Thomas Street

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Thomas Street

Postby PoundShopPeter » Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:12 am

Dutchman, do you have any images of Thomas Street ?

I have recently made friends with a wonderful lady who has kindly allowed my to scan old photographs etc. She doesn't have pictures of Thomas Street but mentioned it yesterday. Her family were not posh but had access to many of the well off families in and around Earlsdon through the work her parents did so she was talking about the contrast between these and walking through an area like Thomas Street.
The Coventry Telegraph is the best Newspaper in the world. Honest.
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby dutchman » Sat Jan 28, 2012 4:23 pm

Yes Peter,

Unfortunately most were taken when the street was already run down prior to demolition :cry:

This one is from V.E. Day 1945 but wrongly credited by the Telegraph as the Silver Jubilee of George V ten years earlier!
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Nos 41-44
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Nos 27-37 plus newly-built Givens House
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Nos 48-52
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Nos 64-67 inc the Coachmaker's Arms
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Corner of Albion Street and Thomas Street:
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The Prince of Wales, corner of Thomas Street and Moat Street:
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby PoundShopPeter » Sat Jan 28, 2012 8:51 pm

Thanks Dutchman. :thumbsup:
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby Spuffler » Mon Feb 27, 2012 4:41 pm

I have some very vague memories of Thomas Street and the surrounding area, but it's worth relating a GEC story! When televisions were being made at Spon St works, one guy decided he would steal one - bit by bit. All went well, until he got to the last item - the tube. He realised it was too big to get out of the gate, but having done some recces, decided on a 'cunning plan'! There was one point on the wall that was hidden from the view of the gatemen. He put the tube in a sack, attached a rope, and proceeded to lower it down over the wall, then walked smartly towards the gate. Just as he got there, a couple of Thomas Street urchins walked up to the gatemen, carrying the sack with the tube in it, and, "Look, mister, what just came over your wall!" The teller of the tale didn't know if he ever did get a tube out...!

Having said that I don't remember much of Thomas Street, I do clearly remember the old courts in Spon Street, when there were people still living in them. There was on in particular that sticks in my memory, not all that far from the Holyhead Road junction, and on the same side as Holyhead Road. Low cottages surrounding a cobbled yard, with a cast-iron lift pump in the middle of it. The cottages were a bit like Nos 48-52 Thomas Street in style. I think it was a shame that they were branded slums and demolished; preserving at least one would have been a great window on the history of Coventry! Do you have any photos of the courts?
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby dutchman » Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:38 pm

Spuffler wrote: Do you have any photos of the courts?


Just this one Spuffler:
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After the Butts Radial Spur was cut through Spon End in 1966, the courts were visible from the roadside. Kids aged from 3 to 17 used to play football together in the yard. It never occurred to me at the time to take a photo. :oops:
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby Spuffler » Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:33 pm

My God, that brings back memories!! That looks distinctly like a tap on a standpipe in the foreground...!

You could see into the courts from Spon Street, off the bus. The view was a bit like looking through a vertical letterbox, as the bus passed the entrance to each court, but I can picture the inside of the courts clearly. Some were quite 'lumpy' due to the cobbles settling over the years. As I remember, the courts were around three sides of a rectangle, as visible from the road, probably four houses along each side; there were also, I guess, either two or four more hidden from view behind the buildings in Spon Street, and facing away from Spon Street (if you see what I mean). I never worked out where the communal toilet(s) was/were. (Well, I was only about 5!!) The ones that I remember had lower built houses than the ones in your photo - so were probably older. There was often washing strung across the court, sometimes two or three lines of it,and there'd be a woman or two, in pinafore and turban tending it. (And probably a ciggy hanging form the mouth....)

They must have been a bit basic to live in, those houses!
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby dutchman » Wed Feb 29, 2012 2:52 pm

The chief occupation around here at the time they were built was silk dyeing so it suited the residents to have a courtyard across which they could hang the freshly died silk to dry.

Some courts also had a communal boilerhouse with huge chimney to facilitate the dyeing of fabric. It's not known if these are the remains of one such boilerhouse behind Thomas Street:
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby Spuffler » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:55 am

And those look like weavers' houses on the right of the photo, so could have been a steam engine shed. (I guess the steam engine wasn't very large) The top shops definitely don't look suitable for watch work - the windows aren't really big enough.
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby dutchman » Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:33 pm

Spuffler wrote:And those look like weavers' houses on the right of the photo, so could have been a steam engine shed. (I guess the steam engine wasn't very large) The top shops definitely don't look suitable for watch work - the windows aren't really big enough.


They are definitely weavers' houses (top-floor windows front and back) but they weren't engine-driven as far as I know.
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Re: Thomas Street

Postby dutchman » Thu Aug 26, 2021 4:52 pm

Another view of the Prince of Wales taken in 1963 shortly before demolition also showing the backs of houses in York Street and Moat Street. The picture was taken from a balcony on the Givens House tower block:
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Map showing the relative positions of Givens House, Corrie House, Prince of Wales, Thomas Street, York Street and Moat Street:
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