Front cover of brochure Park Cottage, East Avenue, Stoke Park

Stoke Green Conservation Area

Transcript from Coventry City Council February 1979 brochure, with updates where needed.

Introduction

The conservation area is situated nearly 2 km (1¼ miles) east of the city centre and was designated under the 1967 Civic Amenities Act in December 1968 in order to preserve and enhance the general character of the area.  In addition to the domestic scale of architecture throughout the conservation area, four distinct sub-areas can be identified. 

Stoke Green itself is an area of open space dotted with trees and surrounded by a ring of buildings of various ages.  Stoke Park is an area unique in Coventry; laid out in the second half of the 19th century with a distinctive road pattern, it has acquired a semi-woodland character over a long period of time.  Binley Road forms an east-west axis to the conservation area with wide grassed verges and an avenue of substantial trees.  Gosford Green is a formally laid out area for bowls and tennis enclosed by trees and houses.

The Eastern side of Stoke Green Historical Development The name Stoke (itself an old English word for village) has only been applied to the area from the 15th century onwards, replacing the older name of Bigging for the hamlet probably located at the eastern end of the conservation area on the Binley Road, which, from the 13th century, was noted as a major road from Coventry to Rugby and Northampton.  Another old road ran south across the Green area to follow Aldermoor Lane to the parish of Pinley.  A substantial amount of land in this part of the city was owned by the Coventry Priory, mainly let as farming land, though tilemaking was also important, being the subject of numerous court cases.

The North East 'gate' to Stoke Park The area of the Green was probably defined in 1617-19 when the parish was enclosed, the Green being left as common land, and shortly afterwards, a number of 'fair summer houses' were constructed around it.  A short row of weavers' cottages were built on Binley Road between the Green and Bull's Head Lane at this time, Bull's Head Lane and Brays Lane (or Cross Lane) being already in existence.  The ring of development round the Green was steadily increased and, by the middle of the nineteenth century, most of the east side and north-west corner was built up.  A National School had been constructed at the corner of the Green and Binley Road in 1840.  Cottages and some larger houses had been built towards Bulls Head Lane and a set of stocks had been erected on land just east of the Bull's Head Inn.  In 1834, the area north of Binley Road had been laid out as the city's racecourse; this survived until 1849 and, in about 1865, the area was laid out for a new housing estate.  Stoke Park covers 6.4 ha (15.8 acres) and was walled on three sides with local pink sandstone with gated entrances at three corners of the estate.  The road layout was of a curvilinear type and the land was to be disposed of in quite substantial plots, indicating that a high quality area was desired.

The Consevators' Memorial Development, though, was slow and only a handful of houses had been built by 1886, including some on subdivided plots.  In 1912, there were still substantial gaps in part of the estate which have only slowly been filled.  Other gaps in development, particularly the south side of Gosford Green and the west side of Stoke Green, were filled during this century with a variety of house types, both private and Council, so that there are few areas left which would be suitable for more development.  The remaining common lands in the Green and along Binley Road were taken over by the City Council in 1928.  A memorial to the old Conservators was erected shortly afterwards at the corner of Binley Road and Brays Lane.

BUILDINGS IN THE AREA 68-70 Binley Road Five buildings have survived from the 17th century, four weavers cottages and a building which is probably one of the 'fair summer houses' referred to above.  Of the four cottages, two are listed Grade II, Nos. 68-70, Binley Road.  An interesting feature of the pair of cottages is that while the ground floors run back from Binley Road in the usual way, the first floors are built at right angles to this so that the first floor nearer to Binley Road is part of No. 68 while the further roof is part of No. 70.  The two other cottages in the group have been extensively altered and modernised.  The other survival is the large building at the junction of Binley Road and Stoke Green, now much altered and known as 'The Langleys'. Until recent years, it had been subdivided into two private houses, the other being known as 'The Laurels'. It has been extensively altered and divided up from the 18th century onwards.  No 18th century buildings are thought to exist in the area but there are a fair variety of 19th and early 20th century styles.  The earliest of the range are to be found on the east side of Stoke Green, all are formally proportioned and faced in the then fashionable stucco finish.  A number of them have substantial gardens at the rear and carriage sheds and stables at one side. Probably the best examples of the style are Nos. 25 with full-height bay windows and no 33, formerly known as Witton Lodge.  Later buildings move away from the use of stucco, except in a limited way to emphasise window openings, and several houses in Stoke Park show this style.

7, West Avenue, Stoke Park One oddity, though, is Park Cottage, the first building in the estate, which was built in East Avenue by Mr. Malt, a local builder who was also involved in work in the city centre.  As a result of this latter work, a substantial amount of old timber was reused to create an exterior load-bearing skin, giving the appearance of a timber framed building.  Old window casements, glass and internal panelling were also re-used.  Another more extravagant building may be found at 7 West Avenue, with three large bays across the front of the house and a substantial conservatory at the side.  More recent buildings are mainly of the inter-war period and, as such, usually fit well into the character of Stoke Park, Gosford Green and the side of Stoke Green, including a typical inter war shopping arcade on Binley Road and the Bull's Head Inn, rebuilt in mock Tudor style. End of transcript - other information below   Good for Dogs rating: Stoke Green or Gosford Green are OK for dogs, but you will need to use a lead for most of this walk.