Whitefriars, Coventry 3.59

The buildings known as Whitefriars are the surviving fragments of a Carmelite friary founded in 1342 in Coventry, England. All that remains are the eastern cloister walk, a postern gateway in Much Park Street and the foundations of the friary church. It was initially home to a friary until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. During the 16th century it was owned by John Hales and served as King Henry VIII School, Coventry, before the school moved to St John's Hospital, Coventry. It was home to a workhouse during the 19th century. The buildings are currently used by Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry.The cloister walk that remains would have been one of four when the friary was in use and is constructed from red sandstone. The wooden roof of the building is not an original but thought to have been brought from a nearby building during the 16th century.Little of the original buildings remain; only one cloister wing and the original gateway (which was used as a toy museum until 2008) still stand. Various institutions in Coventry are named after the friary such as Whitefriars Ale House and Whitefriars Housing Group.