3.1.5 Wider Precinct and Surroundings

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3.1.5 WIDER PRECINCT AND SURROUNDINGS 04 Hill Top Hill Top is a narrow lane that runs between 8 and 9 Priory Row. The lane probably dates from the 17th-century, having developed as a route for carrying contraband stone away from the demolished remains of St Mary’s Cathedral and Priory.

05 Bardsley House Bardsley House is a two-storey building which runs parallel with Hill Top to the east. Its western façade dates architecturally to the early 20th century while its eastern façade appears to be more recent. It was formerly Hill Top Bakery, also known as Harveys Bakery and was still trading in 1964 when Spence submitted an application for a new youth hostel, to be run by the Cathedral, on the adjacent site. By 1974, the bakery had closed, and the Cathedral Chapter bought the site. In 2016, funds were granted to convert Bardsley House into a Youth Homeless Hub.

06 Dewis Lodge Dewis Lodge is a two-storey red brick building appended to the northern end of Bardsley house. It was unbuilt at the time of Spence’s application for the Youth Hostel in 1964 but had been erected by 1972 when the adjacent Haigh Lodge was built. Dewis Lodge, which was at one time an ‘International Centre’, is unlisted. Dewis Lodge currently provides residential accommodation for international student volunteers and Cathedral interns.

07 Haigh Lodge Haigh Lodge is a single-storey, red-brick structure with an angular outline located between the Refectory kitchen and Dewis Lodge. According to planning application documents, Haigh Lodge was built in 1972 as an ‘extension to international centre and accommodation for kitchen staff’ to designs by Denys Hinton and Partners. Haigh Lodge is unlisted.

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08 Priory Row Priory Row is a collection of medieval, Georgian and Victorian buildings; all of which are rare survivors of Coventry’s wartime devastation.

09 Cathedral of St Mary The Scheduled Monument of the medieval Benedictine Priory and Cathedral of St Mary lies under the buildings of Priory Row. A considerable amount of St Mary’s Cathedral fabric has been uncovered below the houses.

• In 1909, two pier bases of the south nave arcade were discovered below No.7 (these are no longer visible but have been recorded).

• In 1959, floor tiles and a section of what was thought to be the north-west pier of the central tower were excavated in the garden of No.8.

• Masonry in the wall of No.9 was long thought to belong to the east wall of the south transept; however, it is now thought that this may not be in situ, but was built of re-used material.

• The cellars of Nos.9 and 10 also incorporate medieval material.

• In 1825, works to the foundations of No.9 were said to have revealed part of the south wall of the Cathedral of St Mary, but its exact position is not now known.

The standing remains of the west end of the Cathedral are incorporated into the Blue Coat School and are Grade-I listed as well as scheduled. The substantial undercroft structures of St Mary’s can be seen in the Priory Visitor Centre. Other remains are marked out in the Priory Gardens and to the west of the new cathedral.

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10 Priory Visitor Centre The Priory Visitor Centre, completed in 2001, was designed by MacCormac Jamieson & Pritchard. It is built over the site of the cloister of St Mary’s. The remains of the Priory had been buried beneath the modern city until 1999, when Coventry City Council’s Millennium Scheme (Phoenix Initiative), facilitated its excavation.

A 17th-century wall, erected on the foundations of the original nave wall, was extended to form the north wall of the garden and the south wall of the visitor centre. A sunken garden named Priory Gardens was incorporated into St Mary’s Cathedral nave and is landscaped to reflect the layout of its medieval foundations.

The visitor centre is of modern design, but uses the same red sandstone employed in the original Benedictine Priory, and the adjacent Holy Trinity Church.

11 Nos.6–10 Priory Row Nos.6–10 Priory Row are a row of Georgian town houses, built to individual designs. Nos.9 and 10 are mid-18th-century, Nos.6–7 (now Pelham Lee House) and No.8 were built in approximately 1800. Nos.6–10 are all Grade-II listed. The cellars of Nos.6–10 incorporate elements of the demolished St Mary’s Cathedral.

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12 St Michael’s House (Nos.11 and 10A Priory Row) St Michael’s House (No.11 Priory Row), has a reconstructed neoclassical Georgian façade with ionic pilasters, facing Priory Row immediately to the west of the new cathedral and recessed behind a large front garden. An annexe building to the north-west (10A Priory Row), was connected and incorporated into No.11 following refurbishments in 2011. It is Grade-II listed. Separately listed Grade II are the gate and railings to the front garden. No.10A is curtilage listed at Grade II. Below ground level, the cellars of both addresses incorporate elements of the demolished St Mary’s Priory.

Built in the 1720s by a David Wells, 11 Priory Row was conceived as a townhouse with a substantial annexe building (No.10A) to the north-west. It became a commercial and office space in the 1890s before being almost totally destroyed in 1940 during the Second World War bombing raids.

No.11 was rebuilt with its façade retained and reopened in December 1956. Nos.10A and 11 were separated into two dwellings: Colliers House and Gorton House respectively. Both buildings were purchased by Chapter in 1966. Initially used as office space, then as the Provost’s House and then as the Deanery.

In 2011, the two buildings were refurbished, reconnected and renamed St Michael’s House. No.11 is a dedicated learning and meeting space. 10A is now accommodation for the Verger. The building remains a functioning part of the Cathedral’s day to day operation.

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13 Youell House Youell House is a brick building with a large, triangular, oriel window on its north-west corner. Beneath this is a long, horizontal window at ground level, providing views onto the medieval undercroft of St Mary’s Priory, which were excavated and restored in 2000–2002 as part of the Phoenix Initiative and extend below the site. It rests on a steel ‘bridge’ so as not to disturb medieval remains, which may be accessed from a pedestrian passage leading east from Priory Square. It is unlisted.

Youell House currently hosts the Cathedral offices. Several of its floors are let out to other organisations, such as Coventry University. Like the Priory Visitor Centre, it was designed by MacCormac Jamieson and Pritchard and built in 2002–2003 to replace the now demolished Spence’s John F Kennedy House.