The Churches of Coventry

The Churches of Coventry - A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains

Project Gutenberg's The Churches of Coventry, by Frederick W. Woodhouse This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Churches of Coventry A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains
Author: Frederick W. Woodhouse
Release Date: March 2, 2004 [EBook #11403]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CHURCHES OF COVENTRY ***

Produced by Jon Ingram, Program Manager; Keith M. Eckrich, Post-Proofer, Distributed Proofreaders

[Illustration: COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES.]
THE CHURCHES OF COVENTRY
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CITY & ITS MEDIEVAL REMAINS
BY
FREDERIC W. WOODHOUSE
WITH XL ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration: ARMS OF COVENTRY]
1909

BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES
COVENTRY
PREFACE
The principal authorities for the history of Coventry and its churches have been Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire" and the "Illustrated Papers and the History and Antiquities of the City of Coventry," by Thomas Sharp, edited by W.G. Fretton (1871). Besides these the many papers by Mr. Fretton in the Transactions of the Birmingham and Midland Institute and other Societies, and the "History and Antiquities of Coventry" by Benjamin Poole (1870) have been the main sources of historical information. The Author is, however, responsible for the architectural opinions and descriptions, which are mainly the outcome of a lifelong acquaintance with the city and its buildings, fortified by several weeks of study and investigation recently undertaken.
He desires to acknowledge his deep obligations to the Vicars of the several churches for leave to examine, measure and photograph the buildings in their charge; to Mr. J. Oldrid Scott for the loan of drawings of St. Michael's; to Mr. A. Brown, Librarian of the Coventry Public Library for advice and help in making use of the store of topographical material under his care; to Mr. Owen, Verger of St. Michael's and Mr. Chapman, Verger of Holy Trinity, for help in various directions, and to Mr. Wilfred Sims for his energy and care in taking most of the photographs required for illustration.
The other illustrations are reproduced from drawings made by the author.
CONTENTS
MONASTERY AND CITY
THE RUINS OF THE PRIORY AND CATHEDRAL CHURCH
ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH:
CHAPTER I
. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH II. THE EXTERIOR III. THE INTERIOR
HOLY TRINITY CHURCH:
CHAPTER I
. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH II. THE EXTERIOR III. THE INTERIOR
ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S CHURCH
THE GREY FRIARS' CONVENT (CHRIST CHURCH)
THE WHITE FRIARS
ST. MARY HALL
THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:
COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES
ARMS OF THE TOWN
VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BISHOP STREET
COOK STREET GATE
SEAL OF THE PRIORY
WEST END OF THE PRIORY CHURCH
REMAINS OF THE NORTH-WEST TOWER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH
ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH-WEST
INTERIOR OF THE TOWER FROM BELOW
THE WEST PORCH
SOUTH PORCH FROM ST. MARY HALL
SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY
INTERIOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE WEST
TOWER ARCH
BAY OF NAVE, NORTH SIDE
INTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH DOOR
THE CHOIR FROM ST. LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL
POPPY HEAD, LADY CHAPEL
MISERERE, LADY CHAPEL
CHEST IN NORTH AISLE
THE NETHERMYL TOMB
THE SWILLINGTON TOMB
ALMS-BOX
HOLY TRINITY FROM THE NORTH (ABOUT 1850)
PLAN OF TRINITY CHURCH
INTERIOR OF HOLY TRINITY, FROM THE WEST
NORTH SIDE OF NAVE-EASTERN BAYS
PULPIT
ARCHWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH PORCH AND ST. THOMAS'S CHAPEL
ALMS-BOX
CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST
PLAN
INTERIOR
CLEARSTORY WINDOWS
THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH
GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (PLAN OF CROSSING)
ST. MARY HALL
PLAN
PLAN OF ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BISHOP STREET.]
CHURCHES OF COVENTRY
MONASTERY AND CITY
The opening words of Sir William Dugdale's account of Coventry assert that it is a city "remarkable for antiquity, charters, rights and privileges, and favours shown by monarchs." Though this handbook is primarily concerned with a feature of the city he does not here mention--its magnificent buildings--the history of these is bound up with that of the city. The connection of its great parish churches with the everyday life of the people, though commonly on a narrower stage, is more intimate than is that of a cathedral or an abbey church, but it is to be remembered that without its Monastery Coventry might never have been more than a village or small market town.
We cannot expect the records of a parish church to be as full and complete as those of a cathedral, always in touch through its bishops with the political life of the country and enjoying the services of numerous officials; or as those of a monastery, with its leisured chroniclers ever patiently recording the annals of their house, the doings of its abbots, the dealings of their house with mother church and the outside world, and all its internal life and affairs. In the case of Coventry, the unusual fulness of its city archives, the accounts and records of its guilds and companies, and the close connection of these with the church supplies us with a larger body of information than is often at the disposal of the historian