Chapelfields (also written Chapel Fields) is a suburb of
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
,
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, England.
It is situated about 1.5 miles to the west of Coventry City Centre; bordering
Coundon
Coundon is an old mining village in County Durham, England. The Boldon Book mentions a mine in Coundon in the twelfth century. In 2001 it had a population of 2611. In 2011 the ward had a population of 7139.
History
The name Coundon comes from ...
to the north,
Earlsdon
Earlsdon is a residential suburb and electoral ward of Coventry, England. It lies approximately one mile to the southwest of Coventry City Centre. It is the birthplace of aviation pioneer Frank Whittle.
Amenities
Most shops and restaurants are ...
to the south,
Spon End
Spon End is a suburb of Coventry, England. It is situated west of Coventry city centre. The Butts Park Arena and a Premier Inn hotel are situated on the main road through Spon End. The Butts Park Arena, which was opened in 2004, is the home of C ...
to the east and
Whoberley
Whoberley is a residential suburb of the City of Coventry in the West Midlands, England.
The population of the Coventry Ward at the 2011 census was 15,903.
Situated approximately 2 miles to the west of the city centre, it borders Allesley ...
to the west. It is mainly residential, with a high proportion of graduates among the younger residents, and nowadays a significant element of students, particularly those studying at the
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...
. Houses in Chapelfields proper are mostly small to medium-sized
terraced house
In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...
s with gardens.
The area originally comprised just a few streets: Craven Street, Mount Street, Lord Street, Duke Street, the southern side of Allesley Old Road, and the northern side of Hearsall Lane; now a conservation area because of its links to the watchmaking industry. However, in the early 20th century the area was developed to the west and now includes streets to the west of Mount Street including Sir Thomas White's Road, Queensland Avenue, Kingsland Avenue, Abercorn Road and Maudslay Road. Although these streets now form part of the modern area known as Chapelfields, some residents and local organisations including the Chapelfields Area Residents and Traders Association (CARTA) do not consider this extended area to be part of Chapelfields.
In mediaeval times there was a
lazar house
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
or leper hospital covering part of the area, which had been founded in 1168 by
Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester
Hugh of Cyfeiliog, 5th Earl of Chester (1147 – 1181), also written Hugh de Kevilioc, was an Anglo-French magnate who was active in England, Wales, Ireland and France during the reign of King Henry II of England.
Origins
Born in 1147, he was t ...
, for William D'Auney, a knight who had contracted the condition while following Kevelioc in a crusade. The modern area originates in 1847 when, as an extension of the neighbouring Spon area, building commenced to accommodate the
watch-making
A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their par ...
industry for which Coventry was then famous; however, the part of Chapelfields from Sir Thomas White's Road to Maudslay Road was not developed until the early 20th century (Sir Thomas White's Road itself was built in 1908 and formed part of the tram route to Broadgate). It is a quirk of this section of Chapelfields that properties there are subject to restrictive covenants forbidding their use as "fried fish shops", which were prevalent in the area at that time. Another popular type of business in Chapelfields has always been the public house. Though fewer in number, there are still eight licensed premises in this tiny area: the Craven Arms, the Chestnut Tree, the Hearsall Inn, the Coombe Abbey Inn (closed as a pub at the end of 2015), the Craven Club (all in Craven Street), the Maudslay, the Four Provinces (Allesley Old Road, on the corner with Craven Street) and the Nursery Tavern in Lord Street. The last, locally noted as a
real ale
Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...
pub, presumably derives its name from Weare's Nursery, the immediate former occupier of the land upon which Chapelfields was built. Chapelfields pubs no longer extant included the New Inn and the Brewer's Arms in Craven Street, and the Sun Dial in Lord Street.
Within the Chapelfields area is All Souls Catholic Primary School.
Adjacent to the area is
Hearsall Common
Hearsall Common is located in Earlsdon, Coventry in the West Midlands, central England.
The common consists of a large grassy area with a smaller partly tarmacadamed area on one side of Hearsall Common Road, and a wooded nature reserve on the ...
, an open space that was deprived of official common status by the local authority in 1927. In 2007/08 this became the centre of dispute when local residents opposed the council's plans to remove part of the Chapelfields end of the common for bus lanes as part of the "PrimeLines" scheme. The six Conservative councillors for the Earlsdon and Whoberley wards have refused to support the objections and are backing one of their number, council leader Ken Taylor, in his attempts to impose this scheme which is the brainchild of the
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2016. The organisation operated under the name Centro f ...
. A petition was signed by 1,928 local residents opposing the scheme, whilst 29 indicated their support through a consultation with the council. The matter has not been settled at the time of writing, nor are applications by local residents to have the Common officially recognised as a village green to protect it.
References
{{reflist
Suburbs of Coventry
Conservation areas in England