Never-before-seen car factory pictures feature in new book

Pictures charting the city's motoring heritage have been published in a new book by English Heritage.


Main pic: A 1937 picture of the Standard factory in Canley, (inset bottom left) the Morris engine plant in 1938
and (inset bottom right) Daimler's The Motor Mills plant from 1920

Aerial photographs of Daimler's Motor Mills factory and its second site in Radford feature prominently alongside Humber and Hillman, both of which were in Stoke, the Morris engine plant on Gosford Road, Standard's factory in Canley and both of Alvis' factories on Holyhead Road.

Also included in England's Motoring Heritage from the Air are the Austin factory in Longbridge from 1921, Singer's site in Small Heath from 1934 and a 1929 snap of Fort Dunlop.

The book has been compiled using some never before seen pictures from the Aerofilms Collection of 1.2million negatives and 2,000 photographs dating from 1919 right up until 2006. It includes the largest and most significant number of pre-second world war aerial pictures taken in Britain.

Speaking to The Observer this week former Warwick University student John Minnis, a senior architectural investigator who specialises in transport, who led the project, described it as a unique insight into how the city's landscape has changed.

"Six or seven years ago when we started this project the Hillman and Humber factories were still there, and so was Ryton so it really highlights how things change in a very short space of time," he said.

"Coventry was at the heart of the British motor industry, but nowadays there is very little evidence that it was.

"Cars were made in great numbers and now most factories are gone forever."

Mr Minnis said it was a timely selection process deciding which pictures would go in the book with the Jaguar's Browns Lane, Talbot in Stoke and Peugeot's Ryton plants among the omissions.

"It was like a trip through history going through the pictures, and some of the earlier ones were a little on the fuzzy side because it would have been difficult for the people taking them as they would have been hanging out of an aircraft with a plate camera.

"Aerial pictures show just how completely an area can change in a short amount of time. In Coventry's case, having spent time there myself back in the 1970s it's very sad when you think about it because it was a place where some of the greatest motor cars were manufactured."

Pictures of Coventry Market and the much maligned ring road are also included in the book published yesterday (Wednesday) priced £35 from most bookshops, http://www.english-heritageshop.org.uk/ ... 0the%20Air and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Englands-Motori ... om+the+air.

- We have a copy of the book to giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning it simply tell us on what road were both of Alvis' factories.

Send your answer along with your name and full address to Motoring Heritage Competition, The Observer, 45 The Parade, Leamington, CV32 4BL. Or email your entry to comps@coventryobserver.co.uk, putting BOOK COMP in the subject field.

The closing date is noon on Friday, February 21.

The pictures in the book can also be viewed at this site: http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk but will require a considerable amount of searching by keyword. By registering with the site you will also be able to zoom-in on the pictures in incredible detail.