Spon Gate
A 19th-century watercolour painting of Spon Gate
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| Location | Coventry, England |
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| Coordinates | 52°24′29″N 1°30′59″W / 52.408016°N 1.516320°WCoordinates: 52°24′29″N 1°30′59″W / 52.408016°N 1.516320°W |
Spon Street (sometimes referred to as Historic Spon Street or Mediaeval Spon Street) is an historic street in central Coventry, in the West Midlands of England. The street was once part of a route that ran from Gosford, in Oxfordshire, to Birmingham—a route which remained intact (though superseded by more modern roads) until the 1960s. With the construction of Coventry's Inner Ring Road, built to relieve traffic on the narrow city centre streets, Spon Street was cut in half and the route severed.
The street originally ran from St John the Baptist Church, a Grade I listed building, from where the expression "sent to Coventry" may have originated, out of the city centre to the west, through the area known as Spon End, to the bottom of Hearsall Lane. After the construction of the Inner Ring Road, only the lower part of the street (from St John's Church to the ring road) remained known as Spon Street.
Spon Street was an industrial area from at least the 12th century (CE), when it was predominantly occupied by dyers, who were moved to the edge of the city because of the fumes from the urine they used, and other textile industries that needed good access to the River Sherbourne. The fabrics produced were so renowned for holding their colour that the saying "true as Coventry blue" entered common usage.Coventry city walls were built in the 14th century, and a gate was constructed on Spon Street. One of 12 in the city walls, it was known as Bablake Gate, but was renamed Spon Gate in recognition of the settlement known as "Spon", which had formed outside the gate. The walls, and Spon Gate, were demolished in the late 18th century, and at around the same time, Spon Street saw a shift in the industries based in the area. The street was known as a hub for watchmaking throughout the Edwardian era—a reputation that continued well into the 20th century, when bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers set up factories in the area.
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