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,
County of the City of Coventry county corporate status enabled Coventry to control its own assize and gaol, and the city's bailiffs became sheriffs – officers to the king. Coventry remained separate from the rest of Warwickshire until disputes over ratings with the villages which formed the county resulted in its abolition by the Coventry Act 1842 (5 & 6 Vict. c.110). The Act provided that from 9 November 1842 the "City and County of the City of Coventry shall... be taken to be in all respects Part of the County of Warwick, and within the Hundred of Knightlow". As well as merging Coventry with the