England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Coventry St Michael

The Parish

The parish of Coventry St Michael, one of three making up the ancient city of Coventry together with St John the Baptist & Holy Trinity, occupies the southern portion of this ancient city which lies to the northeast of central Warwickshire. Coventry sits roughly 18 miles southeast of Birmingham and 91 northwest of London. Prior to modern road-spread Coventry sat upon the route of the A45 from London to Birmingham but today a wealth of major roads meet and pass by the city. Coventry's origins date back to the early 11th century when a Benedictine priory was founded jointly by the Earl of Wessex and Countess Godiva. Later, in 1139 a castle was built to the east by the Earl of Chester creating a second city foundation site and a triangular centre emerged. Coventry was granted its market in the reign of Henry II and was walled between 1356 & 1423 with 12 gates for entry. The area covered by these walls roughly corresponds to that within the present inner ring road. By the 14th century Coventry was estimated to be the 4th city of England by wealth, a wealth developed by firstly wool production and then, and more profitably, by cloth production. With the industrial revolution cloth production notably shifted to the powered factories of the north and Coventry went into something of a decline. The twin trades of ribbon & watch making saw the city through. Modern developments abound, canals somewhat passed by, only a spur of the Oxford Canal arriving, but the railways, the main line from London to Birmingham & associated branches, saw Coventry's spectacular growth from its medieval core, industry arrived and Coventry became a major centre for car production following the opening of both Daimler and, what became, Armstrong Siddeley works, the latter evolved into aircraft production in the 20th century. Today Coventry is surrounded by modern motorways, the M45 to the south and the M6 to the north being supplemented by fast dual-carriageway road encircling the expanding city. From the medieval core Coventry now extends for almost 8 miles from west to east whilst it forms an industrial & commercial corridor through Bedworth to Nuneaton to the north. Coventry is drained by the river Sowe which heads south to join the Avon to the east of Kenilworth, the Avon heads westwards joining the Severn and thence to the sea through the Bristol Channel. Coventry is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in fairly gently rolling countryside where local heights rise, away from the river valley, to around 120 metres in the northwestern suburbs. St Michael parish occupied both the south of the city and an extensive once rural hinterland, it covered roughly 1,700 acres and would have held roughly something over 15,000 parishioners. In Domesday times Coventry was a holding of Countess Godiva offering 23 ploughs, a small wood and a mill.

The Church

St Michael's church is situated in the eastern part of the ancient walled city close to the inner ring road, it was made Coventry's cathedral in 1918. In an act of absolute infamy the German air-force deliberately targeted the cathedral cities of England in what became known as the "Baedeker Raids", apparently cities chosen for the entry in the German guide book of that name, on 14th November 1940 the cathedral was largely destroyed by a combination of explosives and incendiaries. It is a tribute, both to the city and the nation, that a new cathedral, incorporating the ruins of the earlier medieval building, has been rebuilt on the site. The original St Michael began as the chapel for the Earl of Chester's castle in the 12th century, a small aisled church stood by the later 13th century only to be rebuilt between 1390 & 1450 into a vast, at 24.000 square feet it was the largest English parish church, Perpendicular church worthy of a major market town. The modern church, by Basil Spence, was eventually consecrated in 1962, its design as Pevsner notes "not modern enough, or too modern or by the man in the street as too jazzy". Despite all these criticisms it was voted in a TV poll as Britain's favourite 20th century building. The design incorporates what remains of the destroyed medieval including its piece de resistance, the 295 feet tower and steeple. Like all inner city churches parking in the vicinity is best achieved using one of the city's many car parks and the site approached on foot. Given its vast size it is difficult, in the commercial centre and hemmed by properties,to adequately capture its full splendour.