City of Coventry
—  City & Metropolitan borough  —
Coventry City Centre
Coat of arms of the city council
Coventry shown within England
Coordinates: 52°24′29″N 1°30′38″W / 52.40806°N 1.51056°W / 52.40806; -1.51056
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Ceremonial county	West Midlands
Admin HQ	Coventry city centre
Founded	1043
Founder	Leofric, Earl of Mercia
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Governing body	Coventry City Council
• Executive:	Labour
Area
• Total	98.64 km2 (38.09 sq mi)
Population (2006 est)
• Total	315,700 (Ranked 19th)
• Density	3,108/km2 (8,050/sq mi)
• LUZ	651,000
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
• Summer (DST)	British Summer Time (UTC+1)
Postcode	CV
Area code(s)	024
ISO 3166-2	GB-COV
ONS code	00CQ
OS grid reference	SP335785
NUTS 3	UKG33
Ethnicity (2009 Est.[1])	79.2% White 12.3% South Asian 3.1% Black British 2.4% Mixed Race 3.0% East Asian and Other
Website	Coventry

Coventry (ⁱ/ˈkɒvəntri/)^[2] is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom.^[3] It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848,^[4] although Stoke-on-Trent, Leicester and Nottingham have larger urban areas. The population of Coventry had risen to 315,800 as of 2010, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Historically within Warwickshire, Coventry is situated 95 miles (153 km) northwest of central London and 19 miles (31 km) east-southeast of Birmingham, and is further from the coast than any other city in Britain. Although harbouring a population of almost a third of a million inhabitants, Coventry is not amongst the English Core Cities Group due to its proximity to Birmingham.

Coventry was the world's first twin city when it formed a twinning relationship with the Russian city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) during World War II. The relationship developed through ordinary people in Coventry who wanted to show their support for the Soviet Red Army during the Battle of Stalingrad.^[5] The city is now also twinned with Dresden, Lidice and 23 other cities around the world.^[6]

Coventry Cathedral is one of the newer cathedrals in the world, having been built following the World War II bombing of the ancient cathedral by the Luftwaffe. Coventry motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry, and it has two universities, the city centre-based Coventry University and the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts.

History[link]

Coventry is an ancient city which predates many of the large cities around it including Birmingham and Leicester. It is likely that Coventry grew from a settlement of the Bronze Age near the present-day city centre where Coventry's bowl shape and, at that time large flowing river and lakes, created the ideal settlement area, with mild weather and thick woods: food, water and shelter would have been easily provided. The people of the Coventry area may have been the Corieltauvi, a largely agricultural people who had few strongly defended sites and signs of centralised government.^{[citation needed]}

The Romans settling in Baginton founded another settlement and another formed around a Saxon nunnery, founded ca. AD 700 by St Osburga,^[7] that was later left in ruins by King Canute's invading Danish army in 1016. Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva built on the remains of the nunnery and founded a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St Mary.^[8][9] 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. The bishops of Lichfield were often referred to as bishops of Coventry and Lichfield, or Lichfield and Coventry (from 1102 to 1541). Coventry claimed the status of a city by ancient prescriptive usage, was granted a charter of incorporation in 1345, and in 1451 became a county in its own right.^[10][11]

Hostile attitudes of the cityfolk towards Royalist prisoners held in Coventry during the English Civil War are believed^{[citation needed]} to have been the origin of the phrase "to be sent to Coventry", which in Britain means "to be ostracised"; although their physical needs were catered for, the Royalist prisoners were literally never spoken to by anybody^{[citation needed]}.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Coventry became one of the three main British centres of watch and clock manufacture and ranked alongside Prescot, near Liverpool and Clerkenwell in London.^[12][13] As the industry declined, due mainly to competition from Swiss made clock and watch manufacturers, the skilled pool of workers proved crucial to the setting up of bicycle manufacture and eventually the motorbike, car, machine tool and aircraft industries.

In the late 19th century, Coventry became a major centre of bicycle manufacture. The industry being energised by the invention by James Starley and his nephew John Kemp Starley of the Rover Safety Bicycle, which was much safer and more popular than the pioneering Penny Farthing. The company later became Rover. By the early 20th century, bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major centre of the British motor industry. The design headquarters of Jaguar Cars is still in the city at their Whitley plant and although they ceased vehicle assembly at their Browns Lane plant in 2004, their head office has returned to the city in 2011, and is sited at their Whitley Plant. However Tata Motors from India owns Jaguar now.

