Whitefriars, Coventry

Whitefriars
Whitefriars c. 1776, as painted by Moses Griffith.
General information
Type	Friary
Town or city	Coventry
Country	England
Coordinates	52°24′18″N 1°30′05″W / 52.40502°N 1.50148°W / 52.40502; -1.50148Coordinates: 52°24′18″N 1°30′05″W / 52.40502°N 1.50148°W / 52.40502; -1.50148
Current tenants	Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
Opened	14 February 1342
Renovated	1965
Owner	Coventry City Council
Technical details
Floor count	2

The buildings known as Whitefriars are the surviving fragments of a Carmelite friary founded in 1342 in Coventry, England. All that remains are the eastern cloister walk, a postern gateway in Much Park Street and the foundations of the friary church. It was initially home to a friary until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. During the 16th century it was owned by John Hales and served as King Henry VIII School, Coventry, before the school moved to St John's Hospital, Coventry. It was home to a workhouse during the 19th century. The buildings are currently used by Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry.

The cloister walk that remains would have been one of four when the friary was in use and is constructed from red sandstone. The wooden roof of the building is not an original but thought to have been brought from a nearby building during the 16th century.

Little of the original buildings remain; only one cloister wing and the original gateway (which was used as a toy museum until 2008) still stand. Various institutions in Coventry are named after the friary such as Whitefriars Ale House and Whitefriars Housing Group.

The friary was established on 14 February 1342 with the help of Sir John Poultney, about a century after the Carmelites arrived in England. It was built on land that had previously been fields and orchards. The Carmelites were a mendicant religious order, dependent on charity from those they taught and on the gifts from pilgrims visiting their shrine of Our Lady of the Tower. According to Dugdale, 'This Chapell is in the tower of the Cittye Wall without New Gate, close by the roadway leading towards London. On the outside thereof was a picture of the blessed Virgin, richly painted, and within an image and her altar, whereat most travellers which passed by did offer more or lesse, out of confidence that their journey would be better blest'. In 1344, King Edward III gave land to extend these buildings and a similar grant followed in 1352. Several local benefactors left donations in the form of bequests to the friary: in 1384 Lord Basset of Drayton left the Carmelites £300 to enlarge the church, in 1419 the monastery was considerable enlarged with a gift from William Botener, of Withibroke and in 1506 Thomas Bonde of Coventry left them 20 marks to assist with the rebuilding of the cloisters. The coat of arms of the Ferrers family (Earls of Derby) was found during excavations of the church, suggesting that the family had also made bequests to the order. Carmelite orders were dependent on such donations to build their friaries and the Coventry house was clearly developed through a process of gradual building and enlargement as and when funds became available.