![West orchard united reformed church 19l07](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/West_orchard_united_reformed_church_19l07.JPG)
Stivichall or Styvechale ( ) is a suburb of the city 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 a mainly residential area in the south of the city.
Geography
Stivichall is a mainly residential area of south
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 ...
astride the Leamington Road. Like the city centre, it lies on the right terraces of the vale carved by the
Sherbourne, an
intermittently great stream which rises in
Allesley
Allesley is an English suburban village and civil parish in the City of Coventry metropolitan borough, West Midlands, about 3¼ miles (5.25 km) west-northwest of Coventry city centre and 4 miles (6.5 km) east-south-east of Meriden. ...
in the borough and flows along the eastern boundary as an upper sub-tributary of the
River Avon, Warwickshire
The River Avon () in central England flows generally southwestwards and is a major left-bank tributary of the River Severn, of which it is the easternmost. It is also known as the Warwickshire Avon or Shakespeare's Avon, to distinguish it from ...
. The small suburb of Fenside forms part of southeast Stivichall. To the north and northwest Stivichall borders the
War Memorial Park a civic nationally
Grade II listed park and garden which separates the neighbourhood from most parts of similarly residential
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 ...
along Coat of Arms Bridge Road.
The district of
Cheylesmore
Cheylesmore is a suburb in the southern half of the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England. It is one of Coventry's largest suburbs, sharing borders with Whitley and Stivichall (also spelt Styvechale) in the South, extending into Coventry c ...
blends into the area contiguously to the northeast. Much relatively narrower Whitley Common, which is a flood meadow, and one of two dual feeder roads to Coventry's centre on it, separates
Whitley to the east. The southern border of Stivichall is shared with the northern border of the city's
Finham
Finham is a mainly residential part of the city of Coventry, West Midlands, England, and is the city's southernmost suburb, approximately from Coventry city centre. Finham shares its northern boundary along the A45 with the suburb of Styvech ...
and Green Lane neighbourhoods along the
A45 dual carriageway.
The western area of Stivichall, known locally as Styvechale Grange, is a large residential district developed during the late-1960s and early-1970s to cater for Coventry's then-rapidly rising population (which peaked at 340,000 inhabitants in 1971).
Incidents of pre-1919 ownership
A rural parish on the outskirts of Coventry, the Styvechale
manor had belonged to the Gregory family since the 16th century from whom in 1919 the land was purchased by Coventry Corporation and used in part to create the War Memorial Park, with the general development of the remainder following by the 1970s.
The main roads from Coventry to
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...
and
Kenilworth
Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...
pass through and join within the boundaries of Stivichall, and whilst the estate was in the Gregory family's ownership, access was denied to the roads unless a toll of 1d per horse and 6d per vehicle was paid to them. The toll house which stood at the junction of the roads was demolished in 1964.
Etymology
It is thought that the name comes from the Old English
'styfic', meaning 'tree stumps' and 'healh', meaning 'nook' or 'corner'.
Although the pronunciation ('Styche-ull’) of the district is not in doubt, its spelling is a subject of debate. The 'Styvechale' variant is generally deemed more attractive in fitting with the Old English tradition of the district's name, though since 1945 'Stivichall' has been the official designation for the area, and all direction signage currently reads 'Stivichall'. However, in the early-1990s there was a campaign to reintroduce the 'Styvechale' variant on local signage and within civic circles, with many people finding the Stivichall designation ugly. The local bus operators also historically never display Stivichall or Styvechale on their buses and opt for displaying Fenside instead and when route 2 used to terminate in Exminster Road buses had always displayed Cheylesmore, an alternative to this could have been a destination of 'Howes Farm' in similar fashion to the modern Tanyard Farm and Victoria Farm estates in Coventry.
Education
Stivichall Primary School is bounded by Green Lane and Coat of Arms Bridge Road, where the Green Lane district meets Stivichall. It has around 530 pupils aged from five to eleven years old.
