So, back to connections between Loughborough and places I've recently visited! Picking up where I left off, a few more connections with Dumfries before moving off to the Western Highland and Islands of Scotland.
The Dumfries War Memorial is a tall obelisk-type structure in the centre of the town, which is a little different from ours, a carillon sitting gracefully in the centre of the park that was created in celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1899.
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| War Memorial Dumfries town centre |
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| War Memorial, Queen's Park Loughborough |
Now, as you know, Leicester has fairly recently uncovered the bones of a certain King, and reconstructed the face: fittingly our King is now safely buried in the cathedral. So, Leicester has the bones of King Richard III; Dumfries has the skull of Robert the Bruce!
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| Skull of Robert the Bruce (reconstruction) Dumfries Museum |
There are toy shops and toy shops! Loughborough's toy shop is in the former Alliance and Leicester Building Society building, but there are many buildings in Loughborough to match the toy shop in Dumfries.
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The toy shop in Dumfries
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| Loughborough's Carnegie Library |
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The ironwork around Dumfries reminded me of similar work of the Loughborough iron founder, John Jones.
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| Ironwork in Dumfries |
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| The work of the John Jones iron foundry in Loughborough Cemetery |
Like Loughborough, as there in many towns, there are ghost signs to be found in Dumfries.
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| Ghost sign in Dumfries |
Thankfully, we managed to find an Indian restaurant to dine at in Dumfries, so we felt right at home!
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| Indian restaurant in Dumfries |
Whilst in one of the many museums associated with Robert Burns, poet, I spotted a painting of an eighteenth century man, who simply reminded me of Robert Bakewell, agriculturalist of Dishley
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| Unknown man in Robert Burns museum, Dumfries |
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| Robert Bakewell mosaic at Dishley |
Leaving Dumfries, we headed off to Portsonachan where we were greeted by a herd of deer!
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| Ornamental deer at the Portsonachan Hotel |
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| Deer at Bradgate Park, January 2017 |
Oban was an interesting place: we went for a walk up Pulpit Hill and then walked back along the road adjacent to the Irish Sea. After a wonderful seafood lunch, we walked up the other side of Oban to McCaig's Tower, a folly in the shape of a Roman coliseum. Although rather different, it did remind me of Old John, high up on the hill at Bradgate Park.
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| McCaig's Tower, Oban |
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McCaig's Tower, Oban
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| A rather odd view through Old John in Bradgate Park |
It was lovely to see a water fountain in Inverary, but it was a shame it was surrounded by bins!
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| The water fountain in Inverary |
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| The Fearon water fountain in Market Place, Loughborough |
The builders were using slate to re-roof some of the traditional buildings in Inverary and this reminded me of the gravestones that had been the subject of some of my recent blog posts.
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| Slate in Inverary |
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| Swithland slate gravestone |
In Loch Lomond, I was very taken with the paddle steamer - not sure I've seen anything quite like that in Loughborough! But I also spotted some kind of boiler in the boiler room on the lakeside, which reminded me of the talk that the Chair of the Swannington Heritage Trust delivered to the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society meeting a couple of weeks ago
And in Carlisle, I spotted a carriageway arch that had a date inscribed on the top: as far as I know, we have plenty of carriageway arches in Loughborough, but none with dates.
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| Carriageway arch in Carlisle with a date carved centre top |
Another carriageway arch reminded me of one on Ashby Road, because it had a carved man's head on it, although our man's head has more wild hair.
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| Carved male head on carriageway arch in Carlisle |
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| Difficult to see, but lions head carved into carriageway arch on Ashby Road |
I'm sure there were plenty of other connections that reminded me of Loughborough whilst I was visiting Cumbria, Scotland and the North West of England, but I'm sure you've seen enough now!!
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