A Brief History of Earlsdon

The districts known as Asthill and Horwell lay in the south-west of St. Michael's parish, mainly to the east of the stream which runs south from Hearsall Common to Canley Ford. There was a well here called Horwell or Whorwell from at least the 14th century, and the stream has been called Horwell stream or the Whor (or Hor) Brook. Asthill was the land rising east of the Whor Brook and south from Hearsall Common towards Stivichall Common.

Horwell as the name for a locality has disappeared, and has been replaced for some purposes by that of Hearsall. Except for Hearsall Common, Hearsall Golf Course, and some playing fields the whole area is now occupied by houses of the 19th century and later.

In the 14th century the boundary of the inner liberties of the city ran from Stivichall through Aylesden (Earlsdon) Field and Blackorchard Field to Guphill Ford. After the dissolution of the county of the city in 1842, the railway line from Coventry to Birmingham, which crosses the area south of Hearsall Common, became the boundary of the new municipal borough. The land north of the railway remained in the city, and the rest of the two districts was taken into the city in the boundary extension of 1890.

Hearsall Common and strips of common along Earlsdon Lane and Whor Lane were enclosed in the Coventry commons' enclosure of 1875, some parts being allotted to the corporation and others sold. Land south of the railway and west of Earlsdon Lane was bought for building in 1853. This was laid out with streets and partly built up, forming the detached suburb of Earlsdon which was occupied mainly by watchmakers.

Further to the southeast, near Warwick Road and Kenilworth Road, there were some large houses in their own grounds by 1887. This area was evidently becoming one of the most favoured residential districts of Coventry. Spencer Park, immediately south of the railway, was opened in 1883 and the new King Henry VIII School was built in 1885. By 1906 the former watchmaking suburb had spread southwards between Whor Lane and Earlsdon Lane, over land which had belonged to Earlsdon Farm.

By the First World War there were more houses to the east of Earlsdon Lane, while in the west Hearsall Golf Course was laid out. Immediately after the war scattered building development began west of Whor Lane. Earlsdon Lane and Whor Lane were straightened and renamed Earlsdon Avenue and Beechwood Avenue respectively. The opening of the War Memorial Park beyond Kenilworth Road in 1921 further enhanced the leafy character of the area, which has largely been maintained to this day.

From: A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 8: The City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick (1969), pp. 48–50.