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England Warwickshire  Coventry

Guide to Coventry history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
Coventry is an ancient city that predates Birmingham and Leicester. It is likely that Coventry grew from a settlement of the Bronze Age near the present-day city center where Coventry's bowl-shaped topography and, at that time large flowing river and lakes, created the ideal settlement area, with mild weather and thick woods: food, water and shelter would have been easily found.

The Romans founded another settlement in Baginton and another formed around a Saxon nunnery in about 700 AD. This settlement and its surrounds was left in ruins by the attack of King Canute.

Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva built on the remains of the nunnery and founded a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St Mary. In time, a market was established at the abbey gates and the settlement expanded.

By the 14th century, Coventry was an important center of the cloth trade, and throughout the Middle Ages was one of the largest and most important cities in England. Coventry claimed the status of a city by ancient prescriptive usage, was granted a charter of incorporation in 1345, and in 1451 became a county in its own right.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Coventry became one of the three main British centers of watch and clock manufacture and ranked alongside Prescot, in Lancashire and Clerkenwell in London. As the industry declined, due mainly to competition from Swiss Made clock and watch manufacturers, the skilled pool of workers proved crucial to the setting up of bicycle manufacture and eventually the motorbicycle, car, machine tool and aircraft industries.

In the late 19th century, Coventry became a major center of bicycle manufacture. The industry energized by the invention by James Starley and his nephew John Kemp Starley of the Rover safety bicycle, which was safer and more popular than the pioneering penny-farthing. The company became Rover. By the early 20th century, bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major center of the British motor industry. The design headquarters of Jaguar Cars is in the city at their Whitley plant and although vehicle assembly ceased at the Browns Lane plant in 2004, Jaguar's head office returned to the city in 2011, and is also sited in Whitley. Today Jaguar is owned by the Indian company, Tata Motors.

HISTORY
Coventry is an ancient city that predates Birmingham and Leicester. It is likely that Coventry grew from a settlement of the Bronze Age near the present-day city center where Coventry's bowl-shaped topography and, at that time large flowing river and lakes, created the ideal settlement area, with mild weather and thick woods: food, water and shelter would have been easily found.

The Romans founded another settlement in Baginton and another formed around a Saxon nunnery in about 700 AD.

Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva built on the remains of the nunnery and founded a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St Mary. In time, a market was established at the abbey gates and the settlement expanded.

By the 14th century, Coventry was an important center of the cloth trade, and throughout the Middle Ages was one of the largest and most important cities in England. Coventry claimed the status of a city by ancient prescriptive usage, was granted a charter of incorporation in 1345, and in 1451 became a county in its own right

LOCATION
Coventry's central location on the fertile midland plain made it a natural area for development. It is largely flatland, with few natural hills. The area is ideal for the construction of the first canals at the start of the industrial age, and then railways and highways as development proceeded.

RELIGION
Coventry had no particular areas of interest in the religious sphere until WWII. As a city, it had a cathedral (the British definition of a city was that it had a cathedral), but nothing especial stood out in its history.

However due to the firebombing of the city at the start of WWII, the cathedral shell became a sign of hope. St. Michael's Cathedral is now Coventry's best-known landmark and visitor attraction. The 14th century church was largely destroyed by German bombing during the Second World War, leaving only the outer walls and spire.

The new Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to the ruins of the old. It was designed by Sir Basil Spence. At 303 feet (92 meters) high, the spire of St. Michael's is claimed to be the third tallest cathedral spire in England, after Salisbury and Norwich.



INDUSTRY
Coventry has for centuries been a center of British manufacturing.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Coventry became one of the three main British centers of watch and clock manufacture and ranked alongside Prescot, in Lancashire and Clerkenwell in London.

In the late 19th century, Coventry became a major center of bicycle manufacture. The industry energized by the invention by James Starley and his nephew John Kemp Starley of the Rover safety bicycle, which was safer and more popular than the pioneering penny-farthing. The company eventually morphed into the Rover car manufacturing company.

By the early 20th century, bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major center of the British motor industry. Many British marques were manufactured here, including Morris, Austin, and Rover. Bedford heavy vehicles were also built in the area.

The design headquarters of Jaguar Cars is in the city at their Whitley plant and although vehicle assembly ceased at the Browns Lane plant in 2004, Jaguar's head office returned to the city in 2011, and is also sited in Whitley.

By the early 1980s, Coventry had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and crime rates rose well above the national average.[citation needed] Some 30 years later, Coventry is now considered as one of the UK's safer major cities and has gradually recovered economically with newer industries locating there, although the motor industry continues to decline.

CEMETERIES AND GRAVEYARDS
Coventry cemeteries

London road cemetery

Coventry burial records

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES
Coventry Family History

Coventry St. Michael

genuki for Warwickshire

England Warwickshire  Birmingham

Guide to Birmingham history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

also see A Comprehensive List of Birmingham Parishes and Chapels page).



History
Birmingham's early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centers of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon rivers. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the densely wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden.

In the Middle ages, Birmingham was only a medium sized market town, with Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Worcester being much larger and more important towns.