A 1972 Hillman Avenger Tiger, produced in Coventry by Chrysler Competitions Department.

Coventry precinct with spire of ruined cathedral in the background.

Coventry became home to one of Britain's first local ambulance services in 1902. The local entertainment business received a boost in 1910 when the city's first cinema opened. Public transport was enhanced in 1914 when motorbuses took to local roads.

With many of the city's older properties becoming increasingly unfit for habitation, the first council houses were let to their tenants in 1917. With Coventry's industrial base continuing to soar after the end of World War I a year later, numerous private and council housing developments took place across the city in the 1920s and 1930s. The development of a southern by-pass around the city, starting in the 1930s and being completed in 1940, helped deliver more urban areas to the city on previously rural land.

Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during World War II, most notoriously from a massive Luftwaffe air raid known as the "Coventry Blitz" on 14 November 1940. Firebombing on this date led to severe damage to large areas of the city centre and to Coventry's historic cathedral, leaving only a shell and the spire. More than 4,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with around three-quarters of the city's industrial plants. More than 800 people were killed, with thousands injured and homeless. The Germans coined the term "Coventrate" to describe the tactics of complete urban devastation developed for the raid.^[14]

Aside from London, Hull 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 probably targeted due to its high concentration of armaments, munitions, aircraft and aero-engine plants which contributed greatly to the British war effort, although there have been claims that Hitler launched the attack as revenge for the bombing of Munich by the RAF six days before the Coventry Blitz and chose the Midlands city because its medieval heart was regarded as one of the finest in Britain. 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, although several were later demolished simply to make way for modern developments which saw the city centre's buildings and road infrastructure almost completely altered by 1970.

Further housing developments in the private and public sector took place after World War II, partly to accommodate the growing population of the city and also to replace condemned and bomb damaged properties.

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 in 1962 Sir Basil Spence's much-celebrated new St Michael's Cathedral (incorporating one of the world's largest tapestries) was consecrated. Its prefabricated steel spire (flèche) was lowered into place by helicopter. In 1967, the Eagle Street Mosque opened as Coventry's first mosque.

Major expansion to Coventry had taken place previously, in the 1920s and 1930s, to provide housing for the large influx of workers who came to work in the city's booming factories. The areas which were expanded or created in this development included Radford, Coundon, Canley, Cheylesmore and Stoke Heath.

Coventry's motor industry boomed during the 1950s and 1960s and Coventry enjoyed a 'golden age'. During this period the disposable income of Coventrians was one of the highest in the country and both the sports and the arts benefited. A new sports centre, with one of the few Olympic standard swimming pools in the UK, was constructed and Coventry City Football Club reached the First Division of English Football. The Belgrade Theatre was also constructed along with the Herbert Art Gallery. Coventry's pedestrianised Precinct shopping area came into its own and was considered one of the finest retail experiences outside of London. In 1965 the new University of Warwick campus was opened to students, and rapidly became one of the country's leading higher-education institutions.

Coventry's large industrial base made it attractive to the wave of Asian and Caribbean immigrants who arrived from Commonwealth colonies after 1948. In 1960, one of Britain's first mosques – and the very first in Coventry – was opened on Eagle Street to serve the city's growing Islamic community.^[15] The 1970s, however, saw a decline in the British motor industry and Coventry suffered particularly badly. Coal mining at the city's Keresley colliery also ceased during this period. By the early 1980s, Coventry had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and crime rates rose well above the national average.^{[citation needed]} Some 30 years later, Coventry is now considered as one of the UK's safer major cities and has gradually recovered economically with newer industries locating there, although the motor industry continues to decline. By 2008, only one motor manufacturing plant was operational, that of LTI Ltd, producing the popular TX4 taxi cabs. On 17 March 2010 LTI announced they would no longer be producing bodies and chassis in Coventry, instead producing them in China and shipping them in for assembly in Coventry.^[16]

