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,
Coventry Ring Road planned. Coventry Ring Road The A4053, commonly known as the Coventry Ring Road, is a ring road in Coventry, England, which forms a complete dual carriageway loop around the city centre. The road encompasses the old and new Coventry Cathedrals, Coventry University, West Orchard and Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centres, Coventry Skydome Arena, and many other businesses. Unlike many other city centre ring roads, Coventry ring road is made up of entirely grade-separated junctions except for one roundabout, this leads to the junctions being extremely close together and in effect one junction leads into another at many points. After the Second