Coventry

We spent the morning in Coventry in the rain.

First stop was the former Priory. I came back later for an Undercroft tour.

Then we went to see the remains of Coventry Cathedral which had been destroyed in the war.

It was an evocative reminder of the senselessness of war.

The theme of forgiveness was evident in the displays

We didn't go into the new cathedral which had been built next to the old one as it cost a lot and it didn't look too interesting.

Then we split forces. Geoff checked out the motor museum and I did a tour of the Undercroft of the priory.

Geoff found the motor museum amazing due to the number of inventions that came from Coventry such as the bicycle, the motor bike and lots of development in car design. From 1860's onwards Coventry was foremost in such development.

The Priory Visitor Centre is a visitor attraction built over the remains of Coventry's first Cathedral. Excavation work gave archaeologists the opportunity to uncover details of much of the original Cathedral and tell the story of this amazing part of Coventry's history.

The first chronicled event in the history of Coventry took place in 1016 when King Canute and his army of Danes were laying waste to many towns and villages in Warwickshire in a bid to take control of England, and on reaching the settlement of Coventry they destroyed the Saxon nunnery. Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva rebuilt on the remains of the nunnery to found a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St. Mary. The subsequent rebuilding and expansion of St. Mary's was completed about 125 years later.

When the monastery was founded Leofric gave the northern half of his estates in Coventry to the monks to support them. This was known as the "Prior's-half", and the other was called the "Earl's-half" which would later pass to the Earls of Chester, and explains the early division of Coventry into two parts.

Everyone agrees that Lady Godiva did exist and was a compassionate benefactor to the people of Coventry. Whether she rode naked through the town to get her husband to lift the enormous taxes or not is not clear but the statue of her is beautiful Geoff happened upon the clock striking midday which involves Lady Godiva coming out on her horse and Peeping Tom popping his head out of the window out to have a look. I missed it.

After Coventry we headed to London but decided to come off the motorway almost immediately to have a look at the map. We then happened upon the most beautiful little village called Stoneleigh full of very old houses. It turned out to be associated with Sir Henry Parkes as he was baptised there and went to school. There was a great exhibition about him in the church.

Some of the beautiful old houses and the old church.

Font in which Henry parkes was baptised and the school he went to.

We continued on our way after this and made a detour later at St Albans as it is Fish Friday at Wetherspoon's one of our favourite pubs. After tea we had a walk around the town. We have been here before and really like it.

We got back to Chopwell Close by 8.30. Incredibly easy trip back to London for once.