In 1935-6, the government held an enquiry into overcrowding. More than 30,000 houses in Coventry were surveyed, producing detailed data on the types of dwellings, household composition and levels of overcrowding in what were considered deprived areas of the city. This data offers us the opportunity to link with other sources (such as contemporary maps and records of the Board of Health, and perhaps also Census microdata for the earlier period, and ONS longitudinal data for information from 1971) and recreate rich profiles of key streets in Coventry. 'The Story of My Street' project seeks to capture samples of data from the overcrowding survey and to scope out possible activities which explore the data with local residents and community groups, and with city institutions such as the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum and the NHS Trust.

The Story of My Street connects current Coventry communities with the rich heritage of their past, re-telling the story of interwar Coventry and examining implications for current citizens.

Project Team:

Principal Investigators: Roberta Bivins and Sarah Richardson

Student Researchers: Olivia Gallogly-Clements, Katie Gardner, Vladimir Marazzi, Isabelle Thibault

Bishop Street, Coventry in the 1930s.

images courtesy of Rob Orland, Historic Coventry