IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Tallants Road, COVENTRY, CV6 7FS

A mixture of houses and small businesses near the junction with Phoenix Way.

Shop on the corner of Nuffield Road and Bell Green Road.

Mobile phone mast alongside the A444 Jimmy Hill Way.

Large suburban Hungry Horse pub on Phoenix Way. L-shaped back bar with eating and drinking areas left and right; pool, TV, games machines, play area. Cask ales on offer at my visit: Greene King Abbot, IPA.

Not a rose garden in Chandigarh, but a roundabout in Coventry: a monument erected by Coventry Sikhs on the elevated ground of a roundabout in the middle of a major road junction. The inscription reads: THIS MONUMENT, SHOWING THE SYMBOLS OF THE SIKH REGIMENT, WAS ERECTED BY THE SIKH COMMUNITY OF COVENTRY, WITH KIND PERMISSION OF COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL, FOLLOWING THE TRICENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE CREATION OF THE KHALSA." Beneath this is written, "THE FOUNDATION STONE LAID DOWN ON 11 - 2 - 2002 COMPLETED 30 - 6 - 2002" The monument takes the form of a truncated pyramid faced with granite and topped with a finial in the form of the khanda, the modern emblem of the Sikh faith and community. The khanda emblem also appears on the metalwork of the gates and fence enclosing the monument, while on the granite sheets of the upper part of the monument appears a gold emblem with the vertical khanda sword and chakkar quoit of the khanda, but without the encircling pair of kirpan swords. The khanda emblem appears on the Nishan Sahib, the sacred banner flown by Sikh places of worship: for a detailed account of its development and symbolism, see here http://www.sikhmuseum.com/nishan/index.html

One of a number of similarly-styled tower blocks dotted about the northern fringes of Coventry, standing like sentries as if to provide early warning of incursions by Nuneaton or Hinckley. They are distinguished by projecting white concrete bands and closely resemble designs by City Architect, Arthur Ling. Built c1961.

Monument erected in 2002 by various Sikh organisations, families and individuals, whose names are recorded on the black band around the base. The monument remembers the Sikh Regiment and the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Khalsa tradition among the Sikhs. It is topped with the khanda emblem of the Sikh religion. The monument is here seen from the southwest, looking up Bell Green Road to Longfield House, a 17-storey tower block built by Coventry city council in 1967. https://www.towerblock.eca.ed.ac.uk/development/bell-green-road The monument is both extremely visible to travellers crossing this very busy road junction, yet also very inaccessible, as it is perched on a roundabout inside several lanes of traffic, with no easy or safe public access. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-27429285

Inscription on a monument standing high on a roundabout at this busy Coventry road junction. It is usually described as a war memorial to the Sikh units that served in the British army from 1850 to 1945. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/204827/ https://www.coventrysociety.org.uk/heritage-and-history/coventry-war-memorials/other-memorials.html The rather ambiguous inscription describes the monument as showing the symbols of the Sikh Regiment. The 11th Sikh Regiment was created in 1922 out of Sikh units that had served in the Indian armed forces of the British empire, which in turn had their origins in the armies of the East India Company prior to the uprising of 1857. Sikhs served in these forces following the conquest of their territories by the British in the 1840s. Sikh soldiers fought for the British Empire in both worlds wars, in Europe and North Africa as well as in Asia. After India became independent in 1947, the regiment was incorporated into the Indian army as the Sikh Regiment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Army https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Sikh_Regiment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikh_Regiment The monument also refers to the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa, the tradition initiated by the tenth guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, in 1699. This was from the outset a military ethic, emphasising the protection of innocent people from religious persecution. This reflects the extremely severe persecution of Sikhs and other non-Muslims by the Mughal empire in that period; the ninth guru had been beheaded by the emperor Aurangzeb. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalsa