IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Freeburn Causeway, COVENTRY, CV4 8FQ

These houses were originally built as council houses. Many of them have been sold off to private residents. The road is just off Charter Avenue on the south side of Canley.

Suburban road and housing, off Charter Avenue.

The Second World War led to large-scale destruction in Coventry, but also to large-scale migration of workers to the city and its engineering industries that were essential to the war effort. To address the housing shortage, the city council experimented with designing prefabricated metal-framed houses that could be built quickly using components mass-produced in the same factories. These houses were never put into production, however, as central government offered Coventry two thousand prefabricated houses instead. These were made by the British Iron & Steel Federation (BISF) and were called 'Type A' houses. They too used a prefabricated steel-framed system, to which panels of corrugated steel were attached, forming the outer walls of the upper storey. The design was by the architect Frederick Gibberd and the engineer Donovan Lee. Owing to labour shortages, Coventry never built most of these houses, but over two hundred were erected in Canley in the late 1940s and most are still in use. Often the steel walls have been covered with insulating cladding, but the two in the foreground of this photo still display the panels of corrugated steel, although the original windows and doors have been replaced. For more information see Coventry: The making of a modern city, 1939-73, by Jeremy Gould and Caroline Gould, pp83-84, available at the Historic England site https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/coventry-making-of-modern-city-1939-73/ . Connoisseurs of BISF houses will find many examples on Geograph: see for example Image], Image] and Image

Over Canley Brook, from Prior Deram Recreation Ground.

Looking along Charter Avenue to its junction with Sir Henry Parkes Road.

Nos. 1 and 2 Moat House cottages, no. 2 being the nearest, according to the small sign in the foreground. No. 1 was the birthplace in 1815 of Sir Henry Parkes, later to become Prime Minister of New South Wales. In the background are the rear of houses on Sir Henry Parkes Road. In 2010: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2110337 Timber frame and brick. Grade II listed.

At the end of Moat House Lane and facing woodland, a timber frame and brick building, dating from the 16th century, divided into two cottages, No. 1 and No. 2. No.1 was the birthplace, on 27 May 1815, of Sir Henry Parkes who went on to become Prime Minister of New South Wales, Australia. Grade II listed building. LBS no. 218537 Compare with 1978: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2111087

A roundabout on Kirby Corner Road, complete with one of the tallest street lights I have ever seen.

Taken from the roundabout junction with Sir Henry Parkes Road, looking east.

Just off the A45 Sir Henry Parkes Road leads directly to the campus of Warwick University. The side road from where the picture was taken is Centenary Road and is a residential road.