The County of the City of Coventry was a

county corporate A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland. Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county-empo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

which existed between 1451 and 1842. The county corporate covered an area of around and contained the city of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the 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 city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

and the surrounding villages of Ansty, Asthill, Biggin, Binley, Caludon,

Exhall Exhall is a suburban settlement and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Bedworth, in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : History Historically, the ...

Foleshill Foleshill is a suburb in the north of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. Longford, Courthouse Green and Rowley Green are to its north and Keresley is to its west. The population of the Ward at the 2011 census was 19,943. History Fole ...

, Harnell,

Henley Henley may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Henley, Dorset, a location * Henley, Gloucestershire, a location * Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England ** Henley (UK Parliament constituency) ** Henley Rural District, a former ru ...

, Horwell,

Keresley Keresley is a suburban village and civil parish in the City of Coventry, West Midlands, England, about north of Coventry city centre and southwest of Bedworth. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 791 falling to 713 ...

, Pinley, Radford, Stoke, Styvechale,

Walsgrave Walsgrave on Sowe, or simply Walsgrave, is a suburban district situated approximately north-east of central Coventry, West Midlands, central England. Although it now experiences very little flooding, it was built on marshlands. However, due t ...

, Wood End, Whitley,

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 ...

, and

Wyken Wyken, a suburb of Coventry, West Midlands, England, is situated between the areas of Stoke and Walsgrave, three miles east-northeast of Coventry city centre. The population of this Coventry Ward taken at the 2011 census was 16,818. It is a ...

History

During the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

period Coventry, a town in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

, became an important city. King Henry VI granted Coventry the status of

, largely to reward the city for the support it had given him. This county corporate status enabled Coventry to control its own

assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

and gaol, and the city's bailiffs became

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

s – officers to the king. Coventry remained separate from the rest of Warwickshire until disputes over ratings with the villages which formed the county resulted in its abolition by the Coventry Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c.110) The Act provided that from 9 November 1842 the ''City and County of the City of Coventry shall... be taken to be in all respects Part of the County of Warwick, and within the Hundred of Knightlow''. As well as merging Coventry with the rest of Warwickshire, the legislation resolved ''the Doubts which now prevail respecting the Boundary of the said City'', by firmly setting the municipal limits. The county corporate covered an area similar to that covered by the modern city. Apart from Ansty and

, all of the places which formed part of the county corporate are now within the city boundaries.

References

*McGrory, David (1993). ''Coventry: History and Guide'', pp. 42–43, 89. Dover, N.H.: A. Sutton. .
Coventry history: Coventry as a County
{{coord, 52.4, -1.5, type:adm2nd_dim:8000_region:GB-COV, display=title History of Warwickshire History of Coventry Former subdivisions of England 1451 establishments in England 1842 disestablishments in England

History

See also

References