I visited the Coventry-made vehicles that played a role in a dark period of the UK's history

The thing I find most interesting about the conflict in Northern Ireland is how parallel it ran with normal life. Channel 4’s Derry Girls may have been a sitcom but that element of normal life being interspersed with the interruptions of the ongoing conflict in the background was very much a feature of the part of the UK that sits across the water.

In British Army parlance, the response to the ongoing communal unrest in Northern Ireland was Operation Banner - the longest continuous deployment in British history. From 1969 to 2007, British Army soldiers patrolled the streets of Northern Ireland - often in vehicles built right here in Coventry.

The two I came to the transport museum to get a look at were the Humber Pig and the Daimler Ferret. These were cars that often escorted convoys, patrolled areas hostile to the British presence, and were in place at checkpoints along the border.

READ MORE: I visited a historic Coventry car maker and it was like stepping back in time in the best way

READ MORE: Social media reveals damage to vehicles after using this method to clear ice

READ MORE: The Coventry armoured vehicle mentioned in two Irish republican rebel songs

As it was in the sitcom, they interrupted the scenes of normal life. In Sainsbury’s car parks, on the high street by Woolworths, at checkpoints on the way back from work. These vehicles appeared.

The Ferret in the museum was the one I expected to see but it lacked the big turret on top that many sported during the conflict. The driving position was even more interesting as the driver almost lay down in the vehicle, with the steering wheel pointing downwards at a 45 degree angle.

Then there was the Humber Pig. This was not just used by the army - it was used by the RUC as well.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary were the regular police service in Northern Ireland and in order to police a society that was undergoing civil conflict, constables needed vehicles far more hefty than just standard issue Rovers of the time. Photographs exist of these vehicles being used on the streets of Derry/Londonderry and Belfast, painted in the old RUC battleship grey.

The RUC versions even included fold out armoured shields, whereby soldiers and officers could hide behind to avoid objects or even gunfire. Similar armoured cars are still used by the modern day Police Service of Northern Ireland, though nowadays made by Land Rover.

It’s one thing to look at an old military vehicle and see something that saw action on a faraway battlefield against an opposing army. These vehicles were different - they saw action in a place where the vast majority of people went about their lives as we would recognise a normal life. Going to work, going to school, coming home, and watching TV.

They were symbols of protection or oppression. The state asserting itself for the good of loyal citizens or an invading army occupying an area they weren’t wanted.

But to everyone, whatever side of the divide they were in Northern Ireland, their presence symbolised that the time period up until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 wasn’t normal. That soldiers patrolling your streets isn’t normal.

Today, the army has a more normal presence over there, no different to how it is in Coventry. But these vehicles, built in Coventry, are remnants of that time. With this information and context, anyone visiting the museum should take a few extra moments to consider them.