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Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during World War II, most notoriously from a massive German air raid (the "Coventry Blitz") on 14 November 1940. This destroyed most of the historic city centre and Coventry's historic Cathedral. Aside from London and Plymouth, Coventry suffered more damage than any other British city during the Luftwaffe attacks, with huge firestorms devastating most of the city centre. The city was targeted due to its high concentration of armaments, munitions and engine plants which contributed greatly to the British war effort. Following the raids, the majority of Coventry's historic buildings could not be saved as they were in ruinous states or were deemed unsafe for any future use, although several were later demolished simply to make way for modern developments. Despite this, only a few tower blocks were built although many housing estates were constructed.
In the postwar years Coventry was largely rebuilt under the general direction of the Gibson Plan, gaining a new pedestrianised shopping precinct (the first of its kind in Europe on such a scale) and the much-celebrated new St Michael's Cathedral in 1962 (incorporating the world's largest tapestry).
Coventry's motor industry boomed during the 1950s and 1960s but during the 1970s the British motor industry underwent decline and Coventry suffered badly as a result. By the early 1980s Coventry had one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. In recent years the city has recovered with newer industries locating there, although the motor industry continues to decline.
Prefabs
Little housing could be built during and immediately after the War, because of the rationing of the building materials, especially steel and timber. The exception was Coventry, the centre of Britain’s armaments industry, where the local authority built a number of prototype houses in 1941 where the only timber was in the front door. Better known are the tiny houses of the Temporary Housing Programme initiated by Sir Winston Churchill in 1943: 156,623 prefabs were built in Britain, and we have listed an unusually well-preserved group of the rare Phoenix type, with corrugated walls and roofs
Postwar
After the war, the city was extensively rebuilt. The new city centre built in the 1950s was designed by young town planner Donald Gibson and included one of Europe's first traffic-free shopping precincts (in 1946 the first one was realized in Rotterdam, the idea of which was copied throughout the world).
Model of the redevelopment plan for Coventry city centreThe rebuilt Coventry Cathedral was opened in 1962 next to and incorporating the ruins of the old cathedral. It was designed by Basil Spence and contains the tapestry, "Christ in Majesty" by Graham Sutherland and the bronze statue "St. Michael and the Devil" by Jacob Epstein.
As a result of postwar redevelopment, Coventry now shares in the stereotype of 1960s architecture: concrete and brutalist. The development of Coventry's central business district was unnaturally restricted through the construction of a major orbital ringroad in the early-1970s, leading to a hodge-podge of "mixed use" city zones with no clearly-defined functions, aside from the cathedral quarter and a dated 1950s shopping precinct. The construction of the Cathedral Lanes shopping complex in 1990 at Broadgate significantly altered the original layout .Nevertheless, several pockets of the city centre still have a number of fine medieval and neo-Gothic buildings (Ford's Hospital, The Golden Cross, St Mary's Guildhall, Spon Street, Bluecoats, the Council House and the old Cathedral etc) having survived both the Blitz and the post war planners.
The city was twinned with Dresden, which had suffered an even more devastating attack by the Anglo-American bombing late in the war, and groups from both cities became involved in demonstrations of post-war reconciliation. Today Coventry has a strong partnership with Dresden and is deeply supported by the populace in both cities. The city played a major role in representing the entire nation when the reconstruction of the Dresden Frauenkirche was completed in 2003.
Throughout the 1950s and up until the mid-1970s, Coventry remained prosperous and was often monikered as "Motor City" or "Britain's Detroit" due to the large concentration of car production plants across the city, notably Jaguar, Standard-Triumph (part of British Leyland), Hillman-Chrysler (later Talbot and Peugeot) and Alvis. During this period, the city had one of the country's highest standards of living outside of south-eastern England. The population of the city peaked in the late 1960s at around 335,000.
REMEMBERANCE ROAD IN WILLENHALL 1950's ONE OF THE NEW ESTATES TO GROW AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR
LOCAL WILLENHALL CHILDREN
OLD WILLENHALL PRECINCT,WHICH HAS SEEN BEEN RE-DEVELOPED.
LOCAL CHILDREN FROM WILLENHALL PLAY BY THE RIVER SHERBOURNE.
DURING THE 1950'S DUE TO A POLIO OUTBREAK THEY WERE ADVISED NOT TO PLAY IN THE WATER
