COVENTRY (Convent Town), a city, parliamentary and municipal borough, and manufacturing town in the north of 'Warwickshire, on the Sherbourne, an affluent of the Avon, 186- m. e.s.e. of Birmingham. It stands on a gentle eminence in a valley, with it ridge of hill on the s. and contains ninny old houses, with timbered fronts, projecting into narrow streets, and belonging to the 15th and 16th centuries. The modern part of C., however, is well, though not regularly, built. The chief buildings are the churches, with imposing spires. St. Michael's church, built 1313-95. is said to be the largest parish church in England, and is one of the noblest of tile lighter Gothic structures. St. Mary's hall, built 1450, for the Guild, is one of the finest specimens of ornamental work in England, with grotesque carved oak roof, ancient tapestry, and great painted window. In the market-place formerly stood a rich hexagonal Gothic cross, 57 ft. high, erected in the 16th c., in three stories, with exquisitely finished pillars, pinnacles, and niches, with statues of English kings and saints. Before the year 1760, the cross had fallen to decay, and in 1771, the remains of it were taken down and removed. The ancient walls, three miles in circuit round C., were demolished by Charles II. Pop. '71, of municipal borough, 37,670. C. returns two members to parliament. The chief manufactures are ribbons and watches. There are large silk-dyeing works. C. is nearly in the center, between the four great English ports, London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull, and has extensive canal communication with other parts of the country. It is a very ancient
place. In 1044, earl Leofric and his wife, lady Godiva, founded here a magnificent Benedictine monastery. In memory of Godiva (q.v.), who is said to have ridden round time town naked, to free it from certain imposts laid on by her husband, curious and splendid processions were formerly held in C. In the 15th c. religious mysteries or plays were often acted here by the gray friars before kings. Henry VIII. demolished the beautiful cathedral of C. Here occurred the famous meeting for the intended trial by Battle between the dukes of Norfolk and Hereford, immortalized in Shakespeare's Richard II. Two memorable parliaments were also held in the monastery of C. in the 15th century. The one contained no lawyers, while the other passed many attamnders against the duke of York, etc. In the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, C. was famous for woolens, broadcloths, caps, and blue thread bonnets. The Lammas lying around C. and comprising about 1100 acres, was not long ago divided between the pro prietors and the freemen, numbering about 4,000, in the proportion of about two thirds to the former, and one third to the latter. C. was visited by the plague six times between 1350 and 1625. The phrase, "to send to Coventry," took its rise most probably from the derivation of the name C., and meant "to send to a convent;" i.e., to shut out from society.