Twelve intrepid members and friends of Coventry Society braved the impact of climate change on Saturday morning 11 July for a 90-minute walking tour of Spon Street. It was led by Mark Webb, who has a long association with the city and is involved with the Historic Coventry Trust.
Spon Street has 25 timber-framed buildings from the mid-14th century through to the 17th century. 17 of these are in-situ and 8 have been moved from elsewhere in the city centre since the late 1960s. The Council owns 16 of the timber-framed buildings. A particular feature is the number of restored properties that were the homes for the lower middle classes as this is not the case in other cities. In fact, there are more 14th and 15th buildings than other cities in England (apart from York). One of the reasons for this is that the city was not subject to major economic growth and redevelopment from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century.
Geographically, most of Spon Street was outside the city wall which took approximately 150 years to complete with Spon Street Gate section being the last part to be completed in the 1530s (though the Gate was completed in the 1390s). It ran from St John the Baptist Church through the Spon End, to the bottom of Hearsall Lane. After the construction of the inner ring road, only the lower part (from St John’s Church to the ring road) retained the name Spon Street. Spon Gate, which was said to be the most beautiful gate in the city walls was demolished in the 18th century to improve access to the city – though some of the stone was rumoured to have been used in the construction / repair of the Spon End Bridge.
Tanning was the major occupation carried on in the area because of the availability of water from the adjacent River Sherborne. In addition, it benefitted from being outside of the city as the noxious fumes etc did not affect the citizens. Nevertheless the area was prone to flooding and much of the adjacent land was swampy.
Spon Street escaped major damage from the bombing during the second world war, but Spon End was badly hit leading to the Council declaring it as a comprehensive development area in 1957. This development together with the construction of the inner ring road and other developments in the city centre reduced the number of timber-framed building in the city from 100 to only 34 properties. This eventually resulted, after much debate, for the Spon Street to be declared as a conservation area under the Civic Amenities Act,1967.
Mark Webb in his talk highlighted a number of significant buildings including:
- 169 Spon Street – semi-detached workshop from 1390 – in situ rather than moved from elsewhere – owned by council and first property to be improved with funding from the council as part of the conservation area townscape scheme in late 1960s
- 163-165 Spon Street – Merchants House – originally in Much Park Street and taken down in 1970 and eventually rebuilt – example of prosperous property for a well-to-do merchant – would not have been the type of property in medieval Spon Street
- 159-162 Spon Street – four houses from mid-15th century – Half-Wealden-style – possibly homes for tanning workers and families – interestingly there were part of a block of six dwellings but two were demolished in the for the inner ring road.
The walk finished with an impromptu discussion on the future of Spon Street. Mark pointed out that he had never seen so many empty properties and there was a consensus that the areas is in decline when it ought to be a jewel in the crown for the city. Specific points that were discussed included:
- Lack of an up-to-date management plan for the conservation area
- Failure, so far, to make the links with the refurbishment of the former IKEA building
- Historic Coventry Trust is investigating the opportunities for involvement in the Spon Street properties.