| Official Name: | Tile Hill |
| Country: | England |
| Region: | West Midlands |
| Coordinates: | 52.4025°N -1.5776°W |
| Metropolitan County: | West Midlands |
| Hide Services: | Yes |
| Static Image: | "The Ponderosa", Tile Hill North - geograph.org.uk - 230495.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | The Ponderosa |
Tile Hill is a suburb in the west of Coventry, West Midlands, England. It is mostly residential and partly industrial, with some common land and wooded areas.Tile Hill railway station is located on the West Coast Main Line which links Coventry with London and Birmingham, and is situated at the southwestern border with the city's Canley district and the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull.
Tile Hill is seated in the ancient Forest of Arden, and some remnants of the forest remain between the built up areas. Tile Hill Lane is flanked by Plants Hill Wood to the south and Pig Wood to the north. It is bounded by the districts of Lime Tree Park (to the east), Eastern Green (to the north) and Canley (to the south).
Tile Hill Lane approximately divides the suburb into a northern and a southern section comprising three main neighbourhoods, though not all are indicated on local road signage :-
The Tanyard Farm area was built in the early-1980s and is an extension of Tile Hill Village to the north, and to the west of Banner Lane towards Eastern Green.
There are two secondary schools in Tile Hill: Finham Park 2 and West Coventry Academy.
Primary and junior schools in Tile Hill include Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Junior School,[1] Leigh Church of England Junior School,[2] Limbrick Wood Primary School,[3] whilst Templars Junior School has been replaced by housing and resited.[4]
Hereward College[5] was a further education college for students with disabilities of various kinds. Coventry College[6] (formerly Tile Hill College before merger with Coventry Technical College in 2002), was adjacent to Hereward College. The college buildings have since been demolished and Coventry College has relocated to a new purpose-built campus close to Swanswell Pool, near Coventry city centre.
Some of the notable landmarks in the Tile Hill area include:
The artist, George Shaw, moved into Tile Hill in 1968 with his family. The estate in Tile Hill his family moved to was built after the war, as part of the nationwide programme to create a modern future. The estate is open-plan, cut across by long paths and roads, and edged with woods, a remnant of what was once the Forest of Arden. George used this suburban environment as the inspiration to paint highly detailed, almost photo-realistic works using the novel medium of Humbrol Model Paint.
The children’s author Cathy Cassidy also grew up in Tile Hill and used some of her childhood memories in her books.
Tile Hill was a scene of carnage and made the national headlines on 19 December 1988 when the Tile Hill Village branch of Midland Bank was raided by two armed robbers. When police responded and pursued the raiders, one of them shot dead 29-year-old officer Gavin Carlton and wounded his colleague Leonard Jakeman as the pursuit reached Torrington Avenue. The gunman, 22-year-old David Fisher, then broke into a house in the city's Earlsdon district, where he was surrounded by armed officers before shooting himself dead.[10]