In October 2015 I found myself in the tiny town of Pembroke in South West Wales. Given that Pembroke is on the coast, has a wonderful castle and a connection to Henry VII, you wouldn't think there would be anything here that could possibly evoke anything to do with the little market town of Loughborough, slap bang in the middle of the country, would you?
We decided to visit the museum/heritage centre of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, housed in the former Dockyard Chapel. There was an extremely interesting collection of artefacts concerned with battles (particularly those of the second world war) and especially with the Sunderland flying boats, as Pembroke Dock was Britain's largest base for flying boats during WW2. When we'd finished wandering around, we exited the grounds onto Meyrick Owen Way, and I was surprised to see on the corner of that road and the B4322 an old-fashioned looking shop, called - the Maypole Dairy!
The Maypole Dairy in Pembroke Dock, October 2015 |
The Maypole in Loughborough Market Place, 1960s |
If you look closely to the right of the Maypole Dairy in Pembroke Dock, you might be able to work out that the attached building is called the White Hart!
The White Hart in Pembroke Dock, October 2015 |
The White Hart, Loughborough, 2015 |
The White Hart, Wimbourne, February 2016 |
An Indian restaurant in Wimbourne, February 2016 |
Former offices of the Loughborough Echo, Swan Street, Loughborough |
Bells in Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, February 2016 |
Fragment of an alabaster plaque in Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, February 2016 |
No.12, Portland Stone, Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, February 2016 |
Loughborough Carillon |
The bandstand created in 1897, Borough Gardens, Dorchester, February 2016 |
The bandstand in Queen's Park, Loughborough, 2014 |
Post box in Dorchester, February 2016 |
Bronze horse, Dorchester, February 2016 |
It was pretty dark so I didn't get to read what exactly he was doing there, but he reminded me of three things about Loughborough: the bronze sockman in Market place
Shona Kinloch's sockman, Loughborough |
Songster, the was horse |
and the new cinema complex that is being built on the site of the old General Hospital. The Dorchester complex was on the site of the former brewery, although the building was renovated rather than demolished, but the range of eateries seemed to be similar
The development on the site of the former General Hospital |
The Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, February 2016 |
Information on the Chartist Movement in the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, February 2016 |
This, of course, reminded me of our own Garendon Abbey, the Chapterhouse of which was excavated by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society in about 1965. Garendon Abbey no longer exists, but the archaeological remains are on the Garendon estate and can be seen in this flyover.
On our last day we travelled to Swanage, passing near Corfe Castle with its Greyhound Pub:
Greyhound pub near Corfe Castle |
Anyway, our last port of call in Dorset was Swanage. Even I couldn't find much of a connection with Loughborough here, as Swanage is a seaside resort with a pier, beach huts and amusement arcades. One or two comparisons could be made though! Their war memorial was quite different from ours (see Carillon above):
The War Memorial at Swanage |
The platform at Swanage steam railway, February 2016 |
The platform at the GCR Loughborough |
Swanage Town Hall clock |
Loughborough Town Hall clock |
Stone plaque on newly built houses in Swanage |
House plaque on Chestnut Street, Loughborough |
On Swanage pier, February 2016 |
"The Clanger. The Clanger is a new pub and it has taken the Great Fire of London as its theme ...There are also some interesting items concerning insurance companies. In those days these insurance companies each had a special crest which was displayed on the wall of insured premises and the fire brigades were only allowed to put out fires where these crests were to be seen."
MacLaren, R. (1977). London pubs & inns. St Ives: James Pike Ltd., pp3-4
Fire insurance crest on a house in Swanage, February 2016 |
Now, I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these somewhere in Loughborough, but I can't for the life of me remember where. Can anyone help?
Hope you've enjoyed this post! And with huge apologies for the changes in type size :(
See you soon
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you have found this post interesting or have any questions about any of the information in it do please leave a comment below. In order to answer your question, I must publish your query here, and then respond to it here. If your information is private or sensitive, and you don't wish to have it on public display, it might be a better idea to email me using the address which is on the About Me page, using the usual substitutions. Thanks for reading the blog.