W H Adams & Son - Allesley Old Road, Coventry, UK
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N 52° 24.497 W 001° 32.250
30U E 599482 N 5807456
A blue plaque on the front of Cambrian House, 164 Allesley Old Road, Chapelfields, Coventry,the last watchmaker of Coventry.
Waymark Code: WM822W
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/12/2010
Views: 3
The house has somewhat lost its Victorian nature since being pebbledashed. The topshops, the area at the top of the house at the rear, where the watchmakers traditially worked are still visible. The windows to the topshop would be large to maximise the amount of light available.
From The Coventry Watchmakers Heritage Trail published by the Coventry Watch Museum Project Ltd:-
The small Victorian terrace of which Cambrian House is a part, represents the outer limit of Victorian Chaplefields. Houses further along this road were part of the massive housing development of the 1930s.
Cambrian House, 164 Allesley Old Road were the premises of W H Adams and Sons. W H Adams (1889-1953) was a master watchmaker whose workshop on this site was probably the last remnant of the watch industry in Coventry. When this workshop closed the only other watchmakers in the city were, strictly speaking, employed in watch repair work rather than watch manufacture.
W.H.Adams was apprenticed to his father, W.H.Adams Senior; his sister Amy also helped in the family business. As a child one of her tasks was to stamp out the keyhole in the watch case. The ‘payment’ for such work was to be allowed to keep the small fragments of precious metal and sell them to a jeweller in town.
The following is from the 1891 census.Interestingly it gives the addess of W H Adamsas 169 Allesley Old Road and not 164. The houses have therefore probably undergone renumbering (or the plaque is on the wrong house!):-
169,Old Allesley Rd. Cambrian Hse,1,William H Adams,Head,M,39,,Watch Manufacturer,Employer,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Eliza Adams,Wife,M,,39,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Amy E Adams,Dau,S,,15,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,William H Adams,Son,,14,,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Albert Chas. Adams,Son,,12,,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Ada Adams,Dau,,,10,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Edith M Adams,Dau,,,7,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Arthur J Adams,Son,,6,,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Frederick Adams,Son,,2,,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
,,,Winifred Adams,Dau,,,3m,,,Coventry Warwickshire,,
Blue Plaque managing agency: Coventry Watch Museum Project
Individual Recognized: W H Adams & Sons
Physical Address:
164 Allesley Old Road
Chapelfields
Coventry, West Midlands UK
CV5 8GJ
Web Address: [Web Link]
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