Question regarding Geography in the area around Coventry, England

Question

I have a geography question.   I have a branch of my family that lived in the suburb of Coventry, called Foleshill, in the 1840's.  They lived on the street known as Alderman's green.

When I put in foreign place locations, in my tree, I like to put the current modern designation, with a separate note, if a border has changed.

In some records, Foleshill, is listed as being a part of Warwickshire, in more modern ones, it is listed as a part of West Midlands.  I changed all mine to state Foleshill was in West Midlands.  Before, I used Warwickshire.

Which is the modern, current and official designation?  Is foleshill in Warwickshire or West Midlands.  I'm a bit confused.

I would also like to know the same for Bedworth and Walsgrave, which used to be called Sowe, I believe.

I just want to be sure I'm using the proper modern location.

Thanks

Craig

Answer 1

Foleshill is in Warwickshire, Warwickshire is in the wider area known as the West Midlands, so if it were me, I'd put Foleshill, Warwickshire, England or possibly Foleshill, Coventry, Warwickshire, England. I am from the East Midlands but would never put East Midlands in the location boxes on my profile. Hope this is helpful.

Comments

I currently have Foleshill, West Midlands, England as the location.  Is that necessarily wrong? I can change it back.

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West Midlands is a general term for the western half of the Midlands, but it's also a 1974 Metropolitan County, which doesn't seem to have quite gone away yet, although the County Council went away in 1986.

The Metropolitan County contains only part of what used to be Warwickshire.  The rest of Warwickshire is still Warwickshire.  The boundary is about 2 miles from Foleshill, on the country side.

But what Foleshill is part of now is a bit moot, because Foleshill is totally swallowed up into Coventry, which is all-but a single-tier authority.  Foleshill is no longer mentioned in official postal addresses - "Alderman's Green Road, Coventry" gets your mail delivered.

So in modern terms, if you're going to mention Foleshill at all, I think you'd say "Foleshill, Coventry, England" and a county is superfluous.

Answer 2

It is recommended that the location is listed and linked appropriate to the vital dates of the profile. In this case the 1840's, Foleshill, was Warwickshire.

West Midlands was created in 1974, so all births in Foleshill linked to profiles post 1974, would be Foleshill, West Midlands.

The same principle would apply to Bedworth & Walsgrave upon Sowe.