Birmingham grew to international prominence in the 18th century at the heart of the Midlands Enlightenment and subsequent Industrial Revolution, which saw the town at the forefront of worldwide advances in science, technology and economic development, producing a series of innovations that laid many of the foundations of modern industrial society. By 1791 it was being hailed as "the first manufacturing town in the world".

This growth was triggered by the development of England's canal system, a modern miracle of engineering and tunneling. Altogether more than 2,500 miles of waterways were built. At that time, the longest man made tunnel in the world for water transportation was the 2,760 yard long Wast Hills tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham canal.



Canal building required a huge input of manual labor into the area, and, as the canals were completed, this labor naturally gravitated to the new industrial establishments that were being built up along the canal waterways.

The canals had fallen into disuse and disrepair by the middle of the twentieth century, but, due to the vision and foresight of a few local groups, they have largely been rebuilt and serve today as a haven for canal boat residents and holiday-makers.

Today, it is the most populous British city outside London with 1,092,330 residents (2013 est.), and its population increase of 88,400 residents between the 2001 and 2011 censuses was greater than that of any other British local authority.

Cemeteries (Civil)
The following website contains information for civil cemeteries within the city of Birmingham:


 * Birmingham City Cemeteries
 * Deceased Online
 * Findagrave

Other listed cemeteries in the area follow:

Witton Cemetery
 * Address: Moor Ln Birmingham B6 7AE United Kingdom Phone:+44 121 303 4363

Yardley Cemetery
 * Address: Yardley Rd Birmingham B25 8NA United Kingdom Phone:+44 121 675 8825

Handsworth Cemetery
 * Address: Oxhill Rd Birmingham B21 8JT United Kingdom Phone:+44 121 554 0096

Key Hill Cemetery, originally called Birmingham General Cemetery
 * Address: 248 Icknield Street Hockley Birmingham B18 6PP England

Parishes
A comprehensive list of Birmingham parishes and Chapels can be found at the following FamilySearch web site:
 * Birmingham parishes and chapels

Nonconformists
The following website lists Birmingham's Non-conformist chapels:
 * Birmingham Non-Conformist Registers

Additionally the following major religions are to be found within the city:
 * Baptist
 * Calvinist
 * Catholic (Roman)
 * Catholic (Greek Orthodox)
 * Catholic (Russian Orthodox)
 * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
 * Jehovah Witnesses
 * Lutheran
 * Salvation Army
 * Society of Friends

And the following Non-Christian religions are also present:
 * Buddhist
 * Confucius
 * Hindu
 * Muslim
 * Sikh

Civil Registration
Civil registration is the recording of births, marriages and deaths in England and began in 1837. Civil registration records were recorded at the local registration office and the National registration offices. If you cannot find the civil registration in one index, search the other index as they are different indexes.


 * FreeBMD - National registration office index
 * UK BMD org
 * UK Government office for BMD research
 * West Midlands BMD org

Birmingham Register Office Holliday Street Birmingham B1 1TJ Telephone: 0121 675 1000 Email: register.office@birmingham.gov.uk
 * Birmingham Registry Office
 * Birmingham BMD records

Local Histories

 * Local Histories Org for Birmingham
 * Visit Birmingham Local History
 * Birmingham City Council; Local History

Maps and Gazetteers
Map of Bath – Great Britain, Atlas and Index of Parish Registers on Ancestry.com
 * Google map of Birmingham
 * Michelin map of Birmingham
 * Ancestry.com gazetteer for Birmingham 1872
 * Vision of Britain, Birmingham gazetteer

Newspapers
Newspapers for Birmingham:
 * Birmingham Mail
 * Birmingham Post
 * Birmingham Express and Star

Occupations
Birmingham is probably the largest locale in the UK for manufacturing activities. Historically this was mainly in the core manufacturing areas of steel, rail, and industrial transportation. However this sector fell into deep decline since the middle of the twentieth century, and is still in a declining mode.

Today Birmingham's economy is dominated by the service sector. In fact, Birmingham is the largest center for such activities within the UK. The city is a major international commercial center, ranked as a beta− world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

Birmingham is the also the largest center in Great Britain for employment in public administration, education and health. It is the second largest center for financial and other business services. Birmingham is the home for 5 major Universities, plus has campuses for further secondary levels of education, making it second only to London for employment in the educational field.

While its historic manufacturing industries have shown a deep decline, it is still the center for such companies as Jaguar - Land Rover, Cadbury's, and still produces about 40% of the UK based jewelry industry, a trade first recorded in Birmingham in about 1300.

In addition, with a number of major facilities such as the National Exhibition Center and International Convention Center, Birmingham attracts more than 40% of the UK's total conference and exhibition trade.[

Societies
Birmingham Branch of the Birmingham and Midlands Society
 * The Birmingham and Midland Institute Margaret Street Birmingham B3 3BS Website
 * Meetings held the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm.

Birmingham Library Family History Society
 * Website

Archives
Library of Birmingham / Archives
 * Centenary Square Broad Street Birmingham B1 2ND Tel: 0121 242 4242 Website

University of Birmingham Archives
 * Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3344 Website

Birmingham Archives
 * Website

Websites

 * Visit Birmingham
 * University of Birmingham
 * Birmingham City Council