Longford is a ward in the north of Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

, West Midlands

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is covered by the Coventry North East constituency and bounded by the wards of Holbrooks, Henley

Henley

- Places :UK:*Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England**Henley Rural District, a former rural district in Oxfordshire*Henley-in-Arden, a village in Warwickshire, England*Henley, Suffolk, a village in Suffolk, England...

, Upper Stoke and Foleshill

Foleshill

Foleshill is a suburb in the north of Coventry in the West Midlands of England.Longford. Courthouse Green and Rowley Green are to its north and Keresley is to its west.- History :...

. Neighbourhoods covered by the ward include Longford Village, Foxford, Rowleys Green, Alderman's Green, Hawkesbury, Bell Green, Manor House, Hall Green, Courthouse Green, Woodshires and Little Heath.

Longford is mainly residential, but it also has industrial areas and a few green areas, such as Longford Park and Longford Community Nature Park, which are in close proximity on opposite sides of Longford Road. In the north of the ward is the Ricoh Arena

Ricoh Arena

The Ricoh Arena , home to Coventry City F.C., is a stadium complex situated in the Rowleys Green district of the city of Coventry, England containing a 32,609 seater football stadium, a 6,000 square-metre exhibition hall, a hotel, a leisure club, and a casino...

, home to Coventry City Football Club. Also part of the complex is Arena Park a Retail Centre including a Tesco

Tesco

Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

 Extra. Riley Square shopping centre is another shopping centre in the ward. Longford is also served by two libraries: Arena Park Library and Bell Green Library.

The 2001 UK Census found that there were 17,601 people living in Longford, with a population density of 37.3 per square kilometre. 738 people were students. Longford has an area of 472 square kilometres. The number of people who were unemployed in Longford was 522 according to the Office for National Statistics

Office for National Statistics

The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...

 in June 2006. 12,409 people were of a working age. The largest employer in the ward in 2004 was Henley College.

Education

Foxford School and Community Arts College

Foxford School and Community Arts College

Foxford School and Community Arts College is a comprehensive school in Longford, Coventry, England. The school has been awarded specialist status as an Arts College. It is a coeducational school with a catchment area of north-east Coventry, stretching from Broad Heath to Longford and Holbrooks to...

 is the area's main Secondary School, headteacher Ruth Williamson. There is also
Grangehurst Primary School.

History

The area is referred to as early as the 15th century, stating that there were houses and cottages in the areas of Longford and Foxford however these had not developed to form hamlets. A census in 1730 stated that there were only 20 houses in Longford and Foxford. Longford began to develop in the mid-18th century when the ribbon weaving industry and a flourishing coal mine at Hawkesbury encouraged workers and their families to move into Longford. It was now on the main route from the mining districts of Nuneaton

Nuneaton

Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...

 and Bedworth

Bedworth

Bedworth is a market town in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England. It lies northwest of London, east of Birmingham, and north northeast of the county town of Warwick. It is situated between Coventry, to the south, and Nuneaton, to the north.In the 2001 census the town...

 to Coventry.

Canals

The Coventry Canal

Coventry Canal

The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England.It starts in Coventry and ends 38 miles north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal...

 passes through the area. On the towpath is a sculpture named 'The Stone Sofa', by Tim Shutter. Unveiled on May 31, 1997, it was commissioned by Groundwork Coventry as part of the Coventry Canal Art Trail, and is owned by the City Development Directorate at Coventry City Council. The sculpture is 1.4 metres high, 2.4 metres wide and approximately one metre deep and carved out of solid sandstone.

The Oxford Canal

Oxford Canal

The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...

 was started in the area in 1769 and the first 10 miles were completed by 1771. The two canals passed alongside each other from Hawkesbury to Longford as the Coventry Canal Company and the Oxford Canal Company were unable to agree on tolls. Following a court injunction taken out by the Coventry Canal Company, the two canals were joined at Longford in 1777. The current junction of the canals is Hawkesbury Junction

Hawkesbury Junction

Hawkesbury Junction or Sutton Stop is a canal junction at the northern limit of the Oxford Canal where it meets the Coventry Canal, near Hawkesbury Village, Warwickshire, on the West Midlands county border, England...

.

External links

• Foxford School and Community Arts College