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LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton
LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Coventry Station: lnwrcov1282

Looking towards Birmingham from Stoney Road bridge with the down platform on the left and the rebuilt up platform on the right

Looking towards Birmingham from Stoney Road bridge with the down platform on the left and the rebuilt up platform on the right circa 1875-77. The down platform appears to be of a similar length as the 1860 station albeit with a new platform building which has encroached on the land behind the platform and are extended towards the camera. The parcels bridge is the same as the 1860 station as is the lamppost by the barrow crossing. The down platform has two additional lampposts lighting the ramp at the London end. At the site of the original L & B station's platforms, at the Birmingham end of the up platform, there appears to be the base of Coventry No 2 Signal box together with two covered vans. It is probable that this was the embryonic parcels depot which was expanded over the next 30 years and remained until the new station was built in 1960.

This photograph is from the Henry William Taunt collection. It bears such remarkable similarities to image 'lnwrcov645' (look at the trees behind the up platform etc) which initially suggested that image 'lnwrcov645' was also taken by him. However Andrew Mealey of the 'Coventry & Warwickshire Local Studies Centre' wrote 'It certainly bears a striking resemblance to our photo lnwrcov645, which was taken from the same viewpoint and shows the station at the same stage of development. However, our photo was taken by Joseph Wingrave, a retail chemist who had a shop in High Street, Coventry. I know this is true because we possess the original glass plate negative'.

N.B. Henry William Taunt, 1842-1922, was an Oxford-based professional photographer. He photographed mainly in Oxford, Oxfordshire and the River Thames, though surrounding counties are also well represented. His subjects were mostly tourist views, though he also recorded architecture and social history. The whole of the combined NMR and Oxfordshire County Council collection of Taunt's photographs is available on English Heritages's 'ViewFinder' web site.

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