 The replica of the cross was erected in 1976. | |
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| 52°24′30″N1°30′31″W / 52.40822°N 1.50858°W | |
| Location | Coventry |
|---|---|
| Type | Market Cross |
| Beginning date | c.1300, 1423, 1544, 1976 |
Coventry Cross was an important landmark in the cathedral city of Coventry, England. Standing between Cuckoo Lane and Holy Trinity Church and in the alley known as Trinity Churchyard, it was a modern version of the historic market cross, such as was common in many medieval market towns.
From medieval times, a cross stood at the southern end of Cross Cheaping, where it met Broadgate, about 100 metres from where the new one stands. This was the market place, and place of executions, [1] and the earliest reference to a cross here is in a document dated 1300. [2] This cross would probably have been carved from local red sandstone in the shape of a tall shaft topped with a simple cross, as was the style in the rest of the city and surrounding area.
On 24 May 1423 the court-leet ordered that a new cross be made and on the Thursday after Saint Matthias day in 1423 the mayor, Henry Peyto, held a meeting in St Mary's hall which officially sanctioned the building of a cross in Cross Cheaping. [2] The Leet contributed £50 and the mayor also made a personal contribution to pay for it. The City Annals describe this cross as standing on eight pillars, and it stood for over a hundred years before it became unsafe and part of the upper section had to be taken down in 1537.
By 1506 discussions had already begun about replacing it, and a fund started. In 1541, a former mayor of London, Sir William Hollyes, who had been born in Stoke, Coventry, left £200 in his will for a new cross, and building started the same year. [3]
An indenture details how the cross was to be made, based on one in Abingdon, Berkshire, and made of ‘seasonable free-stone of the quarries of Attleborough and Rowington’. It was to be built on the same spot as the old cross and on every pinnacle of the lower storey have ‘a beast or fowl holding up a fan’. On each pinnacle of the second storey there was to be ‘the image of a naked boy with a target and holding up a fan’. [2] The cross was 57 feet high, in four sections, with statues in the top three storeys: the lower of these holding statues of Henry VI, King John, Edward I, Henry II, Richard I and Henry. Above these were Edward III, Henry II, Richard III, St Michael and St George. The top storey held statues of St Peter, St James, St Christopher and two monks, with representations of Liberty and Justice at the highest point. Several of these statues were said to have been taken from Whitefriars and set in the cross. [2] The new Coventry Cross was completed in 1544. It was brightly painted, and covered with gold. The city treasurer's accounts of 1545 include the entry "To Matthew Gilder for gildyng the crosse £8 6s. 8p." [2] [4] The nearby Golden Cross public house, erected some 40 years later at 8 Hay Lane, was probably named after it, as well as the 16th-century Coventry Cross public house at 29 Cross Cheaping. [5]
The City carried out repairs to the cross in 1608–9, and replaced a figure of Jesus with one of Lady Godiva. [3]
During the Commonwealth, as a result of puritan objections, six sets of royal coats of arms were removed from the cross in December 1650. According to the diary entry of John Evelyn on 3 August 1654, the cross was still in good condition. In 1688 major restoration work included re-gilding of most of the cross, and it was said at the time that on a sunny day people could hardly bear to look directly at it. [3]
The 1544 cross stood for two centuries, but then decay was once more setting in. A map drawn by Samuel Bradford in 1748/9 shows the cross in detail. But in 1753 and 1755 the top two stages were removed to avoid danger of collapse.
In 1771 Coventry Council authorised the demolition of the cross, [3] though some remains were still there after 1778 when a visitor to Coventry wrote that the decayed cross "...has no longer anything to please". The cross was then totally removed and its parts reused. Three of the statues still survive: two are currently in St Mary's Guildhall, while a statue of Henry VI is in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. Some of the stone from the demolished cross was rumoured to have been used to rebuild Spon Bridge over the River Sherbourne in Spon End. [6]
Henry VI was a figure of particular importance in the Coventry area. A Lancastrian king, he was put to death in the Tower. A cult of veneration then grew to 'Henry the Martyr', and despite early attempts to ban it (in 1479 the Archbishop of York banned veneration of his image), it continued to grow, encouraged by Henry VII. In 1494 Pope Alexander VI set up a commission of enquiry to look into miracles attributed to him and by 1499 his cult was even bigger than that of Thomas Becket. It was particularly strong in Coventry which supported the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, and which in 1456 was home to Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI, who moved the court there as London grew increasingly Yorkist in sympathy. The veneration of Henry VI only came to an end with the Dissolution of the Monasteries. [7]
In the 1930s it was proposed to build a replica of the 1544 cross, but work did not begin until the 1960s. The modern cross — made by sculptor George Wagstaffe — was finally unveiled in 1976, 100 metres from the original position. Based on its medieval precursor, it has four tiers and is surrounded by a flight of four steps.
