Featured on BBC Radio 5 Live and listed by Travel Mag and About Britain as one of the best things to do in Coventry, coming on a guided historical tour with Sky Blue City Walks is the perfect way to see this unique city, home to a rich history, ancient legends, pioneers of industry, innovation and the arts, with an eclectic mix of architecture and public art.
Right now we are planning to run both Godiva’s Cathedral Quarter Walk and the Jigsaw of History Tour on most days (but not all days, please check!!) with GCQ running from Monday to Saturday until the end of October 2023, and Jigsaw running on Sundays. Walks will not happen every single day, so please check. We may be able to swap them around if you contact us in advance and of course please get hold of us if you would like a private tour or visit.
Other dates and private bookings are available on request. If you’d like something different to what is advertised, please ask, as if we haven’t got any bookings for a particular day, that tour won’t go ahead. And we will let you into a little secret – this is being written in March and while we’re advertising all the way up to October, there aren’t many bookings for Autumn yet! Both of the walks detailed below start from Broadgate between Godiva’s Statue and the clock.
Godiva’s Cathedral Quarter Walk
This walk takes you around the historical epicentre of Coventry and you’ll find out about kings, queens cathedrals and castles. This walk is very light, is less than a mile in length and takes approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Highlights include:
-
- The legend of Godiva, her historical significance and why there may have been an agenda to whitewash her from history.
-
- The loss of St Marys Cathedral in the dissolution of the Monasteries and how that changed Coventry forever.
-
- Moonlight Sonata, the Blitz of the 14th of November 1940 and what authorities really knew before the attack.
-
- The crucial part that Coventry was meant to play in the Gunpowder Plot.
-
- The legacies of international peace and reconciliation which followed the destruction and rebuilding of St Michaels Cathedrals.
-
- Six different theories as to where the name ‘Coventry’ came from.
-
- Why Coventry has actually been a city forever, since “Time Immemorial”.
-
- The short-lived history of Coventry Castle.
-
- The two time capsules of Coventry; St Marys Guildhall and Drapers Hall.
The Jigsaw of History Tour
This tour zig-zags through the city centre away from the cathedrals, and takes participants on a walk through a city which has kept making history by inventing the future. It’s a history that includes the civil war and civil rights, it’s a history of a city that has moved from being the world-leading pioneer in one industry to another, then another, it’s a rich cultural history of a city which has kept on reinventing itself, finally rising like a phoenix from the firestorm of the Blitz. It’s a history that fits together like a jigsaw, come and explore it with us. The tour is about two miles long and lasts approximately two and three-quarter hours.
Highlights include:
-
- The industrial booms which saw Coventry as the centre of manufacturing of weaving, watch making, bikes and cars.
-
- See the most complete part of the City Wall, and learn where the Civil War really started.
-
- The Royal Palace in the city centre where the King and Queen stayed when Coventry was the capital of England, which is still partially in use.
-
- The story of the inventors who brought us the bicycle and the jet engine.
-
- Different theories as to where the phrase “Sent to Coventry” came from.
-
- Explanations and information about of dozens of artworks around the city centre, some of which even the locals might not have noticed before!
-
- Details of the rich cultural history of Coventry.
-
- Stories of the Phoenix City, risen from the ashes of the Blitz.
