At one time I would have been out and about in different parts of the country, and I'd be amazed at some of the connections I found along the way, with our wonderful town of Loughborough. In truth, I haven't been venturing far from Loughborough for a while, but did recently find myself heading towards Grantham, about 40 miles away, although to be exact, I was aiming to get to Woolsthorpe, to visit a National Trust property there, which was only about 27 miles away. Well, I found enough connections to keep me in blogposts for a while!!
On arrival at Woolsthorpe Manor, I was greeted by something that looked like it could have been a prop in 'The Prisoner'. True, this wasn't a white ball, but I think was woven from willow, and rather than being a rolling ball, it was static, being supported on a thin stick. Patrick McGoohan, who I would describe as the main character in 'The Prisoner', which was set in Portmeirion, was an actor who had at one time lived in Loughborough [NOTE 1].
I was lucky enough to be on one of the guided tours of the house. Woolsthorpe had become a manor in its own right in the 13th century, and the manor house - like many of the buildings in the area - built sometime around 1600, was constructed of local stone, which was limestone. Over the years, the house has been extended and altered.
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| Woolsthorpe Manor |
Of course, this reminded me of our own former manor house, turned rectory, which was built in the 13th century, and of local stone, although the local stone here is more likely to be a harder local stone, like granite. Like Woolsthorpe Manor, our building has been altered and extended down the years, and then almost completely demolished, leaving only the old core, which now houses a museum.
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| Loughborough's Old Rectory |
Woolsthorpe Manor was once home to the Newton family, and it was here that Sir Isaac Newton was born, in 1742. From my school days, I knew how important Newton was, but only had a vague recollection of his work, discoveries, and theories, so it was great to be able to learn more about the man, his life, and his work! Now, there are a couple of familial connections with Loughborough, but I shan't go into those in this particular post. However, there is a wonderful connection with our university, which I will tell you about.
You might remember that Newton was fascinated when an apple fell from a tree in his family orchard. This particular variety of apple is known as the 'Flower of Kent', a cooking apple that needs plenty of sugar, so we were told!
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| Newton's tree at Woolsthorpe |
Anyway, the National Trust gave the university a small descendant of Newton's tree, which is proudly growing on the campus, and is surrounded by a willow fence, almost exactly like the one surrounding Newton's tree at Woolsthorpe.
Also, in one of the barns at Woolsthorpe there were lots of experiments to play with, as well as a hologram of an apple, which reminded me that way back in the late 1970s I had attended a lecture on holograms and their development by Nick Phillips, at our university. He went on to become Professor of Applied Optics, and in his obituary in 'The Times' is described as a distinguished physicist and a pioneer in holography who launched imaging in Britain.
After lunch in one of the barns on the site, I wandered off to the small village of Colsterworth, a parish of which Woolsthorpe had once been a part. I was heading for the church, and along the way noticed the wonderful street names that had been assigned to roads on a new housing estate: Darwin Court, Watt Avenue, and Hawking Close. These reminded me of the Grange Park housing estate where the streets are named after people connected to Beaumanor Hall and Bletchley Park. Two more street names I passed, also reminded me of some of the student halls on our university campus - Faraday Walk and Telford Way.
The church was the focal point of the village, and stood high up, just beyond the former village school. I'd gone to the church on the suggestion of the National Trust, as it was so closely related to the Newton family. But, before I could go in, I was struck by the memorial stones - not literally, of course!! Many of them looked unusual, as they were made of stone, but some looked very familiar, as they were clearly made from Swithland slate - a greenish tinge to them, and while smooth on the front, very rough and ready on the back! There were the obligatory Welsh slate memorials too, an iron one, and an obelisk (though somewhat smaller than the one on the Garendon estate!).
There were many other features to see in the church, but after I had finally finished looking around, I went off to look around the nearby town of Grantham, Here I found yet more connections with Loughborough, from clocks resembling the clock on our town hall, through a pub named The Angel, of which Loughborough had one, which was firstly on Market Place (hence Angel yard) before it moved to Baxter Gate, and lovely old street signs, like that for Market Street! It appears that rather than having a Green Man, Grantham has a Blue Man!!
Phew! After such a long day of visits, I finally made my way home!
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NOTES
NOTE 1 From 'Secret Loughborough': "Although born in New York, Patrick McGoohan moved with his family, first to Ireland, then to Sheffield and then to Loughborough around the time of the Second World War, when he attended Ratcliffe College. He later returned to Sheffield as stage manager of the Sheffield Repertory Theatre, where his acting career began when he played a part in the place of an ill actor. During the 1950s McGoohan was a member of the Midland Theatre Company, which for a time played every three weeks at the theatre associated with Stanford Hall. After appearing in several films and television roles, McGoohan played the West End before embarking on his most famous works – ‘Danger Man’ and ‘The Prisoner’. "
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posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for typos which are all mine!
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