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History of Holbrook
The multicultural suburb of Coventry called Holbrooks sits on the secret of its origin.
The "Brooks" are buried along most of their length now. They criss cross the district along valleys from east to west so that in the grounds of both Park Gate and John Shelton schools children play unwittingly over one or more of the four "Holbrooks".

A century ago at least four brooks would have been visible in Holbrooks. Today Coventry City Council maintains the culverts which hold them under the built up area of the suburb. The brooks descend from the relative heights of Corley which overlook the City. The Hall Brook said to be linked to Keresley Hall is behind the naming of "Watery Lane" where today it enters its culvert adjacent to the old bus depot site before running under the length of the same lane. The Victoria County
History describes two main brooks running through the ancient Whitmore Park, the Hall Brook, heading east to the River Sowe and the Springfield Brook, heading west for the River Sherbourne.

Council plans show how, crossing Penny Park Lane from Watery Lane, the
culverted Hall Brook cuts between Holy Family School and Church to cross
Beake Avenue north of no. 528. Maps as late as 1925 show a sheep dip sluice near here where farmers would dip their sheep. Late memories of the open brook in Holbrooks recall children playing in it as well as unconfirmed reports of it going foamy when it was bath time at Keresley Colliery. Another theory on the foam comes from the Coventry Herald of Sept. 26th 1923, "At Keresley….the washing tub of Coventry there are about 14 hand laundries."At Keresley….. The Hall Brook continues along the sourthern perimeter at Parkgate School grounds where it is joined by the Keresley Brook. It then proceeds along the northern perimeter of
Finbarr's Sports ground, across the south east corner of the supermarket car park and under Holbrook Lane.

At the turn of the 20th century the former green fields of "Holbrooks" had given way to suburban housing as compacted as any in Coventry. Industrial development over the last century has led to urban growth along the major lines of communication – the canal, railways and roads – north of Coventry. The establishment of new factories has led in turn to the building of houses for employees in such a fashion as to swamp the old village of Holbrooks with dwellings whose age generally decreases in proportion to distance from the City Centre.

The "Wheelwright's" served the horse and cart as Dunlop was later to serve the motorcar. Wheelwright Lane certainly takes its name from the necessity of former days. Lythalls Lane and Parkgate Road also existed at the turn of the 19th Century as did Nunts Lane. According to Margaret Smedley's "The meaning of the Street Names of Coventry" the former "Foleshill Hall Lane" was renamed "Lythalls" in honour of Edward Lythall "who occupied the Foleshill Hall Estate as a single farm of 165 acres in 1839".

A century ago the industries familiar to Holbrooks’ villagers would be coal mining and silk weaving as well as watch making in Coventry and stone quarrying near Nuneaton. The development of Holbrooks as a community over the last century can be traced back to the expansion of industry starting with Dunlop. 1996 saw a celebration of the centenary of car production in Coventry. It was in 1888 that John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinary surgeon practising in Ireland, invented the first practicable pneumatic tyre. Establishing itself as a supplier to the rapidly expanding motor car industry the Dunlop Rubber Company opened a Rim and Wheel manufacturing Company in Coventry in Alma Street, Hillfields. The 1921
Coventry Directory gives first mention of Dunlop on the White & Poppe site. Eventually a quarter of the present ecclesiastical parish of Holbrooks was to be occupied by the Dunlop factory.

"Black pad" an ancient road from the Keresley area into Lockhurst Lane parallel to the present Burnaby Road, was closed so that a shell filing works could operate on what is now Dunlop Sports Ground. The girls who worked there were known affectionately as the Canary Girls since their work filing the shells with Tetrol led to an unfortunate yellowing of the skin.

Thanks to Coventry Archives for the above information.

Holbrooks is a residential area of Coventry, West Midlands, England. Holbrooks is also sometimes written as Holbrook's.

Most of the length of the four brooks which pass through the area, are covered or culverted, one culvert is adjacent to the recently built housing on Watery Lane. Another brook passes through and under the grounds of Parkgate School. The brooks then head off towards the river Sherbourne and the Sowe.

Holbooks is situated some three miles (5 km) north-west to the city centre, and was largely developed for private and council housing during the 1950s and to replace the many homes destroyed by air raids during the Second World War. Some areas are pre-war, Farm Close was built in the 1920s as local industry expanded. A lot of terraced houses were built in Holbrooks around the mid 1930s. One 1930s housing estates is locally known as 'The Dales', a somewhat tired housing estate close to the Ricoh Arena, and separated from it by a railway line and a main road, the A444 Phoenix Way.

The Dales estate was mostly built in 1936 and locally named because it consists of the following streets. Lauderdale Avenue, Kirkdale Avenue, Farndale Avenue, Glaisdale Avenue, Langdale Avenue and Bransdale Avenue. Although the houses on the left when entering Langdale Avenue were built slightly later in the early 1940s. The property known as number 8, Langdale Avenue was a dental surgery for many years. Today this estate is troubled by parking problems, a lack of green spaces and any play areas for children.

