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,
George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry George Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry George William Coventry, 8th Earl of Coventry (16 October 1784 – 15 May 1843), styled Viscount Deerhurst from 1809 to 1831, was a British peer and Tory Member of Parliament. Coventry was the eldest son of George Coventry, 7th Earl of Coventry, and his wife Peggy (née Pitches), and was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was elected to the House of Commons as one of two representatives for Worcester in 1816, a seat he held until 1826. In 1831 he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords. In