Bull-in-the-Hollow Part 1
Last week, in a post about the boundary marker at Woodthorpe, which used to be on the boundary at the A6, I mentioned the Bull-in-the-Hollow – several times!!! Today, this is a house with land, and more recently was an archery base for Merlin Archery, which moved to Great Central Road a few years ago. The Bull-in-the-Hollow is now the location for the Archery and Airgun Club. However, the history of the building goes back many years …
The first reference I’ve been able to find is for the Needless Inn, when in 1756 it was recorded that the plant ‘knotted trefoil with round beads’ was found in the fields opposite the Inn. A further mention of Trifolium Glomeratum – the round-headed trefoil, more commonly referred to as clustered clover – growing in the field opposite the Needless Inn was made in James Dugdale’s ‘The New British Traveller, vol. 2’ of 1819.
On 27 December 1823 John Garner, son of Samuel, victualler, and wife Mary of the Needless Inn near Loughborough, was baptised at the Loughborough parish church by the curate, the Reverend Clemertson [Clemerson, perhaps?]
By 1840, however, Samuel Langham was landlord of what was now called the Bull-in-the-Hollow, and by August of that year Langham was charged with allowing persons other than travellers to drink on his premises, on a Sunday during churchtime, for which he was charged £1 plus costs.
The name of the premises again changed, and according to a report of October 1846, Samuel Langham was now landlord of the Buffalo Head Inn as well as being a florist and seedsman. At the time he had a quantity of white turnips – twenty of which weighed 97lbs, and another twenty which were 16 inches in circumference.
In October 1847 in a report in the 'Leicestershire Mercury' for 23rd October, there is no mention of the Buffalo Head Inn, but of both the Needless Inn and the Bull-i’-the-Hollow in a report about a ploughing competition that took place in Woodthorpe. The farmers taking part were tenants on the Beaumanor estate, and W. Herrick, Esq., was offering £5 to the plougher of the best field. Of course, it wasn’t that simple, so, £3 would be given to the farmer who ploughed with two horses abreast and without a driver, while £2 would go to the successful farmer using 3 horses and a driver. Well, actually, it was more complicated than that!!! Every entrant had to pay 5s, as a sweepstake for the person coming second in the double ploughing, and 2s. 6d. for the second best in the 3 horse, 1 driver category. The field to be ploughed was a ‘stiff’ one opposite the Needless Inn, which was located about 1 ¼ miles from Loughborough. It seems many people took part, and many people watched! After the event, Mr Herrick paid for all the competitors to have dinner at the Needless Inn. The judging was done after dinner, and proved quite troublesome. In the end, Mr Cumberland and Mr Harvey shared the £3 prize, and James Pepper and Mr John Reynolds shared the £2 prize. Mr Bramley received the sweepstake for the double ploughing, and Mr Woodford for the single.
In 1858 the Buffalo’s Head was the venue for an inquest into the death of Ann Smith, wife of Richard Smith, gardener, at which the verdict reached was death from apoplexy. In 1868, Thomas Potter, on a ramble from Loughborough to Quorn, mentions the Needless Inn, which follows mention of Southfields, The Elms, the Victoria Grounds, Searlesthorpe (which is now Shelthorpe), and precedes mention of Quorn Villa, so pretty much pinpoints this as being the Needless Inn/Buffalo Head Inn/Bull-in-the-Hollow Inn.
In the following February, the Sixth Leicestershire Rifle Volunteers undertook their first drill of the year which took place in the town centre, before they marched to the Bull-in-the-Hollow where they were served “good old nut-brown” [I’m assuming this was Offiler’s Ale, from the Derbyshire brewery of that name], after which they marched back to the Market Place and were dismissed. Later this same year, in July, the Bull-in-the-Hollow provided flowers and plants at the Wesleyan fete and bazaar, which was held at “Pocket Gate” and “Hanging Stone Rocks”, and was a fundraiser to pay off the debt of £100. The land was loaned by Mr Henton, and an admission fee was charged. The band of the Loughborough Rifle Volunteers played, and the marquees and tents were filled with something to suit everyone – small animals, birds, farming implements, sacks of flour and malt, Stilton cheese, and various wooden furniture and planters. Luckily, more than the necessary £100 was raised.
It seems that a Mr Langham is still at the property in November 1871 when a horse who was made to travel from the Bull’s Head in Quorn (now, I believe, the Quorndon Fox) to Mr Langham’s Bull-in -the-Hollow for a bet between 4 men, died of congestion of the lungs.
In August 1878, a young man, son of Mr Cartwright of the hosiery firm, fell over the front wheel of his bicycle while ascending the hill near the Bull-in-the-Hollow. He bruised his head and face and cut his forehead and was taken to the Dispensary on Baxter Gate, where he was treated. This is the first report of this kind of accident that I’ve found, but there are sure to be more …
In June 1882, a couple of poachers, one who hid in a plantation near the Bull-in-the-Hollow, were fined for using a gun to take game from somewhere in Quorn.
The innkeeper in October 1888, appears to be a Mr Draycott. A market gardener called George Haddon, bargained for some apples at the Bull-in-the-Hollow Inn, but wasn’t successful so appears to have beaten his wife in his frustration, on their way home. He was imprisoned for 21 days, and ended up paying £1 a week maintenance to his wife for the upbringing of their two children.
In July 1899 a person was charged 15s. for riding a bicycle without a light, although he claimed it had gone out near the Bull-in-the-Hollow. He was caught near the cemetery, and when his lamp was inspected, rather than be warm, as would be expected, in support of his claim, it was, rather, stone cold.
So, by the end of the nineteenth century, the building known previously as the Needless Inn and the Buffalo Inn, or Buffalo’s Head Inn, was still known as the Bull-in-the-Hollow, and it is into the twentieth century that the Bull-in-the-Hollow really takes on a different name. Up until around 1895, according to Bill [i], the land around the A6 was very flat and was a popular area for spring racing. In Part 2, we shall see that things appear to have changed and the area is no longer so flat. Perhaps this is something to do with the coming the Great Central Railway, which arrived in Loughborough in 1898: I’m guessing here, but could it be that the road was raised near the cemetery, to allow for a bridge to be built over the GCR, thus making a downward slope into the town centre, but also a downward slope towards the Bull-in-the-Hollow?
End of Part 1
[i] Wells, Bill (2013). Billy’s Book of Loughborough Boozers. Loughborough: Panda Eyes. 9780957102712
Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 5 September 2021
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