On the sporting scene, Coventry Rugby Football Club was consistently among the nation's leading rugby football sides from the early 20th century, peaking in the 1970s and 1980s with a host of major honours and international players. ^[17] Association football, on the other hand, was scarcely a claim to fame until 1967, when Coventry City F.C. finally won promotion to the top flight of English football as champions of the Football League Second Division.^[18] They would stay among the elite for the next 34 years, reaching their pinnacle with FA Cup glory in 1987 – the first and to date only major trophy in the club's history.^[19] Their long stay in the top flight of English football ended in relegation in 2001,^[20] and in 2012 they were relegated again to the third tier of English football. Highfield Road, to the east of the city centre, was Coventry City's home for 106 years from 1899. They finally departed from the stadium in 2005 on their relocation to the 32,600-seat Ricoh Arena some three miles to the north of the city centre, in the Rowleys Green district.^[21]

City boundaries[link]

Unlike other major UK cities, Coventry does not have an extensive 'greater' urban area. This is partly because the city boundaries were drawn so as to include practically all of its suburbs, and partly because Coventry has comparatively little in the way of contiguous satellite towns and dormitory settlements.

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 the administrative county of Warwickshire and the metropolitan borough of Solihull (the 'Meriden Gap'), and has helped to prevent the coalescence of the city with surrounding towns such as Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Rugby and Balsall Common.

Panoramic views of Coventry City Centre from the Cathedral Tower

North

South

East

West

Suburbs or areas[link]

Places of interest[link]

Cathedral[link]

The ruins of the old cathedral

St. Michael's Cathedral is Coventry's best-known landmark and visitor attraction. The 14th century church was largely destroyed by German bombing during World War II, leaving only the outer walls and spire. At 303 feet (92 metres) high, the spire of St. Michael's is claimed to be the third tallest cathedral spire in England, after Salisbury and Norwich.^[22] Due to the architectural design (in 1940 the tower had no internal wooden floors and a stone vault below the belfry) it survived the destruction of the rest of the cathedral. The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Sir 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 the entrance. Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, regarded by some as his masterpiece, was written for the opening of the new cathedral.^[23]

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).

Two of Coventry's "three spires"

Art gallery and museums[link]

The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum is a major art gallery in the city centre. About four 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 Baginton.

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.

Coventry was one of the main centres of watchmaking during the 18th and 19th centuries and as the industry declined the skilled workers were key to setting up the cycle trade. A group of local enthusiasts are in the process of setting up a museum in Spon Street.^[12]

Exhibits in Coventry Police Museum

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.

Coventry City Farm was a small farm in an urban setting. It was mainly to educate city children who might not get out to the countryside very often. The farm closed in 2008 due to funding problems.^[24]

Football stadia[link]

Since 2005, Coventry City F.C. have been playing at their new home, the Ricoh Arena, a 32,609 capacity stadium in Rowleys Green in north Coventry. Their football academy is now based at the Alan Higgs Centre, a leisure centre in south-east Coventry opened in 2004.

The Highfield Road stadium has been demolished, making way for new housing and a small green.

Redevelopment[link]

The "Whittle Arch" outside the Transport Museum, named after Sir Frank Whittle

Major improvements continue to regenerate the city centre. The Phoenix Initiative, which was designed by MJP Architects, reached the final shortlist for the 2004 RIBA Stirling Prize and has now won a total of 16 separate awards. It was published in the book 'Phoenix : Architecture/Art/Regeneration' in 2004.^[25] 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. The redevelopment of the Belgrade Theatre is currently in progress, and the building of IKEA's first city centre multi-storey store has recently been completed and was opened to the public on 16 December 2007.^[26]

The River Sherbourne runs under Coventry's city centre; the river was paved over during the rebuilding after World War II and is not commonly known. When the new rebuild of Coventry city centre takes place 2009 onwards, it is planned that river will be re-opened, and a river walk way will be placed along side it in parts of the city centre.^[27] In April of 2012, the pedestrianisation of Broadgate was completed.

Twinning with other cities; "city of peace and reconciliation"[link]

Coventry and Stalingrad (now Volgograd) were the world's first 'twin' cities when they established a twinning relationship during World War II. The relationship developed through ordinary people in Coventry who wanted to show their support for the Soviet Red Army during the Battle of Stalingrad.^[5] The city was also subsequently twinned with Dresden, as a gesture of peace and reconciliation following World War II. Coventry is now twinned with 27 other cities around the world.

