The Lunt Roman Fort, Coventry

April 16 2005

Last year’s visit to The Lunt Roman fort had to be abandoned because rebuilding was not finished! This visit allows you to wander on a reconstructed timber rampart and gate and to visit the museum in a reconstructed granary building. The posts it rests on are in the original Roman holes! It was an unusual fort and the main feature is a “gyrus” used for training horses! Coventry was almost obliterated by wartime bombing and became the adventurous new city of the 1960s. At the rebuilding many of its older buildings were gathered together into a single street where the timber houses were rebuilt. This area is now a leisure area with pubs and cafes for our lunchtime break. Shops are a short distance away for people who do not lunch. The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum was constructed shortly after the War to house a collection, which is very much based on the story of the city. Industries here included watch making and silk ribbon weaving and there are examples of fine workmanship in both. Much archaeology was prompted by the rebuilding and has continued since. Coventry has three Cathedrals. The ancient one was destroyed at the Reformation and has been excavated again recently; when it featured on Time Team. An old Parish church was used as the Victorian cathedral, but it was bombed in the War. Today the modern concrete cathedral of the 1960s stands in stark contrast to the ruins of the old as an emblem of peace and rebuilding.