Henry Hewitt owned Clifton Mill from 1848 to 1869. During that time he may have poisoned his wife, himself and a large number of the local villagers. This was done ...
Following my posting about my time at Henry Griffith and Sons, there have been a number of comments added asking about the marks inside HG&S rings.
The answer to most of ...
Flower and Sons used to have a brewery in the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon.
I started working for them in 1968. The company was then owned by Whitbread who decided to close ...
Here are some pictures of the track in the 1970s. I took these during the holiday fortnight, when me and a friend went into the building when it was empty ...
For 33 years the extensive coalfield of Warwickshire had been free from serious disaster. Tragically this impressive record was marred by a calamity that took place at the Exhall Colliery ...
(An account of the disaster can be found in this article)
The circumstances of the disaster were investigated by the Coroner and jury at Coventry County Hall.
The first witness was Dr. ...
Travel to Baddesley Ensor and Baxterley nowadays, and the area is the epitome of rural Warwickshire. Its mining heritage is not forgotten, however, even though the mine closed in 1989. ...
Today (2015) most of the original British Thomson-Houston (BTH) factory buildings have been demolished but a few remnants have been incorporated into GE (interestingly a descendant of GEC who used to ...
This fascinating picture gives us an important record of the industrial revolution in Warwickshire. The textile mill was built for Sir Roger Newdigate of Arbury Hall (1719-1806) on his land to ...
Young boys were employed in Warwickshire coalfields in the 18th and 19th centuries.
6d a day in 1729
A coal account book in the Newdigate archives refers to the use of boys ...
Recently in Coventry I happened to pass the old Banner Lane factory. It has now been demolished. It was built at the outbreak of the Second World War, as a ...
My Grandfather William Billings worked for Lord Warwick as a carpenter and had his workshop at the rear of 12 Coten End, next to the cattle market. The photo was taken ...
It’s Christmas Eve, 1906. Humber have long had a reputation for their cycles, being pioneers in the field and being renowned for their quality. Having moved into automobile manufacture in ...
When the German army invaded Belgium 250,000 Belgians fled to Britain. Rugby, quite typically of the country’s reactions, established Relief Committees to organise accommodation and fund support1. 200 were settled ...
My earliest memory of Rootes was the annual visit to the pantomime at the Coventry Hippodrome with the other kids of Rootes workers. We all got a Christmas stocking of ...
A Rootes product, but ironically never built in Rootes territory in Coventry and Warwickshire, the Imp was built at a new factory in Linwood, in Scotland. Nonetheless, Rootes was a ...
When I first went there I went from GEC, and I arrived there in my Volkswagen Beetle, and the security man wouldn’t let me take it in there! He said ...
Warwickshire has a long and proud heritage of coal mining, with the Warwickshire coalfield extending across the county from Warwick to Tamworth. Towns such as Bedworth owe much of their ...
Naturally, the changing industrial landscape of Coventry and Warwickshire means there are a number of car manufacturers who have fallen by the wayside over the years. This article sketches the ...
When researching the Jensen brothers, I discovered that their second design, after the one based on the Austin Seven, used a Standard 9 chassis and running gear. This was later ...
When Wolston Business Park was developed by Wimpey for housing, an interesting set of buildings was demolished. The main building on the site was originally a large artificial silk factory, ...
I got my first vehicle when I was about five – an Austin J40 pedal. I loved its cream steering wheel with chrome spokes (oh so very 50s!) and that ...