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,
Grade I listed buildings in Coventry 14th century. The oldest is St. Mary's Priory and cathedral, now a ruin, which was founded in 1043. Several other buildings in this list date from the 12th century. The youngest Grade I listed building in the city is the new cathedral, built in the 1950s to replace the city's second cathedral which was built in the 14th-century and elevated to cathedral status in 1918. Like much of the city centre, the city's second cathedral was almost completely destroyed in the Coventry Blitz in November 1940, and the new cathedral was built next to the ruin, which was preserved. A