Railton, Taylors and Fearon

It all started way back when: I thought it had come to a natural conclusion last July, but it's all come back to me, again.

On Saturday last week I was unexpectedly swept up in it all over again! Despite being busy, and despite obstacles, like road closures, I nonetheless found myself in St Paul's church in Woodhouse Eaves for the last of the open sessions for this year, at which a good friend of mine was delivering a talk on ... William Railton! 

As I've just said, I've been researching Railton for quite a number of years now, and I've mentioned Railton and his Loughborough connections once or twice before on this blog. The talk re-awakened my thirst for researching and for getting to the bottom of stories, so I found it impossible to not turn on the pc and let my fingers Bing it, Yahoo it, Dogpile it, or even Google it - "it" being Railton. Seven hours later, and many, many exclamations of "Oh my goodness ...!" I finally emerged ...

The problem with "Google it" is, that if you don't delete your browsing history the search engine remembers where you've been before and assumes you want to go there again! Often this is not the case: I'm usually after new information, not stuff I've found before, but this time I didn't mind being reminded of the plans of various churches that Railton had designed, as such architectural drawings are always interesting, and sometimes simply beautiful.

This time though, I searched a little deeper, and from the same information source found an absolutely fascinating description of thousands of churches across the country, along with pictures of most of them, often cuttings taken from newspapers, sometimes postcards. I searched every one of the 30 volumes for mention of Railton's churches and was most dismayed to read the author's opinion of Railton's St Philip and St James church in Groby:

"a pathetic little church",  with "a dolls house tower and runner bean roof" 

Personally, I rather liked Groby church when I visited.

Anyway, back to the mysterious author, who had this to say about Copt Oak church: 

"...stands by itself - of dark granite in flat slabs, and rather forbidding...The church is 1837, plain E[arly].E[nglish]., by Railton."

Copt Oak Church May 2017

Copt Oak Church May 2017

After a lot of scurrying around, I discovered that the author of these wonderful descriptions was Basil Fulford Lowther Clarke, son of ordained minister, William Kemp Lowther Clarke, and was himself an ordained minister, as well as being involved in work for the Council of Churches. His description of Launde Abbey is extensive, although with regard to Railton's restorations, he merely says: "It was restored in 1846..."

Launde Abbey

Apart from this Railton connection, I couldn't help but wonder if William Kemp Lowther Clarke was in any way connected to the family of Charles Eamer Kempe, a designer of stained glass, and some from the firm of C.E. Kempe and Co. (1) grace St Paul's in Woodhouse Eaves. 

Bottom half of a Kempe window in St Paul's 

Well, my tenacity for going back generations of both these families was not holding out, but I did happen upon many other connections.

Charles Eamer Kempe worshipped at All Saints Church in Lindfield (which had previously been dedicated to St John the Baptist), but following a disagreement with folk regarding a memorial for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, Kempe moved to worship at the Holy Trinity Church in Cuckfield, for which he designed the south porch. Further research into Cuckfield revealed that some of the ceiling bosses depict a chained bull, a crowned portcullis, crossed staples and the red rose of Lancaster, all of which were badges of the Neville family. The suggestion is that the ceiling may have been gifted to the church by Edward Neville, Lord Abergavenny. Edward Neville was the grandson of John of Gaunt who had a connection with Cuckfield in the mid-1600s. Lord Neville's name is associated with the hospital in Abergavenny (I haven't done any research on this, but I assume that as the hospital is called Neville Hall, that the hospital was built on the site of the former Neville Hall): this is a connection close to my heart. 

Getting ever closer to Loughborough, we find that John of Gaunt died at Leicester Castle in 1399. But the bells that Cuckfield were ringing in my head were stronger than Leicester, and I eventually reached Loughborough when I remembered that our very own Revd Henry Fearon was born in Cuckfield in 1802, a year after his father, Joseph Francis Fearon, had become vicar of Cuckfield Church! Sadly, Joseph died whilst still vicar of Cuckfield in 1816, and his role was taken up by Canon Henry Plimley. Henry would have only been 14 at the time of his father's death, and would probably have been at school in Winchester. After successfully completing his degree at Emmanuel College Cambridge, Fearon was ordained as deacon, working at Chichester, and then priest. By 1840 he was back with the Cuckfield church, and on the 1841 census he is listed as a clergyman living at The Stable, Cuckfield (2). 

