The Historic Towns Trust collaborated with the charity Medieval Coventry to publish an historical map of Coventry. Coventry was covered in Atlas Volume II from the Historic Towns Trust, but since the publication of the atlas, much work on its history has been done, with historical research supplemented by archaeology. The result is an up-ro-date historical map showing Coventry's rich and underrated history.

Although now often thought of mostly as a post-War city well known for its ambitious redevelopment plans and for the car industry, Coventry's medieval past saw it as one of England's largest and most prosperous cities. Between c.1350 and c.1500 it was England's fourth most-populous and fourth-wealthiest city, its prosperity based on wool and woollen cloth, but also as a seat of metalworking and leatherworking.

The map is based on a digitising of large-scale Ordnance Survey maps of about 1912–1914 when Coventry's car-making and bicycle-making industries were already well established, as were its textile and chemical industries. The city shows a remarkable number of industrial premises in the city centre, next to medieval alleyways and passages. The map shows where the city's main medieval buildings - including its castle, St Mary's Cathedral and Abbey, the Greyfriars and Whitefriars, as well as Bablake College - were situated.

The reverse of the map carries a gazetteer of the city's most important sites, with an outline history of them as well as illustrations, and the map also has a short history of the city.

Part of the gazetteer of sites of interest in Coventry

With contributions by a first-class team of historians and researchers, it makes a rich contribution to the city and its well-deserved status as UK City of Culture 2021.

Swanswell and two of Coventry's three spires

Meanwhile, the map has been added to the online Coventry Atlas and can be seen along with many historic maps of Coventry. The website allows you to see the historical map, a modern map and historic maps together, and vary the transparancy of each. Would you recognise Coventry in 1913?