Whitefriars Friary

A Bit of History…

The friary was founded in 1342 and survived by charitable donations while providing shelter to the needy and passing travellers. The Carmelites wore white habits, thus their friary became known as Whitefriars. Unlike monks, who lived a reclusive life, the friars went out amongst the local people, preaching and offering assistance, enjoying a good relationship with the townsfolk.

The monastery was partly demolished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, and shortly after, it was purchased by a man called John Hales who turned the remaining parts of the buildings into a dwelling, and the chancel of the friary church was briefly used as a school until that was also demolished in 1572.

Queen Elizabeth I addressed the people of Coventry from the Oriel window at Whitefriars in 1565. The words of her speech were unfortunately never fully recorded but it is thought that it might have been to lecture the townsfolk about their frivolous attitude towards religion.

Five years after Elizabeth’s visit to Whitefriars, Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned briefly in Coventry on the orders of Elizabeth, and Whitefriars was one of the places that Mary was held prisoner.

The surviving building remained a house until 1801 when it was sold to become Coventry’s workhouse. Then in the 1940s it became a Salvation Army hostel before becoming part of the Herbert Museum in the 1960s.

Today, Whitefriars is unfortunately derelict and not open to the public. All that remains of this once large and important monastery is one building and some small foundations. The building contains one surviving side of the friary’s cloister on the ground floor, with a large hall above which was the former dormitory where the friars once slept. The surviving foundations beside the building are the remains of the friary’s church which now lies mostly under the ring road.

Various institutions in Coventry are named after the friary such as Whitefriars Ale House and Whitefriars Housing Group.