Henry Fearon remained in Cuckfield until 1848 when he came to Loughborough, in the position of Rector. And the rest is history, as they say!!!

Connections with Loughborough don't end there though!!! There is a vague connection in that an architect called John Henry Taylor did some work at Cuckfield church, probably the extensive 1855 interior alterations. No relation to our own Taylors, of bellfoundry fame, but, of course, there is a connection hidden away! The bells at Lindfield church were originally made and repaired at nearby Horsham, and were later repaired and recast by the Whitechapel foundry. In celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee (1877), the peal of 5 was increased to 8. 

"The new bells were conveyed from the railway station at Haywards Heath on a timber carriage drawn by four horses, bedecked with ribbons and bells...The bellfounders were Taylor and Co. of Loughborough, Leicestershire."    

Well, didn't you know it!!!   

Anyway, that's enough for one blogpost!

(1) The stained glass company run by Kempe was re-named C.E.Kempe and Co. after his death in 1907. It was run by Kempe's young nephew Walter Ernest Tower, and continued until 1934. Kempe's 'signature' was either a single wheatsheaf, or a trio of wheatsheaves, but once the company was run by Tower, the 'signature' changed to include a wheatsheaf with a black tower on it, and it this that can be seen on the St Paul's window pictured above.

(2) The Stable appears not to be one single dwelling, but many dwellings, but I'm not quite sure where exactly.  

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Railton, Taylors and Fearon. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/08/railton-taylors-and-fearon.html  [Accessed 25 August 2019]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne  

Burleigh Hall

"Oh my goodness, Baron Muncaster!" I exclaimed - perhaps rather too loudly, as everyone in the room turned to look at me!

"Baron Muncaster? asked my youngest.

"Yes, you know, Baron Muncaster!"

"Errr, no! I've heard of lots of other Barons, and Lords, and Counts, and Earls ... but not Baron Muncaster!"

"If I have then you must have!" I replied. "I was hoping you'd be able to help me, because although it rings loud bells in my head, I can't remember why!"

We were standing in the middle of an exhibition at Blenheim Palace featuring the life, work and words of Sir Winston Churchill, and as is my habit I was avidly reading the detailed information boards, when I came across mention of this baronetcy, which made me squeal. The name sounded so familiar, but wasn't one that cropped up often. Other exhibition visitors were, of course, quietly looking around, absorbing the astonishing history that was being presented, and I'd invoked their displeasure, somewhat, with my obvious excitement.

The youngest seems to have an appetite for, and an understanding of the ranks of the nobility, and regularly has his nose in Debrett's Peerage. He's also done the family tree and established his distant relationship with Charles Spencer, the 9th Earl Spencer (very distant - 4th cousin 1x removed of husband of 5th cousin 3x removed!) so when I mention specifically named persons in the  ranks of the peerage, he can usually tell me exactly who they are and how they got their rank. But not this time!

It took me a while, and a lot of wracking of my brain, but I finally got there, and realised why the name meant something to me, but not to my youngest - there was a Loughborough connection, and I was kicking myself for not getting there sooner! Here's an extract from "Secret Loughborough" which mentions Baron Muncaster:

"...in 1902 ...Burleigh Hall became the home of the Honourable Alan Joseph Pennington, son of the 3rd Baron Muncaster."

So, my memory was right - it just took rather a long time to get there!!

There were quite a number of other things I saw that reminded me of Loughborough. One of which was the statue honouring the 1st Earl of Marlborough, called the Column of Victory, which took me to Nelson's Column in London, designed by the architect William Railton, which then reminded me of the many Leicestershire buildings that Railton designed - like St Paul's Church in Woodhouse Eaves, and the lodges on the Garendon Estate.

