Coventry’s War Memorial Park is the city’s most popular leisure facility and one of the country’s most successful local parks. As a living memorial to the fallen of Britain’s 20th century wars, the park is up there amongst the best. The 48 acre park was opened in July 1921, originally, as a tribute to the 2,587 Coventrians who died between 1914 and 1918 fighting in the First World War. Memorials have since been added to commemorate the fallen of other conflicts in the twentieth century. 2021 will be the centenary of the park’s opening.
The park is a triumph of a 100 years of green space just a 15 minute walk from the city centre. Any visitor to Coventry should make the time to visit the park to enjoy its many features.
The park’s principal feature is the towering memorial monument. This imposing monument greets the visitor who enters the park from Kenilworth/Leamington Road entrance. Standing at the top of an avenue of trees, the memorial dominates the landscape by its silent, dignified presence. An eternal flame flickers at the top of the tower as a reminder of that Great War of a hundred years ago.
Alongside the avenue is a moving memorial to Athur Hutt, a Coventry born serviceman who was awarded the Victoria Cross. A few metres further on there is a memorial to the men and women of the WW2 airborne services. Trees throughout the park are dedicated to individual service men and women who died for their country. Plaques at the base of the trees commemorate their deaths. At the north end of the park are the concrete remains of a barrage balloon station. These barage balloons were used to protect the city against enemy air attack. Sadly, they did not prevent the city suffering from severe enemy air attacks in WW2.
The theme of the park is now reconciliation and a beautiful German garden has been constructed as a symbol of that reconciliation. A Japanese garden is in the process of being created and it should be complete by early 2021. The German and Japanese gardens are but two of many stunning gardens that decorate the park. Regardless of the season a walk through the park gives the eyes a spectacle of colour. Then there are trees cleverly spaced around the park adding to the park’s natural beauty. The park really is a nature lover’s delight.
Sport is not forgotten in the park. There are football pitches, tennis courts, a bowling green and a recently developed “Footgolf” course. A cross between football and golf, Footgolf is one of those novel features which makes the park so special. The park has a skate board area, swings, climbing area, an aviary and water play area. This makes it a great place to take the children.
The park has two cafes. One of the cafes is housed in the visitor centre which has a small picture history of the park.
The park is home to one of the country’s best attended Saturday morning 5K parkruns and a friendly welcome is given to all parkrun tourists. The park’s other cafe is a meeting place for these runners. Manageress Kim has a special smile on her face on Saturday mornings when she greets runners who come to her cafe for a post run cup of tea and a bacon batch. A bacon batch is a Coventry speciality and Kim makes one of the best. Sadly, the parkrun is temporarily postponed due to Covid-19.
The park hosts the annual Godiva Music Festival. The festival attracts musicians from around the country and from around the world. As an affordable alternative to Glastonbury, the Godiva Festival is a must for music lovers. See our blog post on the Godiva Festival for more information.
Click on the link below to see a map and a few photos of a walk we did around the park: https://www.relive.cc/view/vE6JmXd8MgO
Coventry’s War Memorial Park has so much to offer and it is so much more than just another city park. The only way you can discover Coventry’s War Memorial park is to visit it. You will be pleased if you do.
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