| Summary : Priory Church founded 1043 and raised to cathedral status from 1195 until 1540. No structural remains survive, but excavations have revealed parts of the church. Excavations at the West end in 1856, and at the East end in the 1960s, revealed that the cathedral church was cruciform, with a central tower built at different periods, and having a total length of 425 feet. It would therefore be of a comparable size to the cathedrals at Norwich, Gloucester and Worcester. The arrangement of the West front with its transeptal towers is similar to Wells cathedral. The nave transepts were shallow. The East end terminated in two or more radiating apses built in the 15th century. These may have been added to an existing Norman apse as was done a century earlier at Tewkesbury. |
More information : (SP 33497910) Cathedral (rems of) [NR].(1)
Cathedral, (rems). Founded by Leofric in 1043. Granted cathedral status in the 1195. See GP.(2)
Cathedral Church of the Benedictine Priory of St Mary. The history of the earliest cathedral in Coventry is inextricably bound to that of the priory, of which it was the priory church. (See SP 37 NW 47 for the detailed history of the site).
A Benedictine Abbey was founded in Coventry in 1043 by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and his wife, Godiva. When Robert de Limesey, Bishop of Chester, transferred his Chester seat to Coventry in 1102, he elevated the Priory Church to the status of a Priory Cathedral with himself as Bishop and titular abbot. However, ca.1188-98, the diocese of Coventry was merged with that of Lichfield, Lichfield became the sole chapter for the diocese in 1540, with Coventry losing its see until 1916 when the diocese was recreated.
The priory was impoverished for much of the C12th, and the church was still unfinished in the mid C12th. From a seal of 1183-9, when it appears to have been completed, it appears to have been cruciform with a West porch flanked by towers, a tall central tower, and two smaller towers above the aisles or transepts. No structural remains of this church survive, and none have come to light, although fragments of masonry from that period have occasionally been found.
It seems that a new building programme was initiated in the C13th, the extant remains of the West front, now part of Blue Coat School, (SP 37 NW 37), being of that date, and suggesting that either the nave was rebuilt, or that completion of the Norman church had been delayed until then by the impoverishment of the priory. By 1291, a Chapel of St Clement had been built near the porch, and other chapels are mentioned at later times. The priory was surrendered in 1539, and the buildings systematically destroyed.
Excavations at the West end in 1856, and at the East end in the 1960s, revealed that the cathedral church was indeed cruciform, with a central tower built at different periods, and having a total length of 425'. It would therefore be of a comparable size to the cathedrals at Norwich, Gloucester and Worcester. The arrangement of the West front with its transeptal towers is similar to Wells cathedral. The nave transepts were shallow. The East end terminated in two or more radiating apses built in the C15th. These may have been added to an existing Norman apse as was done a century earlier at Tewkesbury. (2,3)
(Forms part of St Mary's Benedictine Priory, SP 37 NW 47. See illustration card for a plan of the cathedral). |