St. John's Church owes its existence to the desire
of the medieval religious guild of St. John the Baptist to have its own
place of worship, rather than a small chapel in either Holy Trinity or
St. Michael's, the two parish churches of Coventry at that time. In the
City Archives at St. Mary's Hall, there is a document which is dated
May 1344. In it Queen Isabella, widow of King Edward II, granted an
area of land, called 'Babbelak', to the Guild of St. John the Baptist,
to be used for building a chapel, in honour of St. John the Baptist.