Updated - March, 2008
Coventry cathedral
Coventry register office -
Cheylesmore Manor House,
Manor House Drive,
Coventry,
CV1 2ND.
Tel: 02476 833141.
In 1642 came civil war between king and parliament. Charles I attempted to enter Coventry with an army but he was refused entry and Coventry remained in parliaments hands for the whole of the war. During the civil war prisoners were held in the Church of St John. In 1647 a writer said that prisoners were 'sent to Coventry'. The phrase came to mean excluded from polite society. In 1662 Charles II ordered the townspeople to destroy the walls around city (perhaps remembering how his father had been refused admission in 1642). Most of the walls were broken up and the stone was used for new buildings, but the gates remained. The traditional industry of Coventry, weaving and dyeing wool declined. On the other hand a new industry appeared. As early as 1627 silk was woven in Coventry. by the end of the 17th century silk weaving was an important industry. At the end of the 17th century the travel writer Celia Fiennes described Coventry: 'Coventry stands on the side of a pretty high hill. The spire and steeple of one of the churches is very high and is thought the third highest in England. In the same churchyard stands another large church which is something unusual, two such great churches together. Their towers and the rest of the churches and high buildings make the town appear very fine. The streets are broad and well paved with small stones.'
An ambulance service began in 1902. Coventry gained its first cinemas in 1910. The first motor buses in Coventry ran in 1914. The first council houses were built in 1917. The parish church of St Michael was made a cathedral in 1919. War Memorial Park was opened in 1921.In the early 20th century watchmaking declined. So did bicycle making. On the other hand car manufacture boomed in the early 20th century but it declined after the 1950s. In 1916 G.E.C. began making electrical goods in the town. At the end of the century the main industries in Coventry were engineering and making electronic equipment.
SPON STREET, COVENTRY.
Old Spon End Spon End Arches
Spon Street School, now known as Spon Gate Primary School, has a long history. It is thought that education has taken place on the site since 1824. By 1869 there was a 'ragged school' providing free education for the poor. Spon Street was the first Board School opened in Coventry after the 1870 Education Act. At first, parents were relunctant to send their girls to a school which used the old 'ragged schoolroom' but numbers soon rose rapidly. Before long, children were being turned away. The log book of the time records that not six of the 200 girls in school by the end of 1873 "could add a single line of an addition sum".
Then Spon Street began to make a name for itself. Inspectors' reports were full of praise; however, attendance remained erratic. Some parents could not pay the fees, or kept their children at home to mind the house or run errands. Some children from the poor and crowded courts of Spon End would arrive at school in winter with no boots and teachers would wrap their cold feet in newspapers. Fee paying, which lasted until 1891, was a constant source of friction. In 1882 one mother wrote scathingly to a teacher: "I told you yesterday I would send it when I had it I should think you think I can pick up the money in the street it just shows what you are I recon nothing of you'.
Low attendance was noted at May-polling time, during the blackberry season, at the Spon Street Wakes or when a circus was in town. Boys ran out to follow the hunt one day and did not return. In 1911 there was even a 'strike' for which 49 boys received punishment. In 1909 two mistresses were reproved for their lack of punctuality as "they were habitually one or two minutes late, arriving with linked arms in a most leisurely manner".
Spon End was often prone to flooding and there are reports of the classrooms being awash with water. Several times the log books record temperatures of 27-30°F and the coke stoves warmed only those closest to them. The high galleried rooms accommodated up to 60 children and were heated by a single stove. Mrs Jean Goode (a teacher there from 1924 to 1927) recalls: "On winter mornings the temperature was terrible; sometimes after the weekends the ink was frozen in the inkwells. It was either very cold or very damp and you had to move children from the back rows to the front to give them a chance to get warm".
In the early years children fell easy victim to disease like whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles and quite often to diphtheria and chickenpox. During the First World War there was a big drop in attendance attributed to "the intense demand for juvenile labour - illegal of course".
There are many colourful characters associated with the school. Mr Sidney Torrence was there for nearly 40 years, becoming temporary Headteacher on the retirement of Mr James Snell. For years he arrived on horseback from his home in Rugby, having joined the locals at a Bretford hostelry for breakfast. He was said to have had 12 canes of varying strength and thickness. Ernest Cooke was headteacher for many years. Son of a Coventry watchmaker, Ernest won a foundation scholarship to Bablake School from 1873-75. After serving as an apprentice pupil teacher at Holy Trinity School, Ford Street, he completed his training at St Peter's College, Birmingham, as a student teacher earning £15 per year. He became Headteacher of Spon Street School on 1 January 1909 and remained there for 18 years until his retirement on 15 September 1926. His retirement was to last for 37 years as he lived (in Spon End) to the grand old age of 104.
The school triumphed over appalling conditions. Some of the worst were experienced during the Second World War when the school and surrounding area suffered heavy bombing. An extract from the log book on 15 November 1940 reads:
"The great arial bombardment of Coventry took place. After three small fires had been extinguished the school was struck at 3am by a shower of incendiaries and struck from land mines. Almost the whole of the old girls' department was completely destroyed and much damage was done to the remainder. Every roof was shattered or moved and almost every pane of glass was broken."
Many children were evacuated from the area. Those who stayed behind were kept awake at night by raids and were allowed to sleep on mats in the school. School dinners were introduced. A production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' was held out of doors after the hall was destroyed by bombing.The school survived the war even though the main building did not. The old school building was patched up for many years but was eventually demolished as the school was redeveloped. Only the old infants' school building now remains as a
reminder of the school's history, and this building ceased to be used for
teaching in 1999.
Spon Street School became Spon Gate Primary School in 1947.
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