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Coventry is an industrial city in the Midlands at the
head of the Avon Valley. Coventry was originally an old monastic settlement
and became a prosperous market town and weaving centre in the Middle Ages. Its
interests in textiles were stimulated by the arrival of French Huguenot
emigrants in the early 18th century, who introduced the manufacture of silk
and ribbons. The latter are still produced in association with the making of
rayon. A watch-making industry, also introduced from abroad, declined with the
competition of cheaper Swiss and American products, but the inherited skill of
the craftsmen has been diverted into the manufacture of bicycles, motor-cars
and, more recently, aircraft. Daimler made his first motor-car in Coventry in
1896. In the Second World War, Coventry was the first target for the German
Air Force's new strategic bombing plan, using radar. On the night of 14th
November, 1940, German bombing caused tremendous damage and destroyed the
cathedral. A new cathedral was dedicated in 1962, built on a site next to the
ruins of the old one, and an entirely new, modern civic centre has been built.
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