Finham once owned by monks of Stoneleigh

[dutchman]

Centuries ago, Coventry's popular area of Finham was owned by the monks of neighbouring Stoneleigh.


Green Lane, Finham

The land was given to the Cistercian monastery as a source of revenue in the 13th century.

But it was taken, with Stoneleigh Abbey, by the Crown during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century and sold.

In the 17th century it was described by local historian William Dugdale as a village "that lyeth upon the back of the Sowe." He recorded that there had been 12 houses there, but that only four remained.

During the same period the area was acquired by the Bromley family of Baginton Hall and remained in their hands into the 19th century.

In the area known as Kings Hill, overlooking Finham, the monks of Stoneleigh built a farming grange which was sold after the Dissolution to a Thomas Gregory whose family held it until the 19th century. The site is now built over.

Evidence of prehistoric activity has been found in the area. In the 1940s, a small flint hand axe was found in the river by the golf course; in the 1920s, quartzite and flint implements were found in the same area.

During work on Finham sewage farm, which came into operation in the 1930s, two flint arrowheads were found. And in 1938 workmen digging a drain at King's Hill unearthed a small pot which was subsequently identified by the British Museum as dating from between 1500 and 1000 BC.

Finham's sewage works also made a bit of history of their own in the 1960s when they featured in the Michael Caine movie classic The Italian Job.

For the now famous mini sewer chase, the minis were lowered into the then newly-built sewers on the outskirts of Stoke Aldermoor and driven to the Finham works.

Finham is also home to the noted Coventry Golf Club. The club was formed in 1887 with a nine-hole course laid out on Whitley Common and moved to its present site at Finham Park in 1911.

During the second world war a portion of the course was cultivated on the order of the War Agricultural Committee and it was not until 1950 that the six holes were brought back into play.

It was one of the club's first secretaries, Hugh Rotherham, who was responsible for originating the golfing term, "bogey."

In 1890 Mr Rotherham conceived the idea of standardising the number of shots at each hole that a good golfer should take, which he called the 'ground score.'

The idea was taken up by the Great Yarmouth club and the competition style was introduced there for use in match play.

During one competition a Mr C.A. Wellman (thought to be Major Charles Wellman) exclaimed to club oficial Dr Thomas Browne: "This player of yours is a regular bogey man." This was thought to be a reference to the eponymous subject of an Edwardian music hall song "Hush! Here Comes the Bogey Man," which was popular at the time. So at Yarmouth and elsewhere the ground score became known as the Bogey score.

Jane Stirland