The 'Stadium' estate, at the rear of Lythalls Lane, is so called because the terraced houses and flats there, were built on the site of a former dog racing stadium. An area which was once a 'green space' used by local children and pet owners, where several flats and social housing were constructed during 2008-2009. Local children now have fewer places to play as various pockets of land are swallowed up to in-fill, although there is a large park on Holbook Lane, the area is of a large population.

Being so close to the Ricoh Arena (which was designed to have limited parking to promote bus travel and walking) a parking permit scheme is in place. A promised rail link and arena station has not materialised, despite obvious advantages! Railway lines running alongside the car park, are perfectly placed, however any station here has been shelved again. Many football fans leaving matches continue to walk along the main A444 dual carriageway towards the M6, as there is no footway at all they risk being struck by fast moving vehicles although the speed limit has been lowered from 70 to 50 mph, more suitable car parking would have seemed sensible. Motorists visiting Holbrooks on 'match days' must display a visitors parking ticket of face fines, residents must display permits too. The Ricoh Arena was completed in 2005 and is the home of the city's professional football club although they do not own the ground. The arena also boasts a hotel, with 71 rooms, 46 of the rooms have a view of the pitch and 17 are 'mini suites' for people on a budget. One larger room boasts a 'raindance monsoon shower' and another comprises a four bedroomed suite with a 'waterfall bath feature'. The hotel is modern and of contemporary design. The arena is also a pop concert venue, a large casino and conference halls. Notible acts who have played here include Bon Jovi 2008, Take That June 2009, and reformed Coventry bands The Specials and also The Enemy. Manchester band Oasis played at the Ricoh during July 2009.

Ricoh also hosts; weekend markets,trade and religious conferences, motor industry events,and fun-fairs ( outside on the car park)these keep the venue well used. The arena has extensive restaurant and bar facilities and a fitness gymnasium.

Another notable housing estate in Holbrooks is the area of Everdon Road. Built after the second world war, and accessed from either Beake Avenue or Holbrook Lane, this is a more spacious well designed housing estate with mostly three and four bedroomed houses with large rooms and tall roofs. Also several one bedroomed bungalows with the same tall roof design. Due to the spacious layout of the estate, more bungalows were recently built as 'infill' and in the future more development is likely. There are a number of four storey residential flats on Everdon Road too, some have open views across parkland. The shape of the Everdon estate forms a complete loop and includes a small row of shops with flats above. Everdon is regularly used by learner drivers to practice, due to there being many corners, curves and reversing opportunity, plus the road is quiet during the school day. Most houses face onto grassed areas, and the estate is bordered by the large Holbrook Park which is maintained by Coventry City Council.

Today Holbrooks has a diverse and large cultural mix which includes a large number of Polish people, there is now a Polish food store along Holbrook Lane near its junction with Hen lane. Holbrooks has one of the largest Tesco Superstores in Europe, the store has an entire aisle dedicated to foods imported from around the world.

Holbrooks is also a short distance from the former British Coal Keresley Colliery site which is now a large industrial estate of warehousing called Prologis Park. The large wheel from the winding tower was cut into two, and placed on Prologis Park as a reminder of the site's former activity, this stands in monument to the past.

Some occupiers who have used ProLogis Park include GEFCO and Terex Benford, Tesco (warehousing), Co-op, Exel Bridgestone, Mastercare, DHL Exel Supply Chain, Richard Austin Alloys, Inkfish and Domestic & General. Prologis park covers some 300 acres (1.2 km2) of land and includes a 'nature park' and arboreal area with two man-made lakes and some marshland where wildlife monitoring takes place.

Under Holbrooks (and the surrounding area) there are several mined coal seams at a depth range of 600-1500 meters down, these coal seams were excavated or extracted to the pit head at Keresley from 1917 and until its eventual closure in 1991, the site was then used as a homefire plant until its complete closure in the year 2000. In 1939 at its peak a million tons of coal was being extracted per year. Keresley coal was distributed via the railway line which still runs through Holbrooks and crosses Wheelwright Lane, the line was built in 1919. Today the line carries freight from Prologis Park, along the same route the coal had taken, crossing Wheelright Lane then running parallel with Winding House Lane, leaving Holbrooks over the cast iron bridge situated at the end of Hen Lane, onward towards Foleshill and on into Coventry.

Interestingly 'Holbook's Primary School' is in fact in the adjacent suberb of Foleshill. Schools for primary age children in Holbrooks include, Parkgate (one of the largest primary schools in Coventry) and John Shelton School. The local secondary school is President Kennedy School, which was built during the 1960s, is due to be completely re-designed and re-built, although the 1960s swimming pool will remain the same.

The coal mining and town gas industry was a major source of employment for Holbrooks and Binley areas of Coventry. Mining in the Midlands is still undertaken on a neighbouring coal seam, and coal is still extracted from Daw Mill. Coal mining is far from over under the area, although the pit head at Keresley is a memory.

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