Essential Hotels > England > West Midlands > Coventry

Coventry lies right at the heart of England, buttressed by the two great medieval castles of Warwick and Kenilworth and surrounded by the rolling landscapes of Warwickshire, Shakespeare's county. Six hundred years ago the city was one of the most powerful in England and it still possesses reminders of that golden age - one of the finest medieval guildhalls in the country, almshouses and monastic foundations, timber-framed shops and pubs and a clutch of historic churches. It is a place of myth and legend. The saintly Godiva made her legendary ride here to free the citizens from taxation, while mythical St George, dragon-slayer and patron saint, was said in legend to have been born here. Yet it's never been a city content to just look backwards. This is the birthplace of jet pioneer Frank Whittle and of the motor industry in Britain, the home of Jaguar Cars and of Warwick University, a place where the past and the future stand alongside one another.

The Priory Visitor Centre tells the story of Coventry's great lost cathedral of St Mary, built on the site of a church founded by Leofric and Godiva and destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII in 1539. Open seven days a week, the new centre houses stunning finds from major archaeological excavations on the site in 1999, allows visitors to make 'virtual' tours of the great church as it was in the Middle Ages and tells the story of some of the real people who lived alongside it all those centuries ago. Another of the city’s cathedrals is St Michael’s Cathedral and sees a new post-Second World War structure positioned next to the traditional building that was bombed by the Luftwaffe during the war. The spire and some ruins still remain of the former place of worship and it is linked with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin that also brings together a historic church building next to a new post-Second World War cathedral.

For the traveller keen to get a real sense of England past and present, Coventry and its city region offers a wealth of fascinating contrasts. This is George Eliot country and the great Victorian novelist has a special gallery all to herself in Nuneaton's Riversley Museum. Other attractions in this part of the West Midlands include the Transport Museum, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, and the Ricoh Arena which is home to Coventry City Football Club.