In 1036 when the Domesday Survey was made the Benedictine Monastery in Coventry had  already been in existence for more than forty years. The Monastery was founded, and richly endowed, by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his famous wife Lady Godiva. It was dedicated to St lvlary and housed twenty monks and an Abbot. This foundation rvas the most important element of early settlement and later City of Coventry. It also had a major economic influence on the life of the ever growing population acting as a magnet which attracted merchants, craftsmen, pilgrims and people flrom the countryside.

As the monastery grew so did Coventry. In 1102 the Abbey church was raised to Cathedral status and by the end of the l4th century a magnificent nnew Cathedral church was built dominating the City from its hill top position. tn the building of this nerv Cathedral, the fabric of Leofric and Godiva's church was removed.

By 1400 Coventry had become one of the four largest cities outside London and become the Midland centre for the woollen cloth trade, exporting home and abroad. This prosperity not only attracted people to the City but also other religious orders; Carthusians, Carmelites and Franciscans had, by 1381, all established foundations here and the local population had increased to over 5000 from the mere 100 or so recorded in the Domesday survey.

At the Dissolution o fthe Monasteries in 1539 all of these religious houses suffered the same fate but none more than the benedictine Priory of St Mary. It was the only Cathedral church in the Country to be demolished. Its conventual buildings were all but obliterated and of the fragments tlnt did survive the Dissolution, almost nothing is left except the foundations of the west end with its adapted north tower and a smatl section of the east chevet chapel. In addition to the destruction of its buildings the Priory's archives were also destroyed which would have recorded monastic activities over some five hundred years.

Fortunately, we do have a wealth of knowledge of its history but, unfortunately, onty very limited information of its architectural form and style. Enough evidence has been recovered from past ercavations to show that substantial remains survive below ground indicating the extensive nature of both the conventual buildings and the Cathedral Church. The site at its zenith covered an area of l3 acres (5.3 hectors).

Because the Cathedral and Priory played a key role in this origins and developmenr of Coventry both scholars and local researchers have, for many years, takin great intereit in the site and its history. It goes w'ithout saying that the Godiva and Leofric's connection has created even more interest recently with the possibility that there is another opportunity of discovering evidence of the church they had built and may even be buried in.

In 1993 a symposium was held at Coventry Cathedral to celebrate the 950 anniversary of the foundrng of the Benedictine Monastery. The contributions to the event ranged from new finding by reaserchers to the reinterpretation of past excavations. Most importanttt it presented us with new questions that need to be answered about the foundation and the changes thar took place over half a century. Now, new research priorities are being imptemented in an attempt to tackle at least some of those unanswered questions.