Coventry is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The conurbation consists of the Coventry and Bedworth Urban Area, the 20th largest in the country; the city is governed by Coventry City Council.
Historically part of Warwickshire, Coventry had a population of 316,915 at the 2011 census, making it the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest city in the West Midlands, after Birmingham, from which it is separated by the Meriden Gap.
Coventry is 19 miles east-southeast of Birmingham, 24 miles southwest of Leicester, 11 miles north of Warwick and 94 miles northwest of London. Coventry is also the most central city in England, being only 12 miles southwest of the country's geographical centre in Leicestershire.
Coventry Cathedral was built after most of the 14th-century cathedral church of Saint Michael was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940. Coventry motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry.