IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Broadgate, COVENTRY, CV1 1NA

To the north of Broadgate.

In New Buildings just off Fairfax Street is now a Nandos restaurant.

Grade II* listed, the Blue Coat school buildings were designed by James Murray and constructed in 1856-57. They now house Holy Trinity church centre. The columns in the left foreground are remains of the west wall of St Mary's, Coventry's first cathedral, destroyed after the Dissolution. The remains of the north west corner of the cathedral served as foundations for the school building. Before excavation the ground level to the right was several feet higher at a level with the entrance to the school (see SP3379 : Old Blue Coat school, 1974). The ruins are grade I listed. The restored Tudor-style building in the left foreground now houses a tourist information centre and gift shop.

Alterations have to be made in this part of Trinity Street in line with the pedestrianisation of Broadgate.

Beyond Primark (formerly Owen Owens then Allders) is the pyramid-topped Hillman House tower block. To the right of Holy Trinity spire are the Old Blue Coat School by Priory Gardens, Trinity Street, the former Bishop Street sorting office and Samuel Vale House tower block. In the distance the land rises towards Meriden and Corley. A circuit round the tower: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2917704 < anti-clockwise | clockwise > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2917454

Taken from Broadgate - a week before Christmas - 2012

In the postwar shopping centre the building on the right was the Owen Owen department store, or is on the site of it. It is now a branch of Primark. An inscribed panel on the rear recalls the history of the location. In the left background is the recently-pedestrianised Broadgate and the half-empty Cathedral Lanes shopping centre. Image is a close-up of the 1954 panel.

The location is seen in Image It is such an unprepossessing spot that I can't believe it's the original site. The condition of the edges suggest that it's been removed from a framing surround. The panel is of Hornton stone, also known as marlstone rock, from Edge Hill, Warwickshire. The inscription reads: This stone stands on the site of Cross Cheaping The traditional market centre of this ancient city. Here also stood the original Owen Owen store which, With most of the surrounding buildings, was totally Destroyed by enemy action on the night of the 14th November 1940. This building was opened by the Lord Mayor of Coventry Alderman John Fennell JP on the 1st October 1954. Architects Rolf Hellberg & Maurice Harris

The view from a point to the right is Image The Primark building is on the left. The red panels are on one of the Study Inn buildings fronting Ironmonger Square. On the right is the Wetherspoon's house 'The Flying Standard'. This just one part of a programme of streetworks, pedestrianisation and landscaping in the city centre. How is it being paid for?

A striking contrast of architectural styles visible from Cross Cheaping. On the left, mock Tudor Priory Gate buildings (1937), centre Holy Trinity Church (dating from the 13th-16th centuries) and the spire of St Michael's (14th-15th centuries) and on the right, a department store dating from 1969. The churches get the benefit of the winter afternoon sunshine.