Tile Hill

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Tile Hill is a suburb in the west of Coventry, West Midlands, England. It is mostly residential and partly industrial, with some common land and wooded areas.^[1]

Tile Hill railway station is located on the Midland Mainline which links Coventry with London and Birmingham, and is situated at the south-western border with Canley and Solihull.

[edit] Geography

Tile Hill Woodlands

Tile Hill is seated in the ancient Forest of Arden, and some remnants of the forest remain between the built up areas. Tile Hill Lane is flanked by Plants Hill Wood to the south and Pig Wood to the north.

Tile Hill has three neighbourhoods. Tile Hill Lane approximately divides the suburb into a northern and a southern section. Tile Hill North, primarily consisting of postwar state housing, extends to Broad Lane in the north, beyond Banner Lane to the west, and to Tile Hill Lane in the south; while the mainly private residences of Tile Hill South extends to Tile Hill Lane in the north, the rail line in the south and the A45 in the east.

The third area is the more prosperous Tile Hill Village, which provides the main gateway into Coventry and out towards Burton Green and Solihull Borough, at the city's western extremity. The Tanyard Farm housing development from the early-1980s is essentially an extension of Tile Hill Village to the north.

[edit] Education

There are two secondary schools in Tile Hill; Woodlands School, a boys comprehensive school and sports college,^[2] and Tile Hill Wood School, a girls comprehensive school and Language college.^[3] All of the other secondary schools in Coventry are coeducational.

Primary and junior schools in Tile Hill include Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Junior School,^[4] Leigh Church of England Junior School,^[5] Limbrick Wood Primary School,^[6] and Templars Junior school.^[7]

Hereward College^[8] is a further education college for physically impaired students. The Tile Hill Centre (formally called Tile Hill College), was adjacent to Hereward College, but it is being demolished to make way for an expansion of Hereward College.^{[citation needed]} Tile Hill Centre has been effectively replaced by City College based in Spon End,^{[citation needed]} near to Coventry city centre.^[9]

[edit] Local landmarks

AGCO (formerly Massey Ferguson) buildings on Banner Lane, Tile Hill. Except for the tower block the other buildings have been demolished to make way for housing.

Some of the notable landmarks in the Tile Hill area include:

• Site of the former Massey Ferguson/AGCO factory and offices. Except for the 16-storey tower block and the Massey Ferguson social club, the former factory buildings have been demolished to make way for a mixed use development with housing and a science and technology park containing small industrial units.^[10]

• Pig Wood
• Limbrick Wood
• Plants Hill Wood
• Tile Hill Wood
• Maxims casino, formerly Stanley casino
• "The Ponderosa", the local name of a small park, named after the ranch on the Bonanza TV series being broadcast at the time the park was made.
• The "Banana" flats on Jardine Crescent.

[edit] Notable residents

The artist, George Shaw, moved into Tile Hill in 1968 with his family. The estate in Tile Hill his family moved to was built after the war, as part of the nationwide programme to create a modern future. The estate is open-plan, cut across by long paths and roads, and edged with woods, a remnant of what was once the Forest of Arden. George used this suburban environment as the inspiration to paint highly detailed, almost photo-realistic, works using the novel medium of Humbrol Model Paint.

[edit] Roads named after people

• Dormer Harris Road is named after the local historian and there are also roads named after Robert Cramb, and James Green – the engineer responsible for surveying the route of the Bude Canal.

[edit] Gallery

The former cinema, now a Casino (August 2007, when it was owned by Stanley Casinos)	Autumn in Gravel Hill	The distinctive St. Oswalds church tower by the Tile Hill health centre	Southern edge of Plants Hill Wood
The "Banana" flats on Jardine Crescent	The Tile Hill Centre of City College

[edit] References

Coordinates: 52°23′N 1°35′W / 52.383, -1.583