Coventry Caesars Tower (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
St Mary's Guildhall, Bayley Lane

In the civil parish of Coventry.
In the historic county of Warwickshire.
Modern Authority of Coventry.
1974 county of West Midlands.
Medieval County of Warwickshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SP33577896
Latitude 52.40748° Longitude -1.50794°

Coventry Caesars Tower has been described as a probable Fortified Town House.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The monument includes the Guildhall for the guild of St Mary, Coventry. The guild was founded in 1340 and the construction of the hall began in 1340 and was completed by 1342. The hall, constructed from sandstone, was enlarged circa 1460. Built around a courtyard, the hall and its undercroft occupy the west side along with a two storeyed gatehouse. On the south and east sides of the courtyard are timber framed ranges of a later 15th century and circa 1400 date. At the extreme south west corner of the courtyard there is a three-storeyed tower known as Caeser's Tower which was rebuilt after suffering bomb damage during World War II. The hall was restored in 1824 by the architect Stedman Whitwell. It is believed that the hall is built on the foundations of and incorporates stones from the 12th century castle of the Earls of Chester. (PastScape)

Comments

Probably urban tower house of about 1300. Also suggested as tower of Coventry Castle as castle ditch is nearby. Was damaged by bombing in 1940 and has been restored. If not part of the C12 castle then built from stones of that castle and possible on foundations. The tower predates the foundation of the guild of St Mary but does seem to have been part of the guildhall from the start and housed the guilds muniments and treasures. Did this start as a private tower of a single wealthy merchant, a guild member, or was it built by a precursor group to St Mary's guild?

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1116402
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 869494.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MCT557.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Coventry City Council St Mary's Guildhall (for visitor information)
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 256-7
  Stephens, W.B. (ed), 1969, VCH Warwickshire Vol. 8 p. 141-3 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- Davis, Philip, 2010-11, 'Crenellated town houses in Medieval England' Castle Studies Group Journal Vol. 24 p. 270-91
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Speed, John, 1610, Map of Coventry

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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