News

An exhibition of rare footage and photos brings the City’s past to life. The exhibition, at the Priory Visitor Centre Undercroft, shows visual records of a city’s past and present brings together three collections for the first time. Coventry Then & Now features archive photographs of the city, rare film footage of the construction of… Read more: Coventry Then and Now

The pioneering work on the jet engine by Sir Frank Whittle has been celebrated with a new set of stamps from Royal Mail. Alec Blackman writes on the BBC website…. Whittle, who was born in Coventry and founded Power Jets in Rugby to build the aircraft engines he designed, before going on to continue his… Read more: Jet pioneer celebrated with new Royal Mail stamps

Historian and CovSoc member, Peter James, tells us how the plague affected Coventry over centuries. Peter writes…. The first plague epidemic known as The Black Death initially appeared in Europe in 1346. Originating in South East Asia it spread along the Silk Road into the Middle-East, North Africa and then Europe. The bubonic plague secured… Read more: The Plague in Coventry

Historian and CovSoc committee member, David Fry, celebrates the 90th anniversary of the last Coventry Hippodrome. David writes….. This year marks the ninetieth anniversary of the beginning of the construction of the last of the Coventry Hippodromes. This fact was brought home to me as I read a short article by the son of the… Read more: 90th Anniversary of the Third Coventry Hippodrome

Historian and CovSoc member, Peter James, tells us the fascinating story of a Coventry company that excelled in several different fields. Peter writes…. Early Years : Foundations & Innovation Coventry Climax can trace its roots back to 1903 when Lee Stroyer was established in East Street  to manufacture petrol engines. Horace Pelham Lee, a former… Read more: Coventry Climax

On 12 th August 2026, a meeting was held at the Council House with officers fromCorporate Parenting & Sufficiency. In setting out the reasons behind the request forthis meeting, on behalf of the Coventry Society Tim Brown explained that theCouncil’s planning department has been receiving at least two planning applicationsper month since autumn 2025 for… Read more: Coventry City Council’s Children’s Service: Children’s Homes

We reported recently that Citizen Housing are planning to demolish most of the remaining blocks of flats in Hillfields. We noted that we will be losing the iconic winged roofs of the blocks. But as well as the buildings themselves, we will also be losing the names of the blocks, some of which are historically… Read more: What’s in a Name?

Coventry’s London Road Cemetery was one of the earliest municipal burial grounds in England. Designed by Joseph Paxton, its dramatic landscape of quarries, winding paths, trees and monuments remains an important part of the city’s heritage. Coventry’s London Road Cemetery is one of the city’s most remarkable historic landscapes. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, it… Read more: London Road Cemetery: Paxton’s Coventry Legacy

Coventry Society Committee member, David Porter, has been following up concerns raised about the condition of this Church in Coventry. David writes….. One threat to our heritage which has become more pronounced in recent years involves the growing number of churches at risk, with Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register for 2025 listing nearly 1,000… Read more: The Great Meeting House Unitarian Church

David Porter notes the passing of a building with a significant history.  David writes … In my role as a  volunteer at the City Archives, I have often found myself engaged in the process of scanning and cataloguing photographs of buildings when they were undergoing construction or repair in Coventry City Centre, some of which… Read more: Wild Rover no more