In 2007 the City Council considered relocating the Cross to form the centrepiece of a new public square at Ironmonger Row and the Burges, but a public consultation indicated that it should not be moved. [8] In 2018 the council wanted to have it taken down, but the people of Coventry started a petition to stop this. This failed, and by January 2019 the cross had been removed. [9]
In 2023, the cross was reinstated in a more prominent location, close to the proposed 2007 relocation. [10]
The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is Christopher Cocksworth and the current dean is John Witcombe.
Coventry, a city in the West Midlands, England, grew to become one of the most important cities in England during the Middle Ages due to its booming cloth and textiles trade. The city was noted for its part in the English Civil War, and later became an important industrial city during the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the centre of the British bicycle and later motor industry. The devastating Blitz in 1940 destroyed much of the city centre, and saw its rebuilding during the 1950s and 60s. The motor industry slumped during the 1970s and 80s, and Coventry saw high unemployment. However, in the new millennium the city, along with many others saw significant urban renaissance and in 2017 it was announced that the city had been awarded the title of 2021 UK City of Culture.
Henley-in-Arden is a town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in Warwickshire, England. The town takes its last name from the former Forest of Arden. Henley is known for its variety of historic buildings, some of which date back to medieval times, and its wide variety of preserved architectural styles. The one-mile-long (1.6 km) High Street is a conservation area.
Stivichall or Styvechale is a suburb of the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. It is a mainly residential area in the south of the city.
The Coventry Blitz or Coventration of the city was a series of bombing raids that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe). The most devastating of these attacks occurred on the evening of 14 November 1940 and continued into the morning of 15 November.
College Green is a public open space in Bristol, England. The Green takes the form of a segment of a circle with its apex pointing east, and covers 1.1 hectares. The road named College Green forms the north-eastern boundary of the Green, Bristol Cathedral marks the south side, and City Hall closes the Green in an arc to the north-west.
The Bargate is a Grade I listed medieval gatehouse in the city centre of Southampton, England. Constructed in Norman times as part of the Southampton town walls, it was the main gateway to the city. The building is a scheduled monument, which has served as a temporary exhibition and event space for Southampton Solent University since 2012.
St Paul's Cross was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart England, and many of the most important statements on the political and religious changes brought by the Reformation were made public from here. The pulpit stood in 'the Cross yard', the open space on the north-east side of St Paul's Churchyard, adjacent to the row of buildings that would become the home of London's publishing and book-selling trade.
The A4053 Coventry ring road is a 2.25-mile (3.62 km) ring road in Coventry, England, which forms a complete dual-carriageway loop around the city centre. The road encompasses the old and new Coventry Cathedrals, the city's shopping areas and much of Coventry University. With the exception of one roundabout at junction 1, the ring road's nine junctions are entirely grade separated and closely spaced, with weaving sections between them, some as short as 300 yards (270 m), giving the road a reputation for being difficult to navigate. The junctions include connections with three other A roads: the A4114, A4600 and A429.
The Godiva Procession is an annual procession in the city of Coventry, England, which re-enacts the story of Lady Godiva. Godiva Processions have been held in Coventry since the 17th century.
The Golden Cross is one of the oldest pubs in Coventry, West Midlands, and one of the longest-established alcohol-serving venues in England.
The buildings known as Whitefriars are the surviving fragments of a Carmelite friary founded in 1342 in Coventry, England. All that remains are the eastern cloister walk, a postern gateway in Much Park Street and the foundations of the friary church. It was initially home to a friary until the dissolution of the monasteries. During the 16th century it was owned by John Hales and served as King Henry VIII School, Coventry, before the school moved to St John's Hospital, Coventry. It was home to a workhouse during the 19th century. The buildings are currently used by Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry.
St Mary's Hall is a municipal building in Bayley Lane in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It is a Grade I listed building.
The Old Grammar School, Coventry is a Grade I listed building in Coventry, England on the corner of Bishop Street and Hales Street.
Spon Street is an historic street in central Coventry, in the West Midlands of England. The street was once part of a route that ran from Gosford to Birmingham – a route which remained intact until the 1960s. During the construction of Coventry's Inner Ring Road, built to relieve traffic on the narrow city centre streets, Spon Street was cut in half and the route severed.
The Council House, Coventry is a Tudor Revival style civic building which acts as the meeting place of Coventry City Council and was built in the early 20th century. It is a Grade II-listed building.
Nuneaton Town Hall is a municipal building on Coton Road in the town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. The building is the headquarters of Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council.
George Wagstaffe is an English sculptor based in Coventry. He is predominantly known for his three iconic pieces of public art for the redevelopment of Coventry City Centre in 1960s such as the Phoenix in Hertfort Street, Naiad in the Upper Precinct, and his replica of the Coventry Cross outside Holy Trinity Church, which was temporarily removed in 2019, before being reinstated in a more prominent location in 2023.
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