[Stivichall Primary School](_blank)
Department for Education profile. Retrieved 2012-07-31. The original buildings, a hospital in the early 1930s, became a Junior school after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and were demolished in 2008.
[Stivichall Primary School state-of-the-art building has eco-heating and modern classrooms](_blank)
, ''Coventry Telegraph'', 2008-11-07. Retrieved 2012-07-31. Grange Farm Primary School is located within the Styvechale Grange district.
Styvechale Manor
![Styvechale Manor -Coventry -25d07](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Styvechale_Manor_-Coventry_-25d07.jpg)
The core of Styvechale Manor may date from the late 17th century and may have been built on the site of a medieval manor house. Many extensions were added to it from Victorian times onwards. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it was known as the Manor House, until it became Bremond College, a girls' private school, in about 1935.
The property, a Grade II listed building, has since been converted into apartments.
Stivichall Hall
Stivichall Hall was built by the Gregory family in the 1750s, on a site south of St James's Church, between the modern Montpellier Close and Ridgeway Avenue. It was a three-storey building with a frontage of five windows on each storey, subsequently extended into a seven-window fronted building. In 1928 it was sold with some of the estate to Coventry corporation, but it became derelict and was demolished after World War II.
When Major C. H. Gregory-Hood sold the estate in 1932, he gave an area of fields and woods around Stivichall Croft and Coat of Arms Bridge Road to Coventry Corporation for permanent preservation. A red
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
recording the gift stands on this site,
produced at a cost of £87 7s 6d.
[Nicholson, Jean et al: ''The Obelisks of Warwickshire'', page 64. Brewin Books, 2013]
Gregory bridge
![Coat of arms bridge 22s06](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Coat_of_arms_bridge_22s06.jpg)
The Gregory bridge, also known as '
Coat of Arms Bridge
The Coat of Arms Bridge is a grade II listed structure on the Coventry–Leamington Spa railway line in the Stivichall area of Coventry in the West Midlands of England. The bridge was built by R.B. Dockray for the London and Birmingham Railway ...
', is a railway bridge that carries trains running between Coventry and Leamington Spa. The land on which the line was built was owned by the Gregory family, and having opposed the project, in 1842 Mr A F Gregory finally agreed to sell just sufficient land for the line's construction, but only on the condition that the Gregory family coat-of-arms was incorporated into the face of the bridge. The line was opened on completion of the work in 1844.
St James's Church
The original St James's Church dated back to about 1270 and was demolished around 1800. The present church, situated on Leamington Road, was completed in 1817, having taken seven years to build. It was extended to its present size in 1955.
Stivichall Grange
![Stivichall Grange Coventry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Stivichall_Grange_Coventry.jpg)
Half a mile south west of St James's Church and close to the A45 is a three-storey, Grade II-listed, 17th-century house known as Stivichall Grange. Built about 1650 according to
Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist
* Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo
* David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...
, it was in use as a farmhouse into the 1960s. By 1971 it was unoccupied and threatened with demolition. However, the main part of the building was saved, extended and converted into apartments. It has given its name to the surrounding residential area constructed in the late-1960s and early-1970s
[McGrory pp. 116–8]
Gallery
File:Coat of arms - Stivichall 8s06.jpg, Coat of Arms on the Gregory bridge
File:St james church front 26s06.jpg, St James's Church from Leamington Road
File:St james church side 26s06.jpg, St James's Church, north side
File:Memorial styvechale 15g07.JPG, Obelisk and memorial to the Gregory-Hood family
File:Styvechale plaque 15g07.JPG, Plaque on the obelisk
Notes
References
*
*
*Albert Smith and David Fry: (1991). ''The Coventry We Have Lost''. Vol 1. Simanda Press, Berkswell.
*Albert Smith and David Fry: (1993). ''The Coventry We Have Lost''. Vol 2. Simanda Press, Berkswell.
{{coord, 52, 23, N, 1, 30, W, display=title, region:GB_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki
Suburbs of Coventry