It is assumed that the whole area was farmed up until Elizabethan times, but when survey reports indicated the area held good coal deposits, speculators bought or leased land from Coventry Town Corporation to set up coal mines. The silk ribbon industry found a ready foothold in the Foleshill area at the beginning of the 18th century, which mirrored the French Huegenott weaving techniques. The centre of Bell Green vilage developed under the influence of two main roads, Stoney Stanton and Foleshill Roads which cut across to Bulkington and Nuneaton. In 1762 they were tolled (or 'turnpiked') for transporting coal, which was later boosted with the building of the Coventry Canal in 1769. The last known toll station was in operation around the 1860's near Cash's factory.

The area of Bell Green suffered occasional recessions, as it's prosperity was very much linked to economic activity in the Town centre. Churches and other charitable agencies were at the forefront of trying to alleviate the distress suffered by local weavers in 1826 and again in 1860. At the time, men worked in the parish stoneyard for 6d a day and a loaf of bread. Social conditions were very bad and tended to be worse in rural villages like Bell Green. The decline caused districts like Foleshill to acquired a reputation for lawlessness and immorality, which caused wholesale migration leading to a population fall of 1,502 to 6,638 in the ten years to 1871. This decline nearly matched the general decline for the whole of Coventry Town at the time. Some workers built their own cottage factories at their homes in an effort to continue their trade, but weaving declined, so workers who stayed in Bell Green learned other trades. A property which was a former weavers cottage can still be seen today at 108 Old Church Road, which was founded in 1761. This increase in different trades was to prove instrumental for bringing renewed prosperity to Bell Green. Machine tool and bicycle industries took the lead and by the 1890's Foleshill enjoyed a busy expansion that linked it to outlying areas such as Bell Green by the intensive building that followed, including factories such as Alfred Herbert, Courtaulds and many others. The Ordnance Works produced naval guns during the first World War, and by 1932 the city had extended so much that the Foleshill Rural District created in 1836 was extinguished. Housing estates have sprung up since the last war, expanding Bell Green, Court House Green and Nunks Park, so that these areas are today entirely built up, the boundaries of which were changed over time.