Smithford Street (inc. Ram Bridge)

Brilliant as always, Helen. Thanks That's quite an unusual view in that case - don't think I've seen many other images looking directly north up West Orchard from that junction. Shame there is not a similar shot pre-war. Another from the same set looks down Smithford Street looking west - Helen do you think that might be the entrance in to Vicar Lane on the left?

Hi Neil, I've not seen a photo looking into West Orchard after they'd built all the new Co-op buildings either. There's a partial in the Jubilee book which is how I identified the doorway and the upper windows. I almost threw in the towel when I couldn't work out which direction it was looking. I didn't check but I recon the building to the left in the middle distance is also in the book. The fence in the background suggested to me that it wasn't the main street. The picture above shows the cinema which was closer to Broadgate than Vicar Lane. So it was beyond the tall brick building on the left. I suspect that the buildings fronting Vicar lane were still timber buildings underneath and would have perished fairly completely.

More discoveries during the current Upper Precinct City of Culture renovations - original Smithford Street cobbles.

Amazing these being rediscovered, sad reminder at what happened to Smithford Street, sad that they are just being removed as trash. I wish a big section of cobbles was kept and merged into the modern pavement as a piece of living working history. As often it would harm or inconvenience no-one.

I want them to dig under some of the cobbles to see if there are any of the older cobbles underneath.

That's a real shame. It feels like, on a much much smaller scale, digging up Pompeii and throwing it in a skip.

Osmiroid, that's exactly what did happen, the Coventry that got blitzed, into a lorry and dumped elsewhere, but there was more, a lot more than Pompeii. I saw both within a 15 year period, the difference was Pompeii got buried to be excavated over a long time, Coventry had to be cleared almost at once. No one was thinking of history at that time, on top of that everyone was of the opinion it was about to be repeated, and a great many thought there would be no tomorrow. But time has healed the past, what's happening now can be recorded, and will never be forgotten.

Yes Kaga, very true. I wish they had left the cobbles in place though, removing them has taken away the chance of everyone in the present day to be able to walk along a part of Smithford Street, along the actual real road surface.

Osmiroid But it had started long before that, when they were removing the old watch-house or lock-up in the Women's Market Place, taken down in 1865 to make room for the new market hall. The space between the watch-house and the houses opposite was paved with "petrified kidneys" cobblestones which were most unpleasant to walk on. Wonder where they landed up. Wonder whether they were wood from a petrified forest?

Could this be post Easter raid? Chris Cooper

Great historical photo, Prof!

This photo really shook me. I think the bank on the left became the Nat West much later. I've seen lots of pictures and walked through areas partially cleared as I was growing up but this looked awful. Look at these brave people going to work and getting on with their lives in this chaos. What was the white tower in the middle of the photo.

lindatee2002, could the 'white tower' be the lift shaft of the King's Hotel maybe? The shack on the left is, I think, the Weaver to Wearer tailor's shop which was put up as a temporary measure after the first raid.

Out of all the points of interest because of the unusual vantage point in that picture, the thing that caught my eye was the sunshine roof on that bus. Apparently there were a few double deckers with this feature, but the other bus in the picture also has one and if you recall the picture of the bomb damaged bus lying on its side in Pool Meadow, that had one too, so they must have been relatively common. They can hardly have been intended to give passengers an opportunity for a sun tan, maybe a way to clear the air for the non-smokers who went upstairs when the lower deck was full. Also note the word Coventry has been painted out on the side of the bus to hinder any enemy paratroopers that might wonder where they have landed.

This is based on the Theatre Vaults pub sign, not an exact modernised version of it. Is anyone aware of the original colour scheme. Edit, here is a modified version, more of the pub sign look about it,