout the Middle Ages was one of the largest and most important cities in England. Coventry was granted city status in 1345, and later became a county in its own right.
Hostile attitudes of the cityfolk towards Royalist prisoners held in Coventry during the English Civil War are believed to have originated the phrase "sent to Coventry", which in Britain means "to be ostracised"; literally, although Cromwellian Civil War era prisoners' physical needs were catered for, nobody spoke to them during their captivity.
In the late 19th century Coventry became a major centre of bicycle manufacture, with the industry being pioneered by Rover. By the early 20th century bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major centre of the British motor industry.
Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during World War II, most notoriously from a massive German air raid (the "Coventry Blitz") on 14 November 1940. This destroyed most of the historic city centre and Coventry's historic Cathedral. Aside from London and Plymouth, Coventry suffered more damage than any other British city during the Luftwaffe attacks, with huge firestorms devastating most of the city centre. The city was targeted due to its high concentration of armaments, munitions and engine plants which contributed greatly to the British war effort. Following the raids, the majority of Coventry's historic buildings could not be saved as they were in ruinous states or were deemed unsafe for any future use, though several were later demolished simply make way for modern developments. It is rumoured that Winston Churchill knew that Coventry was to be bombed on November 14th, 1940. However, in order to conceal the fact that Nazi secret codes had been broken, no warning was issued to Coventry.
In the postwar years Coventry was largely rebuilt under the general direction of the Gibson Plan, gaining a new pedestrianised shopping precinct (the first of its kind in Europe on such a scale) and the much-celebrated new St Michael's Cathedral in 1962 (incorporating the world's largest tapestry).
Coventry's motor industry boomed during the 1950s and 1960s but during the 1970s the British motor industry underwent decline and Coventry suffered badly as a result. By the early 1980s Coventry had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. In recent years the city has recovered with newer industries locating there, although the motor industry continues to decline.
Unlike other major UK cities, Coventry does not have an extensive 'greater' urban area, partly because the city boundaries are very tightly drawn, and partly because it does not have any directly continuous satellite towns or large outer suburbs.
The M6 motorway directly to the north of Coventry acts as an artificial boundary which precludes expansion into the Bedworth-Nuneaton urban area, as does the protected West Midlands Green Belt which surrounds the city on all sides. This has circumvented the expansion of the city into both Warwickshire and the Solihull Metropolitan Borough, and has helped to prevent the coalescence of the city with surrounding settlements such as Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Rugby, Meriden and Balsall Common.
However, it could be argued that Coventry does possess its own catchment area within a 12 mile (19 km) radius of its city centre, incorporating the towns of Nuneaton, Bedworth, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Bulkington, Hinckley, Balsall Common and Rugby (with Atherstone being 13 miles distant), an area in excess of 600,000 inhabitants.
Allesley, Allesley Green, Allesley Park Ball Hill, Bell Green, Binley, Bishopsgate Green, Brownshill Green Canley, Cannon Park, Chapelfields, Cheylesmore, Clifford Park, Coundon, Courthouse Green Daimler Green Earlsdon, Eastern Green, Edgwick, Ernesford Grange Finham, Fenside, Foleshill Green Lane, Gibbet Hill Hearsall Common, Hillfields, Holbrooks Keresley Little Heath, Longford Mount Nod Pinley, Potters Green Radford Spon End, Stoke, Stoke Heath, Stoke Aldermoor, Stivichall Tanyard Farm, Tile Hill Victoria Farm Walsgrave, Westwood Heath, Whitley, Whitmore Park, Whoberley, Willenhall, Wood End, Woodway Park, Wyken
St. Michael's Cathedral is Coventry's best-known landmark and visitor attraction. The original 14th century cathedral was largely destroyed by German bombing during World War Two, leaving only the outer walls and spire. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Basil Spence. The cathedral contains the tapestry Christ in Glory by Graham Sutherland. The bronze statue St Michael's Victory over the Devil by Jacob Epstein is mounted on the exterior of the new cathedral near to the entrance. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, regarded by some as his masterpiece, was written for the opening of the new Cathedral.
The spire of the ruined cathedral forms one of the Three Spires which have dominated the city skyline since the 14th century, the others being those of Christ Church (of which only the spire survives) and Holy Trinity Church (which is still in use).
