Coventry Blitz the 1950s, designed by the architect Basil Spence. Spence (later knighted for this work) insisted that instead of re-building the old cathedral it should be kept in ruins as a garden of remembrance and that the new cathedral should be built alongside, the two buildings together effectively forming one church. The use of Hollington sandstone for the new Coventry Cathedral provides an element of unity between the buildings. The foundation stone of the new cathedral was laid by the Queen on 23 March 1956. It was consecrated on 25 May 1962, and Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem", composed for the occasion,
Thomas Coventry, 2nd Earl of Coventry by whom he had one son, Thomas Coventry, 3rd Earl of Coventry. Thomas Coventry, 2nd Earl of Coventry Thomas Coventry, 2nd Earl of Coventry (died August 1710) was an English peer and member of the House of Lords, styled Hon. Thomas Coventry from 1685 to 1697 and Viscount Deerhurst until 1699. From 1690 to 1696, he was a deputy lieutenant of Worcestershire. He inherited the earldom from Thomas Coventry, 1st Earl of Coventry in 1699, and was shortly thereafter appointed Custos Rotulorum of Worcestershire, an office he held until his death in 1710. He was also Recorder of Coventry. Coventry