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Warwickshire
By far the greatest number of cathedrals in England are old and venerable buildings, many of them dating, in foundation at least, to before the Norman Conquest. The same would have been true of the cathedral at Coventry had it not been for an air raid on the night of the fourteenth of November, 1940. It was on this particular night that the whole of the city centre was virtually destroyed and, along with it, the cathedral. From the ashes of the old city that witnessed the ride of the naked Lady Godiva through its streets was to rise the new Coventry, and a new cathedral. In 1962 Sir Basil Spence's new building was consecrated. It aroused considerable interest and controversy, not only because of its architecture, which was to most people a departure from the accepted idea of a cathedral, but also because of Graham Sutherland's vast tapestry which dominated the nave. Reconciliation is the theme of the new cathedral and all it contains, and it stands beside the remains of the old cathedral, a stark reminder of the folly of man.
The human race has a long and inglorious history of self destruction and there are many reminders of this unhappy fact all over the world. Probably the worst form that this can take is when a country, and its people, turn on one another and ever families are split *into opposing camps. The first act in such a drama, the first major battle of the Civil War, took place here in Warwickshire, at Edge Hill, but time has softened the hard horror of the event and it can now be looked back on almost with a feeling of romanticism.
Many castles, built to serve as fortifications against some particular threat, serve that purpose and are allowed to fall into decay. Others start life as homes, are fortified over the years and then are evacuated as their usefulness diminishes. Warwick Castle is one of the few that began life as a castle and was later converted 'into a house., It was built in the fourteenth century and has been occupied ever since.
There can be no doubt as to the identity of Warwickshire's most famous son; that distinction is most securely held by William Shakespeare. The county is full of places associated with him and his family, as well as being rich in relics and buildings belongmig to his time. The house where his mother, Mary Arden, was born may still be seen 'in the village of Wilmcote. Anne Hathaway's cottage at Shottery is well known to countless numbers of visitors. Part of it was badly damaged in a fire in 1969 but restoration work has now been fully completed.
In Shakespeare's day Birmingham was just a market town, though with a growing industrial future even then. Gradually the industrial side of the town grew in importance until Birmingham became one of the world's great *industrial cities Inevitably, grime and ugliness go hand in hand with such industrial growth and Birmingham was no exception. A huge pro. gramme of rebuilding was embarked upon and a new city, in line with modern requirements, started to appear. Fortunately much of the best of the old city was allowed to remain and so the city still has its old character to a considerable extent.
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If a country existed whose borders formed a perfect square, or circle, it would be very easy to pinpoint its exact centre. NO such countries exist, however, and with islands the task of marking the centre is even more difficult because of the eve] changing coastline; the sea giving up some land as it recedes in one place, and claiming it from another part due to erosion Nevertheless to know the precise centre must have seemed of some importance at one time, for a cross was erected a Meriden, on the village green, and it is said that this cross marks the exact centre of England! The Meriden Cross was, in fact resited at the time of the Festival of Britain in 1951 to conform more precisely with geography at the time. For how long 1 will remain accurate, if indeed it is, no one knows but it stands as one more item of *interest in a county of great fascination.
Stratford-upon-Avon
The world knows William Shakespeare for the genius he was and the words he wrote remain to delight us, and many future generations. It is not within the compass of a book such as this to comment on the virtues or otherwise of the man, nor indeed of his work; this has been ' done often enough by those far better qualified.
What can be said is that the old market town, with which Shakespeare never lost touch despite his great success in London, remains with all its associations with, and memorabilia of, the great man, as a mecca for all those who love the written word and acknowledge him as its greatest exponent. Untold thousands of visitors have walked round the streets of Stratford, have seen his father's house in Henley Street where Shakespeare was born in 1546; have visited the grammar school he attended, and the church where he lies buried. That they will continue to do so and that next year, and the year after, there will be thousands more who make the journey to Stratford, is surely tribute enough to his greatness and the uniqueness of his talent.
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