Coventry Cathedral is notable for being one of the newest cathedrals in the world, having been built following the World War II bombing of the ancient cathedral by the Luftwaffe. Coventry has since developed an international reputation as one of Europe's major cities of peace and reconciliation,^[28] centred around its cathedral, and holds an annual Peace Month.^[29]

Climate[link]

As with the rest of the British Isles and the midlands, Coventry experiences a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station is Coundon/ Coventry Bablake. Temperature extremes recorded in Coventry range from −18.2 °C (−0.8 °F) in February 1947, to 35.1 °C (95.2 °F) in August 1990.^[30] The lowest temperature reading of recent years was −10.8 °C (12.6 °F) during December 2010.^[31][32]

Education[link]

The Alan Berry building, Coventry University.

Coventry has two universities; Coventry University is situated on a modern city centre campus while the University of Warwick lies 3½ miles (5.5 km) to the south of the city centre, mostly within Coventry and straddling 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 and is a member of the prestigious Russell Group. A team from the University won the BBC TV University Challenge trophy in April 2007. Coventry University is one of only a handful of universities to run a degree course in automotive design in the world renowned Coventry School of Art and Design

Coventry also has three further education colleges within city boundaries, City College, Henley College and Hereward 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, a teacher training school and the only school in Coventry to offer studying the International Baccalaureate, 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. Ernesford Grange School, in the south east, is a specialist science college. Coundon Court School is a Technology 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. Exhall Grange School and Science College is in the north of the city, although, its catchment area is north Warwickshire. There is also Cardinal Newman Catholic School and specialist arts college.

Coventry has a variety of schools: one of the oldest secondary schools is Sidney Stringer School which is located in the centre of the city. It is a co-educational school that has made improvements in the last few years and has moved into a larger building costing £28million; it is now known as Sidney Stringer Academy.

The Coventry School Foundation comprises the independent schools King Henry VIII School and Bablake School together with King Henry VIII Preparatory School.

The Woodlands School, which is an all-boys' school, and Tile Hill Wood School are the only single-sex schools left in Coventry. However, their sixth forms have merged to form the "West Coventry 6th Form", whose lessons take place in mixed classes on both sites.

The Westwood School, which is a Technology College, is close to the University of Warwick. It is the only school in Coventry that is a CISCO Academy and prides itself on its links with other educational establishments, industry and the local community.

Sherbourne Fields School is an educational special needs school for young people with physical disabilities and is located in the Coundon area. It opened in the 1960s and there are now discussions as to whether to close this school.

Arts and culture[link]

Godiva Festival, a major event on the Coventry arts and culture calendar

Literature and drama[link]

• During the early 19th century, Coventry was well-known due to author George Eliot who was born near Nuneaton. The city was the model for her famous novel Middlemarch (1871).
• The Coventry Carol is named after the city of Coventry. It was a carol performed in the play The Pageant of The Shearman and Tailors, written in the 15th century as one of the Coventry Cycle Mystery Plays. These plays depicted the nativity story, the lyrics of the Coventry Carol referring to the Annunciation to the Massacre of the Innocents, which was the basis of the Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. These plays were traditionally performed on the steps of the (old) cathedral, and the plays are believed to have been performed for both Richard III in 1484 and Henry VII in 1584. The Belgrade Theatre brought back the Coventry Mystery Plays in 2000 to mark the city's millennium celebrations: the theatre now produces the Mystery Plays every three years.
• The Belgrade Theatre was Britain's first purpose-built civic theatre, opened in 1958. In 1965 the world's first Theatre-in-Education (TiE) company was formed to develop theatre as a way of inspiring learning in schools. The TiE movement spread worldwide, the theatre still offers a number of programmes for young people across Coventry and has been widely recognised as a leader in the field.
• The poet Philip Larkin was born and brought up in Coventry, where his father was the City Treasurer.

