Stoney Road Allotments, (also known as Park Gardens), Coventry, England

The following is from the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.

A group of mid- and late 19th-century detached urban pleasure gardens retaining a group of 19th- and early 20th-century summerhouses and associated structures.

LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING

Stoney Road Allotments are situated about 0.75km south of the centre of the city of Coventry, to the east of domestic properties in Stoney Road. The site comprises around 5 hectares and is bounded to the north-east and east by the Coventry to Royal Leamington Spa railway line. The boundary with the railway to the north-east is marked by a mid-19th-century low wall constructed from sandstone blocks under saddle-shaped stone copings. The boundary to the east is marked by hedges and 20th-century fences. To the south the site adjoins early 20th-century allotments, from which it is separated by a service path and hedge, while to the west the site is separated from domestic gardens belonging to 1930s houses in Stoney Road by similar paths, hedges, and fences. The site is generally level, with views north towards the cathedral spire and tall buildings in the city centre. To the east, south, and west the site is well screened by hedges and trees. A late 19th-century brick and slate-roofed summerhouse survives (outside the site here registered) in the rear garden of 63 Stoney Road adjacent to the north-west boundary of the site. This structure remains from the strip of gardens which were developed for housing in the mid 1930s.

REFERENCES Used by English Heritage

B Poole, Coventry: Its History and Antiquities (1870), pp 16-19

Victoria History of the County of Warwickshire VIII, (1969), pp 182, 199-207

C Hodgetts, Hill Close Gardens, Linen Street, Warwick (Historical report 1994)

D Lambert, Detached Town Gardens, (English Heritage theme study 1994), pp 26, 36-7

Warwickshire Gardens Trust Newsletter, (Autumn 1995), pp 3-4

Maps

T Sharp, Map of Coventry, published 1807 (Coventry Local Studies Library)

Board of Health Map, 1851 (Z734u), (Warwickshire County Record Office)

OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1887, published 1888; 1938 edition

OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition surveyed 1887, published 1889; 2nd edition published 1913

Archival items

Thomas Bond to the Marquess of Hertford, account for laying out Cheylesmore allotment gardens, 1850 (238/7/1), (Coventry City Archives)

Will of J Ballard, 1867, with bequest of a garden in Cheylesmore Park (101/4/200), (Coventry City Archives)

Correspondence and other items relating to the construction of the railway through Cheylesmore Park, 1832(50, including letter of application for a garden (1850) (CR1709/407(10; 416/1(5), (Warwickshire County Record Office)

Description written: August 2000

Amended: October 2000, October 2001