Lady Godiva and the Coventry Blitz of 1940

Today was a pleasant surprise spent exploring the city of Coventry. I did not anticipate this to be as interesting as it was as Coventry is not high on the casual tourists list of English cities to visit.  This is an industrial city that today consists of many modern buildings which replaced the medieval town after WW II. That being said is was a most fascinating day touring with Peter, his son and daughter-in-law. It was particularly fascinating because Peter, an official Freeman of the City, was so knowledgable about the city's history. He personally lived through the days of 1940 during the horrific bombing by Adolph Hitler's Luftwaffe.  There are many lessons to learn from the history of Coventry and its enterprising people.


The city of Coventry's first claim to fame is Lady Godiva.  Her statue is currently covered with Sky Blue ribbons to celebrate the win of the Coventry City football team.

The Anglo Saxon Lady Godiva legend stems from the 11th century. It is tale about the wife of Earl of Mercia who chose to tax his peasants to the extreme causing great hardship in the land. His wife took pity on the peasant workers and pleaded with her husband to ease this strain and rescind the new tax laws. After many arguments he finally proclaimed "If you are willing to ride naked on a white horse through the city I will remove the tax". To his surprise she said she would do this. The town residents spread word that this great sacrifice of the Lady was going to occur. They instructed everyone in respect to go to their homes, close their windows and not look at the Lady as she road by. This occurred and her husband obliged and rescinded the tax. The legend continues that one man named Tom could not resist. He opened his window a slit and looked at the Lady. He immediately became blind and became memorialized forever as "Peeping Tom". I couldn't resist to take a picture of the naked Godiva and the fully clothed Lady Julie.

The city is spattered with medieval buildings that miraculously survived the Blitz. This 15th century structure is the Ford's Hospital which is still in operation to this day providing senior care for "the old ladies of Coventry". This visit was a fortuetous find as I can now go home and cancel Julie's long term care insurance.

We then were taken to the Coventry Motor Museum. We learned through the displays about the industrious people of this city. Hundreds of cottage shops , gave rise to the development of the bicycle , the motorizing of the bicycle to become the Motorcycle and the development of the horseless carriage. I had known the name of Raleigh from my Youth and Triumph from my college days (The rich kids brought them to college) but I had no idea of the hundreds of auto companies which existed during the height of the industrial age. 

The Motor Museum is filled with rare examples of the machinist's work. The exhibits trace the rise and fall of the industry and leaves open the question of "Why did Coventry lose the car industry"? Peter's passionate view on the subject gave an insight into the workers' reasons for this decline. He spent his life working as an engineer for several of the car companies and also became an expert in motor cycle building and repair. Peter raced motor bikes most of his life and to this day at age 80 goes out for a spin on a nice day. He opened his own business in his later working life and sold and repaired motorcycles for many of the famous racers. 

Julie and Peter proudly showed me the museum bench, dedicated to their mother and father for their efforts in helping to found the Antelope Motorcycle club in Coventry. 

After the museum we had a chance to tour the ruins of the Coventry Cathedral and the new Cathedral which replaced it. The Cathedral along with the city environs were destroyed in the blitz bombing of November 1940.  I had learned of the story of the Cathedral years ago on my visit to Lubeck Germany. My friend Werner was the head of the St Mary's church that was bombed in response to the destruction of the Coventry church. I learned how after the war a special relationship developed between the congregations of Coventry and Lubeck. Choirs, ministers and youth groups have continued a 65 year exchange which stands as an inspiration of Christian reconciliation. Seeing the displays of the destruction and death on those nights impacted me on the gravity of that reconciliation and the reality of man's inhumanity to man. 

Peter,  Julie and I viewed the WWII memorials and I asked Peter if he remembered the night of the bombing? Peter was 7 years old at the time and has vivid memories of that night. He was home with his mother and father having dinner. Peter initially was evacuated to the countryside along with many of the children of Coventry however he was so unhappy he returned home. As they were having dinner the sirens went off which was a signal to go out in the backyard and get in the Anderson Shelter. We stood by a display of a Anderson Shelter as Peter told of his experience. The shelter was a corrugated structure which you had buried in your small backyard. The shelter had two wooden racks for beds, a few stools and shelves for some provisions. Peter remembers going in the shelter with Grandma and Grandpa Hall, and his mother. They also brought with them the dog, the cat, the parakeet and their goldfish in a bowl. Dad was not to come in as he was a volunteer in the Home Guard and responded to his duty as the night continued. The bombs began to fall and Peter remembers that as a little boy he thought it was quite exciting. To the adults, exciting could not be the word they thought of as the city was destroyed along with the Cathedral. They could hear bombs falling in the neighborhood. When the all-clear siren sounded they came out to find their neighbors house destroyed. Peters dad spent the evening putting out fires with the Home Guard, living through this experience. Years later he would have a beautiful daughter. When visiting St Mary's Guild Hall we passed the memorial to the firefighters who perished during these raids.

Next to the Cathedral we visited the St Mary's Guild Hall which survived the night and remains today an important building in town. Parts of the foundation date back to the 12th Century Coventry Castle.

Peter and I donned 16th century armor to pose for this picture in the Hall.  The main Hall was a beautiful room filled with stained glass windows. We visited a side room which was the room of the Black Prince who made many visits to Coventry.

I close my notes tonight with this view of a window in the council room of the Hall. It was a wonderful yet at times sobering day to tour this courageous city which has endured the war and the loss of an industry. I enjoyed sharing  Julie's joy in revisiting many places of her youth and reuniting with her brother, her nephew and his wife.