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Chronicle of the 20th Century
Key Events in Nuneaton
and district in the last one hundred years
compiled by Peter Lee

1970-1979

1970
Nuneaton Sea Cadets disbanded. Their headquarters H.M.S. Vanquisher next to the canal near the Wharf Bridge at Chilvers Coton was demolished.

The Arts Centre in Pool Bank Street started showing films.

1st January - Cecil Ernest Marston, Chairman and Managing Director of Stanley Bros. was awarded the M.B.E.

7th January - The Palace Ice Rink in Victoria Street badly damaged by fire and subsequently it had to be demolished.

16th April - Alderman Reg. Haddon was given freedom of the Borough.

October - Haunchwood No. 1 brickyard closed, due to falling off of production of good clay and a running battle with local people over the smoke nuisance it generated..

October - Nuneaton Flour and Provender mill ceased production. (latterly only produced animal food stuffs).

1971
Properties in Coton Road, near Coton Arches demolished.

Haunchwood Brick & Tile works demolished.

November - Charles Betts died he was born in 1883. He was the first head of Manor Park School.

1972
New public library in Church Street opened.

J.C.Smiths departmental store on Bridge Street renamed Debenhams.

January-March - Track was lifted from the Nuneaton-Ashby railway line.

3rd February - Miss Amy Moreton died aged 78. She was awarded the O.B.E. and was the second longest serving member of the County Council to which she gave 33 years service.

13th February - Alderman Bob Chamberlain died aged 70 (he was on the council for 44 years).

21st May - The Nuneaton Junior Leaders Regiment based at Bramcote were given the freedom of the Borough.

June - Thomas Mather a Nuneaton Probation Service official was given  the M.B.E.

21st July - Weddington Road railway bridge blown up by a controlled detonation.

1973
An extension to the sewage works at Hartshill was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh.

1974
De-Mulders animal by-product processing plant opened at Hartshill.

Home Farm of the Jees Hartshill estate was demolished.

Local Government re-organisation brought about Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council.

Coton House (HMS VANQUISHER) demolished after it was gutted by fire.

Work started on demolishing buildings in Coton Road to convert it into a duel carriageway as an extention of the Bedworth by-pass.

May - The final internment in Stockingford churchyard took place. Mrs. Emma Olner was buried (aged 103)

20th September - Sir John Betjeman, the poet laureate, unveiled the memorial to Michael Drayton on Hartshill Green on the site of his cottage demolished in 1941.

1975
The galleries removed and doors taken off the pews in St. Nicholas Parish Church.

6th June (1.55am) - Serious rail crash in Nuneaton. The night Scottish express travelling north from London to Glasgow through Nuneaton towards Crewe came off the rails 100 yards south of the Leicester Road bridge, travelled 200 yards ripping up track, damaging the bridge supports before the locomotive tore down part of the station roof and ended up on the platform. Only one carriage was undamaged. This tremendous crash killed six people and injuring 36. There were approx. 100 people on the train.

1976
The River Anker flood relief scheme brought into use.  This allowed flood waters to by-pass the town centre and has virtually eliminated the risk of flooding to which the town had previously been so prevalent.

February - Tuttle Hill windmill ceased grinding corn.

1977
The Grand and Scala cinemas closed.

14th July - Edwin Charles Knox who was managing director of Arley Colliery and the instigator of the construction of Arley Pit Village died aged 98.

1978
Work starts on the new flood relief scheme designed to take flood waters past the town centre by diverting the main flow of the River Anker to the east of the town. This effectively stops the town from flooding at regular intervals.

April - Astley Castle was gutted by fire and became a ruin. Thought to have been started deliberately. The Castle had been in continuous use since the 12th century. It was a fine example of a medieval moated castle.

November - Mrs Mabel Bratton murdered in Nuneaton.

15th September - The New Palace Cinema in Queens Road closed.

1979
Listers factory and Fielding & Johnson's mills in Attleborough demolished.

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