Column of Victory

Column of Victory 

Column of Victory

Column of Victory

Nelson's Column by William Railton

In the library having oooohed and ahhhed over the books, I then found myself peering at the tiny black radiators! Of course, the chances of them being made by Messengers was low, and indeed, I didn't manage to find any indication of the makers.

A short, low radiator

A long, low radiator (showing scale!)

A long, low radiator

Also in the library was rather a shocker!!! An organ!! Maybe not the kind of thing you'd expect to find in a library? It was absolutely beautiful, and it was great to hear that it was in regular use. This wasn't the only organ, however, and as one would expect, the other one being in the Chapel. What was surprising though, was how tiny the chapel organ was!! These organs reminded me of our All Saints with Holy Trinity church, and in particular the series of organ concerts they hold every Sunday in August.

The organ in the library

The organ in the library

The organ in the library

The organ in the library

The organ in the chapel

The organ in the chapel (showing scale!)

The organ in the chapel

Introducing the organist at All Saints

The organist in action at All Saints

And, finally, Ladybird Books - well, an offshoot, at least - appeared, taking me right back to my childhood and the exhibition currently on at New Walk Museum, Leicester.

Ladybird products

Ladybird covers, exhibition at New Walk Museum

Ladybird covers, exhibition at New Walk Museum

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Burleigh Hall. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/08/burleigh-hall.html [Accessed 18 August 2019]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne   

Ernest Gimson and Andrew Carnegie

You may be wondering why I am writing a blogpost about Ernest Gimson and Andrew Carnegie, and what on earth these two people might have had in common. 

Both questions are easy enough to answer, but let's start with the latter!

Andrew Carnegie died on August 11th 1919: Ernest Gimson died on August 12th 1919. Thus, August 11-12 is the centenary of the deaths of Gimson and Carnegie, both of whom have a strong connection to our area.

As a librarian by day, and a customer of libraries for the past 55 years, the name Andrew Carnegie has been familiar to me for most of my life. However, it wasn't until I did my Leicestershire your guide training in 2012-2013, and on our exam walk one of my fellow tour guides mentioned our public library, and that he himself had been awarded a Carnegie Scholarship to study at university, that I started to wonder about Carnegie, the man and the frequency with which his name seemed to appear.

So, Carnegie, born in Scotland in 1835, emigrated to the United States with his family when he was in his very early teens. He began working as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill, followed by a stint as a telegraph messenger, then telegraph operator, then superintendent with part of the Pennsylvania railroad. With his steady job, Carnegie was able to trade in shares, and to cut an enormously long story short, he made a very large fortune in the US steel industry. At one time, Carnegie was allegedly the richest man in the US, but, of course, by the time he died he had given away much of his fortune.  

Probably one of the most familiar things associated with Andrew Carnegie are the many public libraries in the UK that bear his name, which includes Loughborough's own! Ours was designed by local architects Barrowcliffe and Allcock, was constructed in 1903-5 and, like many others, is a listed building. I think the first library in Loughborough was a subscription library down on Baxter Gate, which was only available to those who could afford to pay the subscription. The first free public library was on the corner of Ashby Road and Green Close Lane.

Carnegie's connection with these libraries is that he donated some, if not all of the money towards the cost of the buildings. Seems like the idea of match funding has been around far longer than the Heritage Lottery Fund, since Carnegie would only donate the building costs as long as the local authority paid to equip the building and for maintenance costs.  It's possible that Carnegie's strong feeling about the education and welfare of less fortunate children was influenced by his own experience, particularly when Colonel James Anderson made his own personal library available once a week to working boys. 

Not only did Carnegie donate money to the building of libraries - in the UK and the US - he also funded a range of other buildings, like museums (e.g. the Melton [Mowbray] Carnegie Museum), concert halls (e.g. the Carnegie Hall in New York), educational institutions like Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the Carnegie educational scholarship as mentioned above, and the Carnegie Medal for children's literature in the UK.

Some Carnegie libraries in the UK are now under threat, as council budgets contract, for example in Abergavenny where a recent plan was to erect a mezzanine level in the market hall for use as a library, while other libraries are being renovated (like Harrogate public library) while others remain as they are, like ours.

