Archaeology in the areas of Earlsdon and Canley spans the Neolithic to the present, with a wide variety of sites and objects illustrating past activity and occupation.

Prehistoric finds in the area include stone tools such as a Neolithic axe hammer from Earlsdon and a stone scraper found on Hearsall Common. During the Iron Age an oval enclosure probably for a farmstead lay about where The Riddings and Nightingale Lane are today. Roman Abbey pottery in the form of Grey Ware (so called due to the grey colour of the ceramic) has also been recovered from the Earlsdon and Canley areas showing not occupation but accidental loss.

Place name evidence, much of which is Anglo-Saxon, is very interesting. Canley can be interpreted as "Cana's Clearing", Fletchampstead as "Farm producing Bacon" and Earlsdon as a person's name (Als or Ayles) connected with the local topography. The first mention of Earlsdon is an entry in the Leet Book for 1423.

By using old maps together with new Ordnance Survey maps it is possible to trace the history and location of old field boundaries. Many of these field boundaries still survive in the present landscape, characteristically as a ditch and earth bank. Canley in particular can be seen on the Stoneleigh Estate Map by John Goodwin of 1597.

Ridge and Furrow, a cultivation method used extensively during the of medieval period, of sowing crops on ridges with drainage furrows in between can be observed on Hearsall Golf Course. Westwood was a large wood used as common pasture to such an extent that over-grazing meant a name change by 1533 to Westwood Heath.

The Grange or Manor of Morehall was the centre of a thirteenth century estate held by the de Mora family in Canley. All that is left is the moat as an earthwork. The de Moras gave it to Stoneleigh Abbey in the fourteenth century when it probably fell into disuse. In 1585 the site was bought by Thomas Burton who then built a house. His inventory when he died in 1610 includes "All his apparrell both wollen and lynnen, an old cubboard, a twiggen cheare, potte hookes, one joyned bedstead, one pillow, three blankets, three sawcers, one frying pann" and much more totalling £40 18 shillings and 2 pennies (£40.18.2d)

An excavation in 1976 by Coventry Museums' Archaeology Unit near to where Cannon Park Shopping Centre is today revealed a medieval pottery production site. Jugs and pitchers were produced here and its products have been found as far away as Northampton, Dudley Castle and are of course recovered on archaeological excavations in Coventry. Clay and a good source of water were ideally situated near the site. Old field names in the area such as Potters Field Coppice indicate land connected with charcoal used as fuel in a kiln.

In about 1716 a Windmill was built on a small mound to the north of Hearsall Common. This was a post mill; the superstructure was able to rotate on the single post in order for the sails to be positioned into the wind. The mill is shown only on a map of 1725 therefore having only a short working life. This mound can still be seen.

This has been a short journey, staying in one place but travelling from the prehistoric through Roman and medieval to the present day. Whilst gardening, if you find objects or broken pottery you may think may be old, you can bring them along to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum for identification. Our area can be viewed in a different light, as an ancient place where people worked hard and toiled in the landscape. What a busy place Earlsdon and Canley was in the past.

The next meeting of the Earlsdon Society is on Thursday 22 April 7.30pm in the Community Hall (upstairs), Earlsdon Methodist Church Hall, when Coventry City Archivist, Roger Vaughan will talk about 'Earlsdon in the Archives'. Admission is £1.00. Tea, coffee and biscuits will also be available.

The Earlsdon Society will be attending the Earlsdon Festival on 3 May and can be found in the Earlsdon Methodist Church, where they will be exhibiting Richard Sadler's 1970's photographs of Earlsdon Street.