[2] The construction effort started at New Gate and was initially finished in around 1400, but much repair work and re-routing was subsequently carried out to accommodate the expanding city and the walls were not finally completed until 1534.

[4] The city of Coventry faced few military threats, however, and the decision to build the walls appears to have been driven by political and economic drivers - walls were important symbolically to a city's leading citizens and in turn could bring additional trade.

[8] The decision to build the walls in the 1350s appears to be linked to the "Tripartite Indenture" of Coventry in 1355, which established a common local government for the city.

[1] In 1662, after the restoration of the monarchy, in revenge for the support Coventry gave to the Parliamentarians during the Civil War, the city walls were demolished on the orders of King Charles II.

[12] The remaining wall circuit is protected as a Grade I listed building and a scheduled monument.