Music and cinema[link]

• During the late-1970s and early-1980s, Coventry was the centre of the Two Tone musical phenomenon, with bands such as the Specials and the Selecter coming from the city, spawning several major hit singles and albums. The Specials achieved two UK #1 hit singles between 1979–1981, namely Too Much Too Young and Ghost Town. Notable singles by the Selecter included On My Radio and Three Minute Hero.
• Today Coventry is recognised for its range of music events including one of the UK's foremost international jazz programmes, the Coventry Jazz Festival, and the award-winning Godiva Festival. On the Saturday of the Godiva Festival, a carnival parade also starts in the city centre and makes its way to War Memorial Park where the festival is held. In recent times the city has also given birth to Hip Hop C.O.V.
• In the film The Italian Job, the famous scene of Mini Coopers being driven at speed through Turin's sewers was actually filmed in Coventry, using what were then the country's biggest sewer pipes, that were accessible because they were being installed. More recently various locations in Coventry have been used in the BAFTA nominated film The Bouncer starring Ray Winstone, All in the Game, also starring Ray Winstone (Ricoh Arena), the medical TV series Angels (Walsgrave Hospital), the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (Stoke Aldermoor and Binley Woods districts) and in August 2006 scenes from "The Shakespeare Code", an episode of the third series of Doctor Who, were filmed in the grounds of Ford's Hospital.

Venues[link]

Warwick Arts Centre in Warwick University Campus

Theatre, art and music venues in Coventry include:

• The Warwick Arts Centre: situated at the University of Warwick, Warwick Arts Centre includes an art gallery, a theatre, a concert hall and a cinema. It is the second largest arts centre in the UK, after London's Barbican.^{[dubious – discuss]}
• The College Theatre: used to be the city's main community theatre, it is housed at what used to be the Butts Centre of City College Coventry. It's a fully functioning theatre with flying scenery, full sound and lighting boxes.
• The Belgrade Theatre: one of the largest producing theatres in Britain, the 858-seat Belgrade was the first civic theatre to be opened in the UK following World War II. The theatre underwent a huge redevelopment and reopened in September 2007; in addition to refurbishing the existing theatre the redevelopment included a new 250-seat studio auditorium known as B2, a variety of rehearsal spaces and an exhibition space that traces the history of theatre in Coventry.
• Also currently being built is the Belgrade Plaza.
• The Ricoh Arena: located 3½ miles (5.6 km) north of the city centre, the 32,600 capacity Coventry City F.C. stadium is also used to hold major rock concerts for some of the world's biggest acts, including Oasis, Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, Rod Stewart, Kings of Leon and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is also one of the venues chosen for the footballing events at the 2012 Olympic Games. The adjacent Jaguar Exhibition Hall is a 6,000-seat events venue for hosting a multitude of other acts.
• The SkyDome Arena, which is a 3,000 capacity sports auditorium, and has played host to artists such as Girls Aloud, Paul Oakenfold, Judge Jules and Paul Morrell. It is the home ground for Coventry Blaze ice hockey club, and has also hosted professional wrestling events from WWE, TNA and Pro Wrestling Noah
• War Memorial Park, which holds various festivals including the Godiva Festival and the Coventry Caribbean Festival, every year.
• The Butts Park Arena, home of Coventry Rugby Football Club, holds music concerts occasionally.
• The Kasbah nightclub, Hillfields. It was renamed after refurbishment in 2007, but is still often referred to by its previous name, 'Colosseum'. By older Coventrians, it is still remembered as the Orchid Ballroom.
• The Criterion Theatre, a small theatre, in Earlsdon.
• Coombe Country Park, although outside the city boundary, Coventry City Council's only country park.

Sport[link]

The Ricoh Arena

Sporting teams include: Coventry City F.C. (association football); Coventry Buildbase Bees (speedway); Coventry R.F.C. (rugby union); Coventry Bears (rugby league); Coventry Godiva Harriers (athletics); Coventry Crusaders (basketball); Coventry Jets (American football); City of Coventry Swimming Club (swimming); Coventry Blaze (ice hockey); Four Masters G.A.A. Club (Gaelic football); Coventry United F.C. (association football).

In football, Coventry City have been in existence since the late 19th century, but did not reach the top flight of the Football League until 1967, when they were promoted as Second Division champions. Their highest league position so far is sixth place in the First Division in 1970, when they qualified for the European Fairs Cup (later the UEFA Cup, now The Europa League) in 1970–71. Their only major trophy to date is the FA Cup which was won in 1987 with a 3–2 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley.

Coventry City were founder members of the Premier League in 1992, but currently play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, where they have been since 2001, following relegation after 34 successive seasons of top flight football. Their current stadium is the 32,600 capacity Ricoh Arena, which opened in Rowleys Green in the north of the city in 2005, replacing 106-year-old Highfield Road to the east of the city centre.