Catalogue description Lease from feoffees to Jos. Eld, baker, of a stable in Darby Lane, betw. the respective...

Lease from feoffees to Jos. Eld, baker, of a stable in Darby Lane, betw. the respective tenements of Tho. Foster and Jos Pettifer for 21 years at 40s. a year.

Sign. and seal of lessee. Witn., Ric. Drayton, Geo. Fox.

The name of Cox (see for Nathaniel No.DR429/312) has been perpetuated in the street that was anciently Mill Lane, where the pageant houses used to stand; and entry marked on some old maps called Corpus Christe Lane emphasises this connection. It would be an act of historic piety to revive the old name, since a mill was a most important feature in the economic life of a city or manor. Among extinct local callings one is (alas!) tempted to place that of John Batten, the bookseller (DR429/312). The graves of the Brockhursts (DR429/314) may be seen at Stoke. Widow Sherwood's name (515) recalls that of an authoress whose works beguiled and terrified our early years, or those of such of us who are old enough to have been brought up on "The Fairchild Family." The grandfather of this celebrated lady lived in Priory Row, and in her "Life," recently re-published, will be found a few particulars of Coventry society in few generations back. An interesting item is the conveyance of a piece of land (DR429/312) by lease and release and levy of a fine in the law courts - cumbrous process beloved of lawyers - for the orection of a pump or the enlargement of the highway at Broadgate.