Kendal Carnegie Library

Loughborough Carnegie Library

Moving on to Ernest Gimson, we find that he was born in Leicester, son of Josiah Gimson, the engineer and iron founder who owned the Gimson Engineering Company which in turn owned the Vulcan Works. Ernest Gimson was in training to be an architect with the well-known Leicester architect, Isaac Barradale, when he heard William Morris, a leader in the arts and crafts movement, deliver a lecture at the Secular Hall in Leicester. So influenced was he that Gimson moved to London to work as an architect and designer, following Morris's ethos. 

Together with his friends and colleagues, the Barnsley brothers, Gimson moved to Gloucestershire where they worked until Gimson's death in 1919. During his lifetime, Gimson built three homes for his close relatives in Leicestershire, one of which became a home for Donald Gimson, and is our local Stoneywell Cottage, up at Ulverscroft. It's now run by the National Trust and really worth a visit. It's a lovely cottage, full of arts and crafts furniture and decoration, with lots of local slate.          

And there I must leave you for the week!

Below are some useful and interesting websites with more information:

Andrew Carnegie: pioneer, visionary, innovator.

Restoration of Harrogate public library, 2019 and before restoration. 

Statutory Listing for Harrogate public library

Listing for Abergavenny public library

One proposal for a replacement library for Abergavenny (the Morrisons store has been built but not the library: there have been other proposals which include creating a mezzanine floor in the market hall to house the library, but the link is not currently working).

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Ernest Gimson and Andrew Carnegie. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/08/ernest-gimson-and-andrew-carnegie.html [Accessed 11 August 2019]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne   

Holiday connections and anniversaries

Continuing with the holiday connection theme ...

In my last post I'd got as far as sharing with you some connections that made me think of Loughborough whilst I was in Launceston. Hmmm, this was actually the first day of my two-week holiday, and it was the 'let's stop off here for a break' place, in what was to be a 350-mile journey. My thinking now is that if I took a whole blog post to share the revelations from a 2-hour visit to Launceston, then it will take me about 14 blog posts to cover the rest of the holiday, so below are the edited highlights!!!

My most exciting find was on a walk in the countryside near St Ives. In previous years we've walked the coastal paths, so this year we decided to visit some of the inland footpaths and some of the small country lanes. For some reason or other, which now escapes me, I'd gone on this walk carrying with me as little as possible - so no camera, and no phone - so, of course, we had to go back another time for me to take some photos. Hence, late one evening, these are what I took:

Now, I haven't done any research into these initials, but I'm supposing they are Edward Hain, an MP for St Ives, and the owner of a shipping company. Like James Eadie, of the brewery company, remains of which affiliation can be seen on the former Station Hotel in Loughborough, Edward Hain had gone into the tea business, before switching careers. 

The significance to Loughborough of these initials is not in Edward Hain, but in Edward Hands who originally lived on Burton Walks, but moved to Castledine Street, where, if I remember rightly, he had the house extended and his initials inscribed in a plaque. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo:

Driveway into the former home of Edward hands

Edward Hands initials on Castledine Street

A couple of other connections from St Ives include this attractive house name a lovely Celtic design painted on slate, the other connection being that my children all went to Holywell School:

And just one more, so as not to bore you!! This beautiful blue enamel street sign is oh so similar to some in Loughborough, like Park Street and Charnwood Road, but what a difference - white walls and red brick walls!

The other thing which I wanted to mention today is that today is actually the 6th anniversary of this blog, which I first started on 4 August 2013! Hard to believe it's been going that long! The initial impetus for creating it still holds true: I want to promote Loughborough and show the world what's good about our lovely town, through stories of its history, its current events and everything in between. I'm so pleased you're still with me!

In the spirit of promoting knowledge and a love for our town, I've written a couple of books - 'Loughborough in 50 Buildings', and 'Secret Loughborough', and I'm having a signing event for the latter at the Old Rectory Museum on Saturday 10th August, between 11am and 3pm - everyone welcome - no purchase necessary - and if you've already bought a copy I'd be happy to sign it. 

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Holiday connections and anniversaries. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/08/holiday-connections-and-anniversaries.html [Accessed 4 August 2019]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne