The cycle and motor manufacturing industries brought into existence a wide variety of subsidiary trades. Sir Frederick Gibberd, architect and designer, was born in Coventry, and amongst the buildings for which he is best known are Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and Didcot Power Station. More than 4,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with around three quarters of the city's industrial plants. [1], Little is known of the earliest history of Coventry, but prior to its existence there were settlements in nearby Corley and Baginton, which came to be occupied by the Romans, and later by Saxon invaders. In October 2006, Coventry City Council signed the Nottingham Declaration, joining 130 other UK councils in committing to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the council and to help the local community do the same. Julieanne Savage, About  |  Contact Us  |  Site Map  |  Contribute  |  Privacy, Football clubs ordered after establishment, Premier League – facts, stats and history. Along with this, the city has several retail parks located out of the city centre and its own shopping mall in the heart of the city: The only professional football team representing the city are Coventry City F.C., formed in 1883 as "Singers F.C.". A possible second phase of the Phoenix Initiative is also in the offing, although both of these plans are still on the drawing-board. Running through the town was the River Sherbourne which provided a source of water and power for mills, and there were plentiful supplies of timber nearby for fuel and building purposes. 299. The Belgrade Theatre was also constructed along with the Herbert Art Gallery. When he visited Coventry c. 1540, the noted antiquarian John Leland was impressed by the "many fayre towers in the waulle" and "stately churches in the harte and midle of the towne" as well as its "many fayre stretes...well buyldyd with tymbar. Almost a quarter of Coventry residents, 23.0% (72,896), identified themselves as having no religion and 6.4% did not declare any religion.[61]. He was Following the Local Government Act 1929, the public health committee of the corporation took control of the workhouse hospital, then renamed the Gulson Road Municipal Hospital. [61], Construction of a new Council House to take on the administration duties performed by St. Mary's Hall, and designed to be in keeping with its medieval surroundings, began in 1913 but was delayed during World War I. [68], Coventry's darkest hour came during World War II when Adolf Hitler singled out Coventry for heavy bombing raids. Leofric had been appointed Earl by Canute and was one of the three most powerful men in the country, while Godiva was already a woman of high status before marriage and owned much land. It later became a metropolitan district of the West Midlands county under the Local Government Act 1974, even though it was entirely separate to the Birmingham conurbation area (this is why Coventry appears to unnaturally "jut out" into Warwickshire on political maps of the UK). The last Coventry machine tool manufacturer was Matrix Churchill which was forced to close in the wake of the Iraqi Supergun (Project Babylon) scandal. The company became Rover. His policy of appeasement towards Hitler was co... The cathedral contains the tapestry Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph by Graham Sutherland. Coventry differs from many other towns and cities in that there was no period of rebuilding and redevelopment in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries. About four miles (6.4 kilometres) from the city centre and just outside Coventry in Baginton is the Lunt Fort, a reconstructed Roman fort on its original site. It was mainly to educate city children who might not get out to the countryside very often. During the industrialisation phase of Coventry's evolution, connections were made with the expanding national transport networks. During the bombing of 1940–41, Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital was virtually destroyed, and although Gulson and Whitley hospitals also sustained damage, Gulson became the main casualty hospital while most other services were dispersed to other hospitals in the region.