6tt 



COVENTRY. 



' A i -. \\T- P. 



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England on hu charger ; Lady Godiva. a female who ride* in a flesh- 

 ooloured drees, with flowing hair, on a beautiful gray hone; then 

 follow the wool-combers, knight* in armour, Jason, BUhop lUauw, &.C., 

 all in showy drenei, with a great profunion of gay riband*, plume* of 

 feathers, and accompanied by numerous banda of music. The whole 

 of the city companies used, before the pasting of the Municipal 

 Corporation* Reform Act, to accompany the procession. Many strong 

 effort* have bean made to suppress the unseemly exhibition, but 

 hitherto without success. 



The town is situated on a gentle eminence, rising in the middle of 

 a valley which runs east and west The river Slierbourne and the 

 Radford brook unite within the town. For sanitary purposes the 

 city is under the management of a Local Board of Health. The best 

 utreets an tolerably well paved. The town is lighted with gas. 



The chief buildings of Coventry are the churches. There are three 

 ancient churches, of which St. Michael's is by far the most remarkable 

 for architectural beauty and ornament. It was originally built in 

 1133, in the reign of Henry I., and wag given to the (Benedictine) 

 monk* of Coventry by Ranulph earl of Chester, in the reign of 

 Stephen. The *pire rise* out of an octagonal base upon the tower, 

 to au elevation of 303 feet from the ground. In the tower is a fine 

 peal of 10 bells. The length of the entire structure is somewhat 

 above 300 feet, and the breadth 104 feet The interior is lofty and 

 finely ornamented with rows of clustered pillars and arches, with a 

 roof of curiously carved oak, and numerous windows of ancient 

 coloured glass. It has been recently repewed. The organ in St. 

 Michael's church is said to be one of the best in the kingdom. Trinity 

 church H a gothic edifice, but heavier and less elegant than St. Michael's. 

 The height of its spire is 237 feet The Earl of Shrewsbury furnished 

 a splendid stained glass window to this church in 1834. The building 

 has been recently cased with stone on the west end and the north 

 Bide. St. John's is a plain cruciform structure, founded by the 

 Merchant's Guild in the reign of Edward III. Three churches have 

 lieen built within the last twenty years. Christ church, erected in 

 1832, was built from a design by Riokman; attached to it is the fine 

 old tower and spire of the Gray Friars church. The others are 

 T'S, built in 1S41, and St. Thomas's, built in 1848. There are 

 in Coventry four places of worship for Independents, and one each 

 for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists, General and Particular 

 Baptists Quakers, Unitarians, and Roman Catholics. Two other 

 chapel* are used by various denominations. The Roman Catholic 

 church, rather a superior example of modem gothic architecture, 

 was erected in 1843. 



The Free school is a richly endowed institution founded by John 

 Hales in the reign of Henry VIII. Here Sir William Dugdale and 

 several other eminent men were educated. The income is about 

 1'oOt per annum : and the school has two fellowships at St John's 

 College, Oxford, one at Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and six exhibitions 

 at either university. The head master is also rector of St John's ; 

 the second master is lecturer of St John's. There are six Endowed 

 schools the Bablake school, founded 1560, having a revenue of about 

 yOOf. per annum, at which 50 boys are received at about 11 years of 

 age, clothed, educated, and apprenticed : liaiker, Billing, and Crow's 

 school, founded 1600, at which 50 boys are clothed, educated, and 

 apprenticed; this school is under the management of trustees, chiefly 

 of the Unitarian persuasion : the Blue-Coat Girl's school, which edu- 

 cate* and defrays part of the expense of clothing 40 girls : Bayley's 

 school, founded 17011, at which 40 boys are > . rn and 



Craner's school, at which between 30 and 40 children are educated : 

 and Fairfax's school for 40 boys. There are National, British, and 

 Infant schools. The Roman Catholics have a school near to their 

 chapel. The Government School of Design, commenced iu 1843, has 

 been found of great benefit to Coventry in connection with the riband 

 manufacture. There are a mechanics institute, a library belonging 

 to the Religious and Ucful Knowledge Society, a subscription library, 

 and a savings bank. 



One of toe richest and most interesting vestiges of the ornamental 

 architecture of the 15th century in Coventry, and perhaps in England, 

 U a rapacious building called St Mary's Hall, erected in the reign of 

 H.nrv VI. The principal room is 63 feet by 30 feet, and U 34 feet 

 in hewbt Its grotesquely-carved roof of oak, the gallery for minstrels, 

 the armoury, the chair of state, and especially the gnat painted win- 

 dow facing the street, help to furnish a vivid idea of the manner* of 

 the age in which Coventry was the favourite resort of prince*. A 

 tspwtry made in 1460, mil seeing 80 feet by 10 feet, and containing 

 agurw, U a curious and beautiful specimen of the drawing, . 

 ami embroidery of that period. This hall is the property of the cor- 

 iiutiim, and U used as a connoU-chamber and for civic festiviti-*. 

 In the market-place a richly -ornamented gothic crow, considered to 

 be one of the flneet in the country, erected in the 10th century, was 

 token down in 1771. It wae hexagonal, 67 feet high, with 18 niches 

 filled with statues of sainU and king*. The hospiul in Gray 

 Une i* very ancient, and richlv ornamented with carved oak. The 

 building called the ' Mayors Parlour' fa of the 16th century : it i* 

 need for judicial purposes. 



