Not Forgotten

Walsgrave war memorial on what is now the outskirts of Coventry was originally dedicated in 1921, and rededicated in 2007 after restoration

Despite its fairly early date, the years of the Great War given on the plinth are 1914-1918, rather than, as is often the case for early WW1 memorials, 1914-1919.

Distinctive Church

THE Holiday Inn I was staying at is on the edge of an area known as Walsgrave, or Walsgrave on Sowe.

Today it is part of the city of Coventry, but for many years was a separate village, having its own chapel by 1221.

The chapel was replaced by St Mary's Church in about 1300, with a somewhat-squat tower added in the 1400s.

St Mary's today

I was not able to enter, but apparently the church still has a Norman font from the original chapel.

Went To Coventry

EARLIER this month I spent an extended weekend in Coventry, based in a Holiday Inn at junction 2 of the M6.

I had thought it was fairly well-known that the expression "sent to Coventry," meaning to shun, originated in the English Civil War.

The story goes that captured Royalists who were transferred to the town, a Parliamentary stronghold, were snubbed by locals.

This was the version given by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, in his The History Of The Rebellion.

However it seems not everyone accepts this, at least not at Wikipedia and Wiktionary

One problem with Hyde's story, at least in my view, is that enemy prisoners would naturally be shunned.

But perhaps in this particular case some were allowed relative freedom to roam the town on parole, only to find no one would socialise with them, and this ostracising was maintained especially strictly.

In any event, this is the generally accepted origin of the expression, and I certainly do not have a better explanation.

More Painting Completed

Assyrian spearmen - 10mm figures from Newline Designs

Kenilworth War Memorial

KENILWORTH war memorial was officially dedicated in 1922, listing 130 people who died "in the Great War 1914-1919."

Nine omitted names were added later, and in 1951 the names were transferred to bronze plaques, with an additional plaque for 68 men and women killed in WW2 (a further name was added the following year for a man killed in the Korean War).

The memorial today

Another view

Several civilians were also killed in Kenilworth in WW2, one by falling shrapnel from anti-aircraft guns firing at German planes heading for Coventry.

A bomb that fell on Kenilworth in November 1940 killed 25 civilians, one of whom was never identified

Website Visit Kenilworth names the known victims, and publishes photos of them where available.

Kenilworth Church

NO one seems to know when St Nicholas's Church at Kenilworth was founded, but it may have been in the early 1200s, about a century after the founding of St Mary's Priory.

First glimpse of the church when walking down from High Street in the old town

Functional is perhaps the best that can be said about the interior, but my tastes may have been spoilt by viewing too many gaudy Roman Catholic churches on the Continent

St Nicholas's is built from red sandstone, locally sourced, and was much altered over the centuries, including benefiting from the demolition of St Mary's - by then upgraded to an abbey - by Henry VIII's men in the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

St Nicholas's cemetery has expanded into what were abbey grounds

Pounding The Streets

WALKING from Kenilworth Castle through the old town towards the ruins of an abbey takes one past something that almost every English village once had - a pound.

Kenilworth Pound

This is where stray animals, especially livestock, were, as the name suggests, impounded until their owners turned up.

Often there was a fee to pay for an impounded creature's keep, and possibly a fine if the stray had caused damage.

I have almost certainly seen such a pound before, but cannot recall doing so, which meant this made a for a pleasing bit of personal 'history'.

Abbey Habit

AT the far end of Kenilworth old town, away from the castle, are the ruins of St Mary's Abbey.

It was founded as a priory in 1119 by Geoffrey de Clinton, chamberlain and treasurer to Henry I, who, as his fortunes increased, also built Kenilworth Castle.

The priory was upgraded to an abbey in 1447, but was secularised less than a century later in Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Most of the buildings were dismantled, and only a few ruins remain.

The 14th-century gatehouse, which originally had another storey

Another view of the gatehouse, with St Nicholas's Church in the background

Sale Alert!

AN interesting collection of 54mm soldiers and what look like 1:1200-scale ships - I am no expert of model ships, so I could easily be wrong about the scale - has appeared in the window of an Oxfam in Bethnal Green Road, East London.

The shop closed early yesterday, so I was unable to go in for more details, but I took some photos.

There was a sign in the window saying the items would go on sale on Saturday, ie May 10.

I will be away that day, but I will be surprised if much of the collection remains when I am able to check again in a week's time.

Inspiring

EDWARD II was held prisoner at Kenilworth Castle after being overthrown by his wife Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.

While at the castle Edward was formally told he had been deposed, and was later moved to a castle in Gloucestershire, where he was murdered.

In 1575 Kenilworth Castle was the scene of Elizabeth I's wooing by the Earl of Leicester, later fictionalised by Sir Walter Scott in his 1821 novel Kenilworth.

Plaque commemorating where Scott apparently stayed in Kenilworth new town while researching his novel

The town green outside the castle

Another picturesque part of the old town

Alas, modern life sometimes spoils the view