20 facts you might not know about the Coventry Blitz (1 Viewer)

The darkest of dark days in our history - and we still suffer from its impact now. Imagine how big a tourist pull our beautiful medieval city would have been. We would be a completely different City now.......

Covkid1968# said:

The darkest of dark days in our history - and we still suffer from its impact now. Imagine how big a tourist pull our beautiful medieval city would have been. We would be a completely different City now.......

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Much damage to the character of the city was done by Donald Gibson's brutalist Festival of Britain redevelopment of the city centre.

The German city of Dresden was rebuilt as was after the war, the same could have been done here.

The like below shows how it was from the limited photos that are available, it wasn't medieval but it was an historic provincial town with a proud heritage and some beautiful architecture.

Covkid1968# said:

The darkest of dark days in our history - and we still suffer from its impact now. Imagine how big a tourist pull our beautiful medieval city would have been. We would be a completely different City now.......

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I agree with CaptainDart that a lot of the stuff was done post-war, even some that did not need knocking down.

There is still a fair amount of history there - some of it is hidden away behind more modern facades (i.e. many timber framed buildings were covered with brick in Victorian times to make them seem more up to date). Others are a lot of it is spread out so it doesn't give an impression of a historic city. Even some of the stuff that is, like Spon St, is fake as many of the buildings were moved there as part of the plan and so it isn't actually in context and therefore not really 'historical'.

I'm not sure it would have been great had we kept everything anyway - while the city centre may have looked nice and old for tourists, how well would it serve the needs of modern society? Would we have just needed to spread out to allow for all the new stuff that was needed, and then we may have ended up just being attached to the 'Greater Birmingham' area, with it stretching for here to Wolverhampton.

In my perfect world I'd have moved all the older buildings (where possible) into the area around the three spires (say Greyfriars Lane) and made that the historic quarter, keeping the character with narrow streets etc. and maybe even making some of it like a living museum, used for education linking in with the Herbert. Then tried to make Manor House Drive and Greyfriars Lane link up better and connect that route directly to a route from the train station. I'd also have kept the area north to north north east from the train station free from any tall development to give an unobstructed view of the three spires from the train station.

The Benedictine monastery had to close as no one bothered to visit
We don’t deserve nice things

The 60s Highways obsession for building ring roads and ripping out the historic fabric of places would have still happened, as it did in pretty much every city in England.... even those not bombed.

Little known fact is we have actually been allowed to build things other than grim plastic student blocks for the last fifty years.

Had a walk round Oxford after the game last week. High St, Cornmarket St and George St. Couldn't help think how Coventry was like this and wish it still was

My grandad was killed that night. Just an ordinary bloke doing a night shift in a local small factory.

Houchens Head said:

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My grandad was killed that night. Just an ordinary bloke doing a night shift in a local small factory.

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Connection to a man born 160 years ago, remarkable

Brighton Sky Blue said:

Connection to a man born 160 years ago, remarkable

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I never knew him personally, but my nan, (his wife), died when I was 15. I knew her very well. I adored her. She was born in 1899 in Cork.

My mum's experience of that night.

Brighton Sky Blue said:

Connection to a man born 160 years ago, remarkable

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Only 150 years. He was 65 when he was killed.

Houchens Head said:

Only 150 years. He was 65 when he was killed.

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My phone typo apologises to the big man

Houchens Head said:

View attachment 41886
My grandad was killed that night. Just an ordinary bloke doing a night shift in a local small factory.

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My mum was 11 years old and she, her 8 year old sister & mum sheltered under the stairs in their house in Green Lane whilst her dad was involved with watching the bombs fall on the factories & raising the alarm, probably a title for it but I don't know what it is/was. They hid under the stairs as my grandad loved his garden and wouldn't have a bomb shelter in it & didn't want one in the house either!

The demolition and reconstruction of the old medieval city actually began long before the Blitz. There was a joke at the time that Hitler had done much of the city planner's job for them.

N&G lost their house, nan lived through thankfully, grandad away at war. No family lived lost in it AFAIK, certainly none of our living relatives have mentioned it if they did.

ccfcchris said:

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Brilliant and hilarious.

dutchman said:

The demolition and reconstruction of the old medieval city actually began long before the Blitz. There was a joke at the time that Hitler had done much of the city planner's job for them.

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Without being pedantic, the first Town Planning Act only came into being after the war in about 1947.
Before that Planners didn't really exist. Buildings were dealt with by a hybrid mix of architects, builders and Public Health officials, the mayor and wealthy individuals. There was no overall plan and was fairly reactionary with sometimes just some basic rules and codes on building form.