298 



COVENTRY. 



(JnTe ntry. endow a free school, which jsk©» lield in an aisle of the 

 V""" chapel. 



The Carmelites, or White Friars, had also a monas- 

 tery and church at this place, founded in 1342, hy Sir 

 John Poultney, who had been four times lord mayor of 

 London. There was likewise an hospital for lepers, 

 founded by Hugh Earl of Chester, the ruins of the cha- 

 pel and gate-way of which still remain. Bablake Hos- 

 pital was founded in 1506, by Thomas Bond, mayor, 

 in which he placed ten poor men, a woman to take caie 

 of their bodies, and a priest to superintend their spiri- 

 tual concerns. At the suppression of the religious hou- 

 ses, Edward VI. vested its revenues in the corporation, 

 which now supports there eighteen old men, with a nurse 

 or matron. Part of the same building is appropriated 

 for the residence of a number of poor boys, on a foun- 

 dation instituted by Thomas Wheatly, mayor, iron- 

 monger, and wool-card maker, in consequence of the 

 following singular incident. Having sent his servant to 

 Spain, in 1556, to purchase some barrels of steel gads, 

 or ingots ; he bought, by some inexplicable mistake, and 

 brought home, a number of casks filled with ingots of 

 silver and cochineal, which were offered for sale in an 

 open fair, as the articles he was directed to purchase. 

 His worthy master made afterwards every effort to dis- 

 cover the person who sold these, but ineffectually ; and 

 finally, converted the whole value, together with all his 

 own property, to the establishment of this charity. 



This city boasted formerly of a beautiful cross, 57 feet 

 high, and richly ornamented, which was erected between 

 1541 and 1544, by Sir William Hollis, lord-mayor of 

 London. After becoming greatly mutilated, this has been 

 lately entirely removed. 



St Mary-hall, near the church of St Michael, a mag- 

 nificent structure, was erected in the reign of Henry II. 

 The great room has a large window at the north end, 

 containing in nine divisions, the whole length effigies of 

 nine English kings, with various armorial bearings ; and 

 the windows on the east side contain portraits of many 

 eminent persons, formerly members of the Trinity gild, 

 who became possessed of this hall on the union of the 

 two gilds. Draper's hall is a handsome modern struc- 

 ture, ornamented with Tuscan pilasters. 



Coventry has long possessed rich and flourishing ma- 

 nufactures. Anciently, the chief of these were cloth, and 

 taps, or bonnets, which flourished here from before 1316 

 till the eighteenth century, when the cloth manufacture 

 was transferred to Yorkshire, that of bonnets having long 

 expired through the prevalence of hats. In a later pe- 

 riod, shags, tammies, camblets, Iastings,.and other wool- 

 len stuffs were manufactured here to a great extent. On 

 the decline of these, the manufacture of silk ribbands was 

 introduced about an hundred years ago, and is now car- 

 ried pn to a vast extent in the city and neighbourhood. 

 Before 1581, this city was celebrated for the manufacture 

 ef thread, the excellence of the blue thread made and 

 *lyed there being almost proverbial ; but the art seems 

 now lost. 



Though an inland city, Coventry enjoys great facili- 

 ties for trade and manufacture, by means of the Coven- 

 try and Oxford canals, which join the Grand Junction 

 and Grand Trunk canals, affording communications with 

 London, Liverpool, and Hull, and serving for the con- 

 veyance of coals from the coaleries of Hawksbury and 

 others. The Coventiy canal terminates on the top of a 

 steep hill ji little above the town, where two parallel 



branches, or basins, include a spacious yard between CuvtiHry, 

 them, for the landing and stowage of coals, lime, timber, '""""V""*' 

 and other rough and bulky commodities. The canal ba- 

 sins are skirted by embanked wharfs, raised so far above 

 the level of the yards, that carts and waggons, backed 

 up against them, have their bottoms nearly on a level 

 with the wharfs and gunwales of the loaded boats, afford- 

 ing the utmost facility and dispatch for loading and un- 

 loading. At one place, the bank or wharf is occupied by 

 a range of warehouses, having penthouse roofs projecting 

 over the boats, which can thus be loaded or unloaded 

 safely in any weather. At intervals there are gateways 

 communicating with the wharfs, yards, and warehouses;, 

 and in one of the gateways is a weighing machine, for 

 ascertaining the loads of coals or other heavy goods. 



About two miles and a half from Coventry, the canal 

 is carried over the river Sow and its valley by an aque- 

 duct bridge and considerable embankment ; and half a 

 mile south-east of Bedworth, it is conducted through the 

 grand central ridge of England, by an immensely deep 

 cutting in a stratum of red clay. A branch and rail-way 

 proceed from Shackleworth bridge to the coaleries at 

 Bedworth town, which are 120 yards deep. Sir Roger 

 Newdigate's canal branches off on the north-west of the 

 summit before mentioned, and, after rising by several 

 locks, crosses the same summit again at a higher level 

 before entering his park. About a mile from Coventry, 

 a meadow is occasionally irrigated by the waste water of 

 the canal, discharged over a slope in the bank, or a 

 trunk through its thickness ; a practice which may be 

 imitated to great advantage in many similar situations. 



In the Saxon Chronicle, the name of Coventry is Cou- 

 entre ; and in some of the old monkish historians, it is 

 called Couventria. Antiquaries have derived the name 

 from coven, quasi convent, and tre, a British word signi- 

 fying town, as if the Convent-town ; a strange conjunc- 

 tion of different languages, scarcely admissible. Others 

 have supposed, that the original name of the river Sher* 

 burn ma)- have been Cujie ; and thence Cune-tre, changed 

 to Coventry, signifying the town on the Cune. The con- 

 vent to which this city is supposed to have owed its name, 

 is said to have been anciently possessed by nuns under 

 the governance of a holy abbess, St Osburga. However 

 this may have been, it appears to have been destroyed in 

 1016, during the invasion of Mercia by Canute. On its 

 ruins, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, founded a new monastery 

 in 1043, for an abbot and twenty-four Benedictine monks. 

 According to William of Malmsbury, this monastery was 

 afterwards so much beautified and enriched, that Robert 

 de Limesie, bishop of the diocese in the reign of William 

 Rufus, is said to have taken 500 marks of silver from 

 one beam that supported the shrines. 



Leofric married the lady Godeva, famous in legendary 

 story ; who, compassionating the oppressions suffered by 

 the inhabitants from their lord, incessantly solicited in 

 their favour, till at length, weaned by her importunities, 

 he peevishly agreed to grant them a charter of immuni- 

 ties, on condition that she would ride naked through the 

 town, in sight of all the people. To this she consented* 

 modestly accomplishing the indecent task, by covering 

 her naked person by means of her flowing tresses, and 

 thus obtained a charter of freedom for the townsmen. 

 Long afterwards, in the reign of Richard II. the grateful 

 inhabitants placed portraits of Leofric and Gorieva in one 

 of the south windows of the church of the Holy Trinity, 

 representing the Earl holding out the charter, with an in- 



