History
Stivichall - Godiva to Gregory
In 1043 Earl Leofric of Mercia ( and Godiva his wife) founded Coventry Priory, a Benedictine monastery, giving the monks one half of their estates. The Earl's half (mainly the Southern part of Coventry) later passed to the Earls of Chester who, in the 12th century, granted several chapelries including Stivichall to the Priory. During the reign of Henry VIII the Priory was closed down and all its land surrendered to the Crown. In 1547 the Stivichall Estate was sold and over the next few centuries had various owners until after 1740 when the Gregory family acquired total ownership.
In 1909 the last of the family (Major F H Gregory) died childless and the estate passed to his cousin - the Honourable Alexander Hood who assumed the name of Gregory. After World War I he sold 121 acres in the north of the parish to Coventry Corporation later to form the War Memorial Park which opened in 1921. Major C H Gregory-Hood succeeded his father in 1927 and shortly afterwards sold the rest of the estate to Coventry Corporation.
History of the Kenilworth Road
Coventry was once within the Forest of Arden - in 1250 the Constable of Warwickshire was commanded to cut six acres of wood between Coventry and Warwick for the security of foot passengers. The road towards Kenilworth was first recorded in 1313.
The road traversed Stivichall Estate, and further to the south the Stoneleigh Estate which, in 1153, was granted to Cistercian monks who founded Stoneleigh Abbey. During the dissolution of the monasteries, the Abbey was closed and the estate later passed into ownership of the Leigh family who sold it in part to Coventry City Council in 1926.