Another major visitor attraction in Coventry city centre is the free-to-enter Coventry Transport Museum, which has the largest collection of British-made road vehicles in the world. The most notable exhibits are the world speed record-breaking cars, Thrust2 and ThrustSSC. The museum received a major refurbishment in 2004 which included the creation of a striking new entrance as part of the city's Phoenix Initiative project. The revamp saw the museum exceed its projected five-year visitor numbers within the first year alone, and it was a finalist for the 2005 Gulbenkian Prize.
The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is a major art gallery in the city centre. About 4 miles from the city centre and just outside Coventry in Baginton is the Lunt Fort, a reconstructed Roman fort. The Midland Air Museum is situated just within the perimeter of Coventry on land adjacent to Coventry Airport and near to Baginton.
The city's main Police Station in Little Park Street also hosts a museum of Coventry's Police Force. The museum, based underground, is split into two sections - one representing the history of the city's Police Force, and the other compiling some of the more unusual, interesting and grisly cases from the force's history. The museum is funded from charity donations - viewings can be made by appointment.
Major improvements continue to regenerate the city centre. The Phoenix Initiative reached the final shortlist for the 2004 RIBA Stirling Prize and has now won a total of 16 separate awards. Further major developments are potentially afoot, particularly the Swanswell Project, which is intended to deepen Swanswell Pool and link it to Coventry Canal Basin, coupled with the creation of an urban marina and a wide Parisian-style boulevard. A possible second phase of the Phoenix Initiative is also in the offing, although both of these plans are still on the drawing-board. IKEA's first city centre multistorey store and the redevelopment of the Belgrade Theatre are the two major developments currently in progress. (See IKEA Coventry blog [2] to view progress).
Coventry City Football Club have also recently started playing at their new home, The Ricoh Arena, a 32,000 capacity stadium in the Foleshill area of the city. The old stadium has now been demolished to make way for new housing.
Coventry City Farm is a small farm in an urban setting. It is mainly to educate city children who might not get out to the countryside very often.
Coventry has two universities; Coventry University situated on a modern city centre campus and the University of Warwick, which lies 5 km (3 miles) to the south of the city centre on the border with Warwickshire. The University of Warwick is one of only five universities never to have been rated outside the top ten in terms of teaching excellence and research. It won the prestigious BBC TV University Challenge trophy in April 2007.
Coventry also has two main colleges within city boundaries. City College, Coventry was a merger of the city's Coventry Technical College and Tile Hill College, the other college is called Henley College.
Many of the secondary schools in and around Coventry are specialist colleges, such as Finham Park School, which is a Mathematics and IT college and now a teacher training school and Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School which has recently become a specialist college of Music, one of only a few in the country. Bishop Ullathorne RC School became a specialist college in Humanities in 2006. Woodlands School in Coventry is now also a sports college, which has a newly built sport centre. On the North of the City you can find Exhall Grange School and Science College. Ernesford Grange School, in the South East, is a specialist science college. Pattison College, a private school opened in 1949, specialises in the performing arts. There is also Caludon Castle School, a business and enterprise school, which has been rebuilt over 2005-2007.
The Coventry School Foundation is comprised of the independent schools King Henry VIII School and Bablake School together with Coventry Preparatory School.
The Woodlands School, which is an all boys' school, and Tile Hill Wood Girls School are the only single-sex schools left in Coventry. However, their sixth forms have been joined to form the "West Coventry 6th Form", whose lessons take place in mixed classes on both sites.
Theatre, art and music venues in Coventry include:
Sporting teams include Coventry City (Football), Coventry Sphinx (Football), Coventry Copsewood (Football), Coventry Rugby Club (Rugby Union),City Of Coventry Swimming Club (Swimming), Coventry Blaze (Ice Hockey), Coventry Bears (Rugby League), Coventry Godiva Harriers (Athletics), Coventry Bees (Speedway), Coventry Crusaders (Basketball) and Coventry Cassidy Jets (American Football).
In football, Coventry City won the FA Cup on 16 May 1987 in what is considered to be one of the best finals in the competition's history. . The team finished the 2006-2007 Football Championship season disappointingly in a lower mid-table position (17th) in May 2007, having narrowly missed-out on the Premiership play-offs the season before.
In 2003, Coventry Blaze won the British National League and Playoffs.
