Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/679

Rh COVEX. 669 COVEXTKY. C N.E of Soutlrwold, and 5 E. of Wangford, its post town. The land is marshy, and the village much decayed. In former times the inhabitants weiv eni^ged in the fisheries, and cloth was manufactured. The living is a discharged vie. annexed to the rect. of Benaere, in the dioc. of Norwich, val. .28, in the patron, of the trustees of the late Sir Edward S. Gooch, Bart., who are lords of the manor, the present baronet being a minor. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, has a handsome tower. The charities amount to 25 per annum. Here is a parochial school for both sexes. Bishop Bale, the antiquary, was born here in 1495. CO VEX, a lib. in the par. of Brewood, in the CO. of fiord, 2 miles S.E. of Brewood. WVEXEY, a par. in the hund. of South Witchford, the co. of Cambridge, 3J miles N.W. of Ely, and 3 .E. of Sutton. It contains the chplry. of Manea, and the hmlt. of Wardy Hill. The living is a rect. * in the dioc. of Ely, val. with the cur. of Manea annexed, 809, in the patron, of Lord Kokeby. The church, dedicated to St. 1'eter, is a small structure. Conyers Middleton was once rector of this parish. The charities amount to 45 per annum. The Baptists have a chapel at Hi, and the Wesleyans a place of worship at Wardy Hill. There is a Xational school with a small erul< jwment. COVEXHAM ST. BARTHOLOMEW, a par. in the wap. of Ludborough, parts of Lindsey, in the co. of Lincoln, 3 miles from the Ludborough station of the East Lincolnshire line, and 6 X. of Louth. The Louth navigation passes through the parish. A small priory was founded at Covenham Grange by Bishop Carileph in the llth century. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Lincoln, val. 287, in the patron, of the Rev., C. D. Holland, and heirs of S. Harrold, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is an ancient structure. It was formerly a large cruciform edifice, but has been partially taken down. It contains a fine sculptured font, and monuments of early date. The rent of 26 acres of land is set apart for the repair of the church. The Wesleyans, Free, and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel. The children of this parish are entitled to attend the school of Covenham St. Mary. Thomas Young, Esq., is lord of the manor. COVEXHAM ST. MARY, a par. in the wap. of Ludborough, parts of Lindsey, in the co. of Lincoln, 4 miles from the Ludborough station. It is situated on the Louth navigation. The living is a rect. in the dioc. of Lincoln, val. 197, in the patron, of the lord chan- cellor. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a neat structure. Seventeen acres of land are allotted for the repair of the church. Here are National Diocesan schools for both sexes, to which four neighbouring parishes have a claim. J. Kime, Esq., is lord of the manor. COVEXTRY, a manufacturing town, municipal and parliamentary borough, in the hund. of Knightlow, in' the co. of Warwick, situated in 52 24' N. lat. and 1 30' W. long. It formed until recently a city and county of itself, but the see is now incorporated in the diocese of Worcester, of which it forms an archdeaconry ; and the county of the city is incorporated in the county of Warwickshire, to which previously it only nominally belonged, having exercised a separate jurisdiction from 1451 till 1842, when an Act of Parliament was passed for that purpose, and in the following year an Order in Council was issued dividing Warwickshire into the two divisions of Warwick and Coventry. The town of Coventry is built on rising ground, on the right bank (if the river Sherbourne, which here unites with the Radfordbrook. The London and North -Western rail- way, and the Holyhead road, both pass through the town ; the distance from the metropolis being by the former 94 miles, by the latter 91. Two branch lines leave the main line at this point : one to join the Trent Valley line at Xuneaton, the other the Great Western at Leamington. There is also a canal, constructed in 1790, passing through Marston Bridge, Nuneaton, Atherstone, and Tamworth, joining the Grand Junction canal at Fradley Heath. Its length is 32J miles, and it has 14 locks, rising 96 feet. The city takes its name, which was anciently Convetitre, from the fact of its having been built around a convent, of which St. Osburg was abbess, and which was destroyed in 1016 by the Danes. On its site Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his celebrated -wife Godiva, built a Benedictine abbey to the Virgin, St. Peter, and St. Osburg, endowing it with half the town and twenty-four manors. Both he and his lady were buried there. Her name will always bo associated with Coventry, by reason of the story of her narrated by Matthew of Westminster. After the Conquest Coventry became part of the possessions of the earls of Chester. In 1102 Robert de Liinesey, Bishop of Lichfield, removed his see here from Chester, and the city was the seat of the bishoprics of Coventry and Lichfield till the former was attached to Wor- cester. Henry V., when Prince of Wales, was taken up in this city for riotous conduct. Two parlia- ments have been held here : one by Henry IV. in 1404, and another by Henry VI. in 1458, known as " Parliamentum Diabolicum," when Richard Duke of York, and the earls of Warwick, March, and Salisbury were attainted. The meeting between Henry IV., then Duke of Hereford, and the Duke of Norfolk, to decide their quarrel by wager of battle, took place here. Mary Queen of Scots was confined here for a time, in 1566. In the parliamentary wars Coventry took up arms against the king, and was garrisoned by his opponents in 1642, for which offence Charles II. destroyed the walls, which had stood since the reign of Edward II. The pageants and mysteries periodically exhibited from a very early period have always been famous, and many of our sovereigns have been among the spectators. A procession, representing Godiva, was instituted in 1677, and continues to be exhibited on Trinity Friday. De- scriptions of this and of the many curious mysteries performed here will be found in Thomas Sharpe's " Dissertation on the Pageants at Coventry, 1825," and W. Reader's " Pageant of the Company of Sheremen and Tailors in Coventry." The local government is vested in a corporation, consisting of a mayor, 9 aldermen, and 30 councillors, with the style of the " mayor, bailiff's, and commonalty of the city of Coventry." The assizes aro held here, and it is the head of a County Court district, and of a Poor-law Union. It is a polling-place for North Warwickshire, and has returned two members to parliament from the time of Henry VI., and occa- sionally from the reign of Edward I. to that monarch. Under the Reform Act the parliamentary limits are more extensive than the municipal, the former, accord- ing to the census of 1861, comprised 9,154 houses, inhabited by a population of 41,647 ; while the munici- pal borough contained 8,991 houses, with 40,936 persons. The borough obtained three Acts of Parliament, in 1790, 1842, and 1844, to regulate the paving, light- ing, cleansing, and water supply, and for the construc- tion of a cemetery, and other improvements. In tho older districts the streets are irregular and narrow, the houses having gable roofs and projecting upper stories, but the modern streets are well built, paved, and lighted with gas. There are several fine specimens of ancient architecture in addition to the churches. St. Mary's, or the Guild, hall, is a Gothic building of tha 15th century, with a fine timbered roof, and curious carved furniture. In the hall is a piece of tapestry of the year 1450, containing portraits of Henry VI., his queen, and others. The county-hall is a handsome stone building, erected in 1785, where the assizes aro held. Tho Drapers' hall, used for public meetings and balls, was built in the present century. Before the Reformation there was a cathedral at Coventry, where the bishops of Coventry and Lichfield formerly hold their seat. After the dissolution of the priory of Coventry, the Act of Parliament (33 Henry VIII.) made the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield the sole chapter for the bishop, and by an Order in Council, dated 22nd December, 1836, the archdeaconry of Coventry was transferred from the diocese of Lichfield to that of Wor-