In addition to the building, already noticed, may be named the 

 County Hall, a stone edifto* tweeted in 1786, and the Drapers' Hall, 

 which i* elegnatly fitted up for Meenbliw tod other public entertain. 



meuU; the jail; the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital; the 

 Provident Dispensary ; a convent of the Sisters of Charity ; barrack*, Ac. 

 Beside* the patronage of many important appointments, the corpo- 

 ration had formerly the distribution of charitable fund* amounting to 

 73001. per annum. The following are the principal iinHtrti 

 this kind, which in Coventry are very numerous : Sir Thome* V. 

 Charity, founded in the reign of Henry \ ill., produces annually 

 between 2000/. and 30001. ; the Bablake Mcu's Hospital, of which an 

 income of about 1500/. is devoted to the maintenance of poor and 

 aged men, was founded by the will of Thomas Bond in 1506 ; the 

 Bablake Boy's Hospital ha* an income of about IMo/., appropriated to 

 the maintenance and education of young and poor boys. Betides 

 these, there are 12 other considerable charities, and several minor 



The Coventry Union-house contains some remains of the White 

 Friars monastery, afterwards the seat of the Hale family. 



The city is surrounded by about 1000 acres of lemmas and Minheiil- 

 mas hinds, and 246 acres of common laud, over which the freemen of 

 the city (about 3500 in number) and some few other persons have 

 long possessed peculiar privileges, which have interfered with the 

 appropriation of these hinds for the general weal of the community. 



In the time of the Edwards and Henrys the tradesmen of Coventry 

 were famed for their affluence. In 1448 they equipped 600 armed 

 men for the public service. Until the war between England and 

 France in 1694, the staple manufacture was woollens, broadcloths, 

 and caps ; and previous to 1580 there existed a famous manufacture 

 of blue thread ; the water of the small river .Sherbonrne, which paatss 

 through the city, being an excellent menstruum for dyeing this < 

 During the 18th century there was a flourishing manufacture of tam- 

 mies, camlets, shalloons, calimancoes, gauzes, &c., bub it is no longer 

 continued. At present the staple manufactures are ribands and 

 watches. The riband manufacture waft introduced about 1730, and is 

 supposed now to give employment to about 6000 persons in the city ; 

 it is said that 20,000 are employed iu riband-weaving in ('< 

 the neighbouring towns and villages. The weaving has hitherto 

 been almost entirely performed by the hand-loom, and the weavers 

 are iu general a poor class, but steam factories are probably now 

 superseding the loom at the workmen's dwellings. The leaders of the 

 trade are not the manufacturers, but a comparatively small number 

 of wholesale firms in London and Manchester, whose agents attend 

 at Coventry. Gimp and other trimmings are also made in Coventry, 

 and there ore large establishments for dyeing silk. The ma'. 

 watches hag been carried on hero probably as long as the riband 

 manufacture. 



There ore several guilds, or incorporated trading companies, some 

 of which are possessed of considerable property, which they spend iu 

 charity and festivities. 



The local position of Coventry U favourable for commercial opera- 

 tions, being nearly central between the four greatest port* of England 

 London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull ; possessing great facilities of 

 water communication by the Coventry and Oxford Canal, which opens 

 into the Grand Trunk navigation, anil having one of the main roads 

 from London to Birmingham passing through its streets. The London 

 and North-W astern railway pauses close to the town ; and there are 

 two branch lines, one turning northward to Leamington and Warwick, 

 and another to Nuneatou. 



(Dugdale, A nti'/ui/iei of Warteickrhlre ; History and A tttiquititt 

 ; Reader, Aew Coventry Guide ; Communication from 

 Coventry.) 



Glamorganshire, a market-town and borough, and 

 conjointly with liridguud the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the pariah 

 and hundred of Cow'oridge, is situated on the little river Daw, or 

 Th;v. . on the road between Cardiff and Swansea, in 61 28' N. lat, 

 -., distant U miles W. by S. from Cardiff, and 173 miles 

 \V. from London. The population of the borough and parish of Cow- 

 bridge in 1851 was 1066. The living is a curacy annexed to the 

 vicarage of Llanblethian, in the archdeaconry and diocese of LlondaJE 

 The town is governed by a mayor and two bailiffs, appointed in terms 

 of a charter renewed iu the time of Charles II. The borough is con- 

 tributory to Cardiff in returning a member to the Imperial Parliament. 

 Bridgend and Cowbridge Poor-Law Union contains 62 parishes and 

 townships, with a population in 1851 of 23,360. 



Cowbridge is a neat, cheerful town, consisting chiefly of one street, 

 which is of considerable width. The town was at one period walled, 

 and had three gate*, one at each end of the main street, and another, 

 which is still standing, on the south side of the town. The parish 

 church is an ancient and commodious building. TI:<- \Y' :<! v 



Methodists and Baptists have places of worship in Con bridge. 

 The Grammar school, an old I . connected with Jesus College, 



Oxford, through an endowment of Sir Leoline Jenkins, has on income 

 ndowmeut of 2ol. a year, and had 77 scholars in 1 J. Tin- 

 is free to five scholars, called pensioners, who receive 6i. a year 

 for four yenn at school, and are eligible for exhibitions at Jesus College : 

 ten other boys are admitted a* free scholars. There are a National 

 school, a mechanics institution, and a n- The market day 



is Tuesday : a market i* also held on Saturdays for provisions : live 

 fairs are held in the course of the year. 



(Hille, Book of South Waltt ; Communication from ' 



CO V. i . Isle of Wight, Hampshire, a town iu the parish of 