2005 was a good year for sport in Coventry. Not only did it become the first city in the UK to host the International Children's Games, [3] and [4], but 3 of the city sports team won significant honours. The Blaze won the treble consisting of Elite League, playoff and Challenge Cup, the Jets won the BAFL Division 2 championship and were undefeated all season, while the Bees won the Elite League playoffs. In 2007, Coventry Blaze won the Elite League and the British Challenge cup and are heading to the Playoffs to try and succeed in the treble.
Arguably Coventry's most famous resident was Lady Godiva who, according to legend, rode through the city naked on horseback in protest at high taxes being waged on the cityfolk by her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia. According to the legend the residents of the city were commanded to look away as she rode, but one man didn't and was allegedly struck blind. He became known as Peeping Tom thus originating a new idiom, or metonym, in English. There is a statue of her in the city centre, which used to stand out in the open but is now somewhat unthoughtfully situated under the much-maligned Cathedral Lanes shopping centre canopy (see right). There is also a bust of Peeping Tom looking out from a bridge that crosses one branch of the shopping precinct.
Other famous people from Coventry include Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine, the poet and novelist Philip Larkin, the noted trade union organiser Tom Mann, the actors Nigel Hawthorne and Clive Owen, the broadcaster Brian Matthew, the record producer Pete Waterman, the athlete and former 5,000m world-record holder David Moorcroft, Ian Bell, the Ashes winning cricketer and the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup winners Neil Back and Danny Grewcock, Jerry Dammers, writer of the song "Free Nelson Mandela" and the driving-force behind The Specials, Terry Hall, lead singer with The Specials, Fun Boy Three and The Colourfield (and a celebrated solo artist in his own right), Hazel O'Connor, a rock singer of the 1980s-1990s, Paul King (lead singer of the mid-80s band King), Clint Mansell (lead singer of the 1990s indie band Pop Will Eat Itself), Julianne Regan (lead singer of the 80's-90s band All About Eve), Jason John (aka Jason Herbert) of the 1990s boy band Big Fun, Lee Dorrian, (a founder member of Napalm Death and later Cathedral - both well known bands in the grindcore / death metal and doom metal scenes respectively), and Bolt Thrower, (another band well known in the death metal scene). Roy Allbrighton, the lead guitarist and vocalist from Prog Rock group Nektar, who have been recording and touring since the early 1970s and are still popular in the US and Europe, is from Coventry.
In the 19th century the inventor James Starley and his nephew J.K. Starley lived in the city, and were both instrumental in the development of the bicycle, and for starting the British bicycle industry. J.K Starley was also responsible for founding Rover. A statue near Warwick Row commemorates James Starley.
The late politician Mo Mowlam who was famous for being a Northern Ireland secretary grew up in Coventry. Joseph Paxton, the designer of the Crystal Palace, was a Member of Parliament for the city from 1854 to 1865.
Two Tone ska bands The Specials and The Selecter are both from Coventry – one of The Specials' best known hits, Ghost Town is often thought to written about the city. Other bands from the city which found success include The Primitives, Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield, King and The Flys.
2004 Olympics 4x100m relay gold medallist Marlon Devonish is also from Coventry, and in November of the same year he was awarded with an MBE. He also appeared at the opening ceremony of the International Children's Games held in 2005.
Show Jumping World Cup champion Nick Skelton who has jumped for the Great Britain team on 152 occasions.
Sky Sports presenter Richard Keys, who has presented more than 1,000 football matches making him British television's most presented anchorman.
West End theatre producer and entertainment entrepreneur Dominic Madden, responsible for the re-development of the Elephant and Castle theatre into The Coronet music venue.
The city's list of more infamous individuals includes:
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Coventry at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Notes:
Coventry has long been a centre of motor and cycle manufacturing, dating back from 1896, the car and cycle industry has been a strong centre point for this town. Starting out with some less familiar names such as Coventry Motette, Great Horseless Carriage Co, Swift and more familiar names like Humber, Riley and Daimler and the Triumph motorcycle having its origins in 1902 in a Coventry factory. Although the motor industry has declined, the Jaguar company has its headquarters in the city, and Peugeot have a large parts centre in Humber Road. The famous London black cab taxis are produced in Coventry by LTI and these are now the only vehicles still wholly built in Coventry.
Coventry's main industries include: cars, electronic equipment, machine tools, agricultural machinery, man-made fibres, aerospace components and telecommunications equipment. In recent years the city has moved away from manufacturing industries towards business services, finance, research, design and development, creative industries as well as logistics and leisure.
