Stonebridge Character Area HLC Area 1

Coventry Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 5927 Stonebridge Character Area HLC Area 1 Location and Context A mixed-use light industrial and commercial area located on the southern fringe of the Coventry border. The area is bounded by the A444 to the west, settlement to the east and the border of Warwickshire to the south. Just outside the character area to the south is the location of Coventry Airport. Heritage Designations in the Area Scheduled Ancient Monuments: 0 Archaeological Constraint Areas: 6 Listed Buildings: 1 Locally Listed Buildings: 0 Conservation Areas: 0 Registered Parks and Gardens: 0 Historic Development The earliest mapping of the area is the 1841 Baginton Tithe Survey recorded a pattern of enclosed fields and two farmsteads south of the River Sowe. The northern part of the Character Area was described as ‘Whitley Abbey and Lands’ in the 1849 St. Michael’s Tithe Survey but no further details are depicted. Whitley Abbey Farm is shown for the first time on the 1888 OS map on the eastern edge of the area but there were few further changes to the landscape until the First World War when the farm was requisitioned by the government and the fields were laid out as an airfield. The land to the south and east of the farm buildings was levelled for a grass landing strip. Three large hangars, workshops and store buildings were constructed immediately to the west and south of the farm and outbuildings. The original farm buildings were retained and continued in use as offices, workshops and storage until the final clearance of the site in 1968. The airfield was used as an operational military base by the Royal Flying Corps for fighter aircraft. In 1920, the newly formed Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Company bought Whitley airfield and in subsequent years produced a number of aircraft here under the name of Armstrong Siddeley. Aircraft production and testing continued at the site until the late 1960s when the site was bought by the Rootes Group and the open ground to the south and west of the factory site was allowed to 27 Coventry Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 5927 revert back to open pasture. The main part of the old Armstrong Siddeley factory site was redeveloped for as new engineering research and development centre with associated access road, landscaping and car parks. The site was eventually acquired by Jaguar Cars in 1985 and became the new headquarters for the company. The Stonebridge Highway had been built by 1936 and the area to its south remained in agricultural use until the late 1960s/early 1970s, at which an industrial estate was built. This remains largely the same today. Modern Character The area is located on the outskirts of the city and is dominated by the road infrastructure of the A444 and A46. Two water courses, the River Sherbourne and the River Sowe, meet in this character area and the corresponding floodplains have had a strong influence on the pattern of development. The industrial and commercial areas are divided into two main pockets by the courses of the rivers with the areas of development mostly surrounded by scrubland and flood plain, part of which is a local nature reserve. The area is mostly green and well wooded but has a slightly neglected, isolated character. A tightly contained area of industry was developed on farmland between 1925 and 1936 in the north of the Character Area on a former World War 1 air field. The buildings and airstrip soon became too small and aircraft production was expanded on to the present Coventry Airport site at Baginton to the south. The present Jaguar Engineering Centre buildings comprise large scale, rectangular sheds on a common alignment. The industrial estate to the south had a more gradual development with the majority of buildings dating to the late 20th century. Offices are square in shaped and low-lying with planned space for extensive car parking facilities. Neither development is sensitive to former field boundaries. The development of the business park is influenced by the Stonebridge Highway which was developed between 1925 and 1936. There is a general feeling of openness and isolation due to development being surrounded by scrubland the few remaining agricultural fields, although the area is noisy due to the dual carriage way and airport to the south. 28 Coventry Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 5927 Geology and Topography The Character Area overlies sandstone to the west and mudstone to the east with sand and gravel drift geology. It is relatively flat and low lying with the highest point to the northwest at 75m above sea level and the lowest area in the south at 65m. Jaguar Engineering Centre Stonebridge Meadows Nature Reserve 29 Coventry Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 5927 Whitley Character Area HLC Area 2 Location and Context An area of settlement to the south of the city centre that is surrounded by industry to the north and west, and the River Sowe Valley to the south and east. Heritage Designations in the Area Scheduled Ancient Monuments: 0 Archaeological Constraint Areas: 6 Listed Buildings: 1 Locally Listed Buildings: 0 Conservation Areas: 0 Registered Parks and Gardens: 0 Historic Development The medieval settlement of Whitley is believed to have existed in the western part of the Character Area to the south of Abbey Road. A manor house and chapel may have been located to its south and Whitley Mill just outside the Character Area to the west. Towards the east is Whitley Grove which originated as a medieval quarry. The extensive lands of Whitley Common lay to the west. Little else is known of the landscape during this period but it was probably a combination of areas of common land, open fields and enclosures. During the 17th Century Whitley Abbey was built replacing the earlier manor house. The building was subsequently enlarged and by the 19th Century it was a grand country house in landscaped gardens owned by Viscount Hood. It was not until the period between 1914 and 1936 that this agricultural landscape saw dramatic changes. By 1936 much of the area between Abbey Road and London Road was developed for housing and to the north of London Road an isolation hospital was built. Between 1936 and 1955 a further housing development and a school was built to the south of Abbey Road. Whitley Abbey was finally demolished in the 1940’s and Whitley Abbey School was built on the site. The Whitley isolation hospital buildings were replaced in the late 20th/early 21st Century with a supermarket, nursing home and depot buildings. 30 Coventry Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 5927 Modern Character This is an isolated pocket of concentrated housing, the majority of development having been undertaken between 1925 and 1955, with small areas of later development present on the fringes of the 1930s housing. The south west of the character area used to be the location of Whitley Abbey, a country house which survived into the 20th Century. A park and gardens was associated with the house which included Whitley Grove, a small woodland in a medieval quarry that is still present to the south of the developed area. The layout of the housing development comprises straight roads forming a grid pattern, with house plots built right up into the street corners. Houses are mainly small semi- detached and terraced dwellings with small gardens to the front and rear. Many of the front gardens have been Typical 1930s residential properties Rutherglen Avenue converted into driveways and there is adequate access between the semi-detached houses for cars to be parked to the rear. Consequently, although the streets are narrow they are not as cluttered in comparison to other areas of 1930s housing. There are some variations with the different colours of painted pebbledash, but the houses are built in a uniform size and shape, and in the same design and materials giving a strong sense of homogeny. The houses have a plain style with arched, recessed front doors as the only form of decoration. The regularity of the architectural design creates channelled views at street level and a distinctive roofscape from higher ground. Amenities including a school, leisure centre and superstore are arranged around the outskirts of this area of dense housing. Geology and Topography This area overlies sandstone with a gravel drift geology. There are also coal measures to the centre of the character area. The settlement is built on a plateau of 90m above sea level. The land surrounding the plateau falls away in all directions to 75m. 31 Coventry Historic Landscape Characterisation Project 5927 Lower Stoke Character Area HLC Area 3 Location and Context An area of light industry located to the south east of the city centre with housing currently being developed on the northern part. The character area is traversed by the Coventry- Rugby railway line and is predominantly surrounded by areas of settlement. Heritage Designations in the Area Scheduled Ancient Monuments: 0 Archaeological Constraint Areas: 4 Listed Buildings: 0 Locally Listed Buildings: 0 Conservation Areas: 0 Registered Parks and Gardens: 0 Historic Development The name Pinley suggests Saxon origins (Pinna's clearing or wood) but the earliest reference to activity is from a document of the early 13th century. This referred to Walter de Langley holding land there and in 1238 Walter's son Geoffrey is recorded as having obtained timber to build a house at Pinley. Geoffrey enclosed Wood Moor and other land in Pinley. He had a chapel there from at least 1222 when he obtained a licence to found a chantry. In the hundred rolls (1280) Pinley manor (the territory) is recorded as containing about 360 acres of demesne.

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