Coventry history

The City

Coventry is an ancient city. It is likely that Coventry grew from a settlement of the Bronze Age near the town centre where Coventry's bowl shape and, at that time large flowing river and lakes, created the ideal settlement area, with mild weather and thick woods: food, water and shelter would have be easily provided.

The first chronicled event in the history of Coventry took place in 1016 when King Canute and his army of Danes were laying waste to many towns and villages in Warwickshire in a bid to take control of England, and on reaching the settlement of Coventry, destroyed the Saxon nunnery. Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva (a corruption of her given name, "Godgifu") rebuilt on the remains of the nunnery to found a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St. Mary for an abbot and 24 monks.

In 1635, when the English Civil War broke out between King Charles I and Parliament, Coventry became a stronghold of the Parliamentarian forces. On several occasions Coventry was attacked by Royalists, but each time they were unable to breach the city walls. The Church of St John the Baptist was used to confine Royalist prisoners. Hostile attitudes of the city folk towards Royalist prisoners held in Coventry during the English Civil War are believed to have been the origin of the phrase "sent to Coventry", which in Britain means "to be ostracised". Although their physical needs were catered for, the Royalist prisoners were literally never spoken to by anybody.
Coventry castle was built in the 11th century by the Earl of Chester. It is only relatively recently that the existence of a castle has been discovered or at least recognised. It was razed to the ground in the 12th Century and then rebuilt again. After a lot of warring and fighting in the mid 12th Century the castle fell into disrepair. It has even been suggested that the crumbling hulk of the castle was used as a quarry for stone to build other town structures and the city wall. There is a part of the old castle that still exists. This is the part of St Mary's Guildhall called Caesars Tower. It is still viewable today. There is reference to the decaying state of the castle in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. When Mary Queen of Scots was to be imprisoned there it was thought to be unfit and so she was housed in Caesar's tower, part of St Mary's Guildhall.

The University

The University of Warwick is located on the outskirts of Coventry and is regarded as one of the country's leading universities. It was established in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand access to higher education, and in 2000 Warwick Medical School was opened as part of an initiative to train more doctors in Britain. According to the latest Guardian University League Table 2010, Warwick is ranked 4th in the UK after Oxford, Cambridge and the University of St. Andrews.

Notable Alumni

•Baroness Amos – Britain's first female black Cabinet Minister, now the European Union special representative to the African Union
•David Davis – Conservative former Shadow Home Secretary
•Sting – lead singer of The Police and solo artist (did not graduate)
•Ruth Jones - actress best known for her role as Myfanwy in Little Britain and Nessa in Gavin and Stacey.
•Stephen Merchant – wrote, directed and acted in the British television series The Office and Extras
•Frank Skinner, then Chris Collins – comedian/actor/writer