Coventry is near the M6, M69 and M40 motorways. It is also served by the A45 and A46 roads.
Coventry has a much used inner ring road. Phoenix Way, the new north-south dual carriageway has improved traffic flows through the City.
For rail, Coventry railway station is served by the West Coast Main Line, and has regular rail services between London and Birmingham (and stations beyond). It is also served by railway lines to Nuneaton via Bedworth. There is a line linking it to Leamington Spa and onwards to the south coast. Coventry also has 2 Suburban Rail stations in Canley and in Tile Hill.
Bus service operators in Coventry include Travel West Midlands (under the name Travel Coventry), Travel De Courcey and Stagecoach Warwickshire
The nearest major airports are Birmingham International Airport, some 17 km (11 miles) to the west of the city and Coventry Airport in Baginton, from which Thomsonfly operates commercial scheduled flights to more than 20 European destinations, located 8 km (5 miles) south of the city centre.
The Coventry Canal terminates near the city centre at Coventry Canal Basin and is navigable for 61 km (38 miles) to Fradley Junction in Staffordshire.
Coventry has a large incineration plant which burns rubbish from both Coventry and Solihull and in the process produces electricity for the National Grid and some hot water that is used locally. In addition some rubbish is put into landfill.
Coventry City Council is assisting recycling, in line with national trends :-
In October 2006 Coventry City Council signed the Nottingham Declaration, joining 130 other councils in committing to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the council and to help the local community do the same.
Traditionally a part of Warwickshire (although it was a county in its own right for 400 years), Coventry became an independent county borough in 1889. It later became a metropolitan district of the West Midlands county under the Local Government Act (1974), even though it was entirely separate to the Birmingham conurbation area (this is why Coventry appears to unnaturally "jut out" into Warwickshire on political maps of the UK). In 1986 the West Midlands County Council was abolished and Coventry became administered as an effective unitary authority in its own right.
Coventry is still strongly associated with its traditional county, Warwickshire. This may be because of its geographical location, forming a large protrusion into the county.
Coventry is administered by Coventry City Council. The city is divided up into 18 Wards each with three councillors. Coventry had long been considered a stronghold or source of safe seats for the Labour Party. The city council was for years described as a "one party state", but has been Conservative-controlled since the local elections on 4 May 2006, (although the Conservative group held the administration on the casting vote of the Lord Mayor since June 2004). A notable politician serving with Coventry City Council is former Militant Labour MP Dave Nellist who now represents the Socialist Party (England and Wales).
The leader of the controlling Conservative group is Ken Taylor who holds the post of Leader of the Council.
The leader of the opposition Labour group is John Mutton.
Certain local services are provided by West Midlands wide agencies including the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) which is responsible for public transport.
In 2006 Coventry and Warwickshire Ambulance Service was merged with the West Midlands Ambulance Service. The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance service is based at Coventry Airport in Baginton.
Coventry is represented in Parliament by three MPs all of whom are Labour. These are:
At the Annual Meeting of the City Council on Thursday, 17 May 2007 Councillor Dave Batten was elected as the new Lord Mayor of Coventry. Councillor Batten describes himself as a Coventry kid and has been a Labour councillor for 16 years representing the Westwood Ward. Councillor Batten's wife, Lyn, is Lady Mayoress. The Deputy Lord Mayor is Councillor Andy Matchet. He has been a Conservative councillor in Earlsdon since 1999.
Ken Taylor [7](Conservative) has served as Leader of Coventry City Council since 2004.
The Bishop of Coventry since April 1998 has been the Rt Revd. Colin Bennetts, who will be retiring from the post on 1 December 2007.
Coventry is approximately latitudinal with the towns of Aberystwyth (west Wales), Kettering (Northamptonshire), Ely (Cambridgeshire) and Diss (Norfolk).
Postcodes covering the city of Coventry and its immediate suburbs are CV1 to CV6 inclusive. CV7 to CV37 postcodes cover almost the entirety of Warwickshire outside of Coventry, aside from the areas around the towns of Coleshill and Alcester in western Warwickshire.
Coventry was the first ever city to "twin" with another city (Saint-Etienne, France) and hence began the now common worldwide practice of twinning. It started after World War II when Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war. Each twin city country is represented in a specific ward of the city and in each ward has a peace garden dedicated to that twin city.
Coventry is now twinned with 26 places across the world:
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