Bull-in-the-Hollow Part 3
As we saw in
last week’s post, the area around the Bull-in-the-Hollow became a notorious
accident blackspot. The grandson of one of the people involved in a fatal
accident has been in touch, and what follows is the front-page newspaper report
from the ‘Leicester Evening Mail’,
of Monday 1st June 1959. It is interesting that the location is given as ‘at
Bull-in-the-Hollow’ not ‘at the Bull-in-the-Hollow’ which seems to imply that
that part of the road itself was known as Bull-in-the-Hollow – but I might be
reading too much into that!!! Anyway, here’s the report in full:
“In collision
with 2 motor-bikes CYCLIST DIES IN ROAD TRAGEDY.
Whist fan, Mr
Reggie Hames (52), of 12, Babbington Road, Barrow-on-Soar, suffered fatal
injuries when his cycle was in collision with motor-cycles ridden by two
Leicester brothers, who both escaped without injury.
The accident
occurred about 10pm on Saturday [30th May] at Bull-in-the-Hollow, the
notorious black spot on the A6, near Loughborough.
It is
believed that Mr Hames was cycling home after playing whist in Loughborough.
“He would go anywhere for a game,” said Mrs Hames.
Mr Hames, a
labourer at the Brush E.E. Co. Ltd., Loughborough, was first in collision with
the machine ridden by 18-year-old Alan Jones, a soldier in the Royal Engineers,
stationed at Devizes, whose home is at Swannington Road, Leicester.
Knocked from
his machine, Mr Hames was then struck by a second motor-cycle, ridden by Graham
Jones, also 18, of the same address. He is in the Royal Signals.
Pillion
Injured.
Mr Hames was
taken by ambulance to Leicester Infirmary, where he died.
Riding
pillion passenger on the second motor-cycle was Miss Jacqueline Freestone of
the Working Girls’ Home [i],
Westcotes Drive, Leicester. She was admitted to the Infirmary with a broken
collar bone, lacerations and concussion.
Passenger on
the other machine was Miss Judith Owen, also resident at the hostel. She was
uninjured.
Well-known in
Barrow, Mr Hames leaves a widow, two married sons and a son of school age.”
The second motor-cyclist, Graham Jones, and his pillion passenger, Jacqueline [F.] Freestone went on to marry in January of 1960.
Let’s leave accidents now and move on to some different incidents.
If you’re a fan of the
television series ‘Only Fools and Horses’ then you might think that this
headline – “No room at the inn for Trigger” – which appeared at the top of an
article in the ‘Leicester Evening Mail’ of 17th October 1960, on page 8
- might refer to Colin Ball, aka Trigger, the character played by Roger
Lloyd-Pack. But no! This story is about something much closer to home. The
subtitle:
“…SO HORSE
AND RIDER BED DOWN IN A GARAGE.
is followed by an article:
… When a
modern horseback traveller … arrived in Oadby on Saturday night he found the
‘stables’ at the inn – but they were not for horses. They had been converted
into accommodation for ‘horseless carriages.’
That was the
situation facing author William Holt, who is riding from London to York,
selling on the way the book he has written. [ii]
He was
misinformed on the way to Oadby that there were stables at the White Horse.
Rural
breath
Yet the
problem provoked by the advent of the motor-car turned in the end to his
advantage.
A helpful
Oadby resident moved his car out into the open for the night and Mr Holt and
his grey gelding, Trigger, bedded down in the garage.
Yesterday
morning, Mr Holt rode to Leicester to pick up a parcel of books from London
Road station to replenish his stock.
And Trigger
brought rural breath to the urban scene, lunching from his noseban on the
pavement edge, under the watchful eye of a policeman.
Later Mr Holt
moved on and after a night in an orchard at the Bull-in-the-Hollow, horse and
rider arrived this morning at Loughborough, where there was a slight delay for
‘running repairs’.
Trigger had
thrown half a shoe, and there was a visit to the blacksmith[iii]
before Mr Holt could move on towards Nottingham. He expects to be in Nottingham
tomorrow.”
The Cross Keys today |
And finally, several people have confirmed that the road was definitely levelled off in the late 1960s-early 1970s, to make it a safer road to use.
[i] The Working Girls’ Home appears to be a hostel for working girls (!) with information found on a page entitled ‘Children’s Homes’, created and curated by Peter Higginbotham, where this particular home, at 136 Westcotes Drive, is the only one of its kind listed in Leicestershire: http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/list/WG.shtml Latterly, it was called Bradgate House Residential Home, but has been vacated and vandalised. In November 2018, the artist referred to as Wormsy (well, a nod to the artwork, perhaps not the name of the artist), painted a pink worm on the back to the building which had been sold on and was destined to be converted to flats, although this still hasn’t happened yet.
[ii] I think the book in question is the novel, ‘The Wizard of Whirlaw’, because it was written in 1959 (the previous book, also a novel, was published in 1956, so less likely to be part of this promotional tour). Billy Holt, as he was known, seems to have been a polymath, being not only a writer and artist, but also a pioneer of the mobile library service, and the developer of a 'model' farm: Loughborough’s model farm is a topic covered in ‘A-Z of Loughborough’. Trigger, Holt’s horse, was a former rag and bone horse, who was rescued by Holt, and with whom he later travelled across Europe, documenting his travels in a book called ‘Trigger in Europe’ published in 1966, the last book that Holt authored before his death in 1977.
[iii] If Mr Holt was heading towards Nottingham from Loughborough, it’s possible that the blacksmith he visited was Bert Porter, and his son, Brian, who at the time were working out of premises very close to what is now the Phantom, pub, but what was at the time known as the Cross Keys. As well as working from here, the Porters would travel to visit their clients, to shoe their horses. Later, Brian Porter moved his business to Quorn, while his father retired to Wiltshire.
Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 19 September 2021
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Lynne
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