TIME TRAVELLERS
AUTHORS GO BACK TO A BYGONE ERA IN COVENTRY AS THEY PUBLISH NEWLY DISCOVERED PHOTOGRAPHS
THESE are the new and uncovered images of Foleshill which have been released in a book.
Local historians David Fry and Albert Smith have written The Coventry We Have Lost which features numerous forgotten photos of Foleshill and surrounding areas.
Longford, Bell Green, Hawkesbury, Alderman’s Green and Stoney Stanton Road have all been rediscovered in these black and white photographs.
The stunning images show how much Coventy has changed through the years.
The tram tracks, and the horse and cart are all seen through the lense of Edwardian photographers.
Their book uses almost 200 illustrations as they tell the story of the origins of Foleshill.
Coventry’s famous gasworks feature in the book with an image of Hugh Gaitskell with the Lord Mayor, WH Malcolm at the Gasworks with gas holder behind in 1948.
Although Foleshill looks a bit of a muddle today, old photographs and estate plans help to show the pattern of its growth from a late nineteenth century semi-rural parish.
David Fry has been interested in Coventry’s industrial history since working as a teacher in the city from the 1970s. Albert Smith has worked in many aspects of the city’s post-war engineering industry and has experienced at first hand the boom and bust periods, as well as a spell working in Detroit.
Their mutual interest in old Coventry photographs and photographers led to the publication of their first books in the 1990s. But now both are retired they have more time to write books to promote an appreciation of the unique character of the different areas of Coventry.