For our Christmas meeting, on 10th December 2025, we were fortunate to have a showing of a documentary film about the colourful 900-year history of Caludon Castle and one man’s journey to uncover it.
The 60-year journey refers to the length of time that John Clarke OBE has spent uncovering the fascinating history of the castle on his doorstep.
John Clarke was born in Wyken and grew up just 100 yards from the castle. He attended Wyken Croft and Caludon Castle schools and trained as a journalist on local newspapers. He set up Coventry’s first PR agency forty years ago and was a Chairman of Coventry City FC. He was awarded the OBE for ‘services to the community of Coventry’ in 2005.
John was joined by Mark Ellis who as film director and editor was responsible for the creative content of the film/documentary on the history of Caludon Castle.
The presentation covered the publication of the first ever book on the history of the castle, the organisation of a two-month exhibition at the Herbert Museum about Caludon in 2022 and the commissioning the first scale model of Caludon Castle as it was in 1590, created by CovSoc member Peter Garbett.
The work included organising and co funding a resistivity survey which revealed for the first time the actual foundations of Caludon Castle. The team persuaded Lord Clifford to agree to a 20-year loan of the centuries old Caludon Archives to the Herbert Museum. (His ancestors were Lords of Caludon in the late 18th and early 19th century).
A second edition of the History of Caludon Castle, with new research material, is planned for late 2026 or early 2027.
If you missed the meeting, you can still watch the documentary online from Youtube.
Alternatively, you can buy the book, A History of Caludon Castle: The Lords of the Manor of Caludon: by Stephen Johnson (Author), George Demidowicz (Author, Editor) and John E Clarke Obe Contributor). The book is available on Ebay (search A history of Caludon Castle) or purchase direct from the authors – drop a line to info@coventrysociety.org.uk and we will forward your message to John Clarke.
