Today has been really quite lovely. I was with the FP seeing as I don’t see a lot her now she’s on placement. She had to go into Uni to give in her work, so I demanded to go too, seeing as I’m quite missing being there. Once she had done that we decided to get a spot of lunch and eat it at the Old Cathedral. To those of you not familiar with Coventry, the Old Cathedral refers to St Michael’s cathedral, which was bombed in the Second World War and only the ruins remain. It’s a wonderful piece of history, situated in a rubbish city. We walked around it, I explained different things to the FP, being a bit of a Coventry History geek and all. We went through the graveyard too. [Edit - below the picture I took, I've posted a picture of how the Cathedral was in 1910, before it got bombed]
Old Cathedral
Where the Old Cathedral is
Then we noticed St Mary’s Guildhall. It’s always been there, but I’ve never been in it, I’ve never really paid too much attention to it to be honest.
St Mary's Guildhall outside
Outside, on the sign, we discovered that it was built in the 12th-13th century and the South Wall contained parts of a 12th Century castle. Probably the castle that was in Coventry but no one knows where it was. It was the first seat of local government in the town. It would have been a prime venue for entertaining royalty as well. Mary Queen of Scots was taken there, under the orders of Elizabeth I, in 1569.
It’s really lovely in there. Really old and so much history.
Paintings in St Mary's
St Mary's main room
The only thing I had a problem with was getting downstairs. And upstairs for that matter. It was a tightly winding spiral staircase. I’m scared of heights and hate being closed in. I got up OK, into what would have been the room Queen Mary stayed in. It was very slanted and not at all straight, which gave you the feeling that you were about to fall. I like my rooms to be straight. I couldn’t get across to the other room as I was scared of the stairs. In the end the FP had to stand one step in front of me all the way down. As you can see below.
The FP and the scary stairs
There’s a really nice cafe in there, so one day next week we’re going on a little historic tour and going for lunch. I love history. I’m looking forward to it. Wonderful day.
