COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES.ToList

THE CHURCHES OF
COVENTRY

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE
CITY & ITS MEDIEVAL
REMAINS

BY

FREDERIC W. WOODHOUSE

WITH XL ILLUSTRATIONS

ARMS OF COVENTRY

LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1909

CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOK COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.

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PREFACE

The principal authorities for the history of Coventry and its churcheshave been Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire" and the "IllustratedPapers and the History and Antiquities of the City of Coventry," byThomas Sharp, edited by W.G. Fretton (1871). Besides these the manypapers by Mr. Fretton in the Transactions of the Birmingham andMidland Institute and other Societies, and the "History andAntiquities of Coventry" by Benjamin Poole (1870) have been the mainsources of historical information. The Author is, however, responsiblefor the architectural opinions and descriptions, which are mainly theoutcome of a lifelong acquaintance with the city and its buildings,fortified by several weeks of study and investigation recentlyundertaken.

He desires to acknowledge his deep obligations to the Vicars of theseveral churches for leave to examine, measure and photograph thebuildings in their charge; to Mr. J. Oldrid Scott for the loan ofdrawings of St. Michael's; to Mr. A. Brown, Librarian of the CoventryPublic Library for advice and help in making use of the store oftopographical material under his care; to Mr. Owen, Verger of St.Michael's and Mr. Chapman, Verger of Holy Trinity, for help in variousdirections, and to Mr. Wilfred Sims for his energy and care in takingmost of the photographs required for illustration.

The other illustrations are reproduced from drawings made by theauthor.

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CONTENTS