Building Stone

Sadly, I missed a recent talk hosted by the Friends of Charnwood Museum, about stone, so, I had a look back over the blog to see what I’d already written. I must admit, I thought I’d done a piece on Coade stone, an artificial stone, but find I haven’t so I’ve only mentioned it in passing in some posts, like [quote blog posts]. So, let’s have a quick look at some real local stone, and where it’s been used.

Old Rectory, Rectory Place

The 13th-century building was once the home to the rectors of Loughborough, having been passed to the church around 1228 by the Cortlinstoke family. By the time it fell out of use, around 1959, it had been extended enormously, and would have been a substantial family home, however, once unoccupied the building fell into disrepair and was partially demolished, revealing its earlier core, which has been retained.

The building you now see is said to be made of Bromsgrove Sandstone; North Charnwood Diorite; Charnian (volcaniclastic breccia); Charnian (volcaniclastic sandstone); Swithland slate; and Charnian (banded tuff).

 

All Saints with Holy Trinity, Steeple Row

This church is a 14th century building, probably built on the site of an earlier church, and it is here that the rectors of Loughborough would have done most of their work. over the years the church has been subject to many alterations, most notably that by architect Sir George Gilbert Scott in the mid-19th century. 20th and 21st century renovations have included those to the pinnacles on the belltower, and various new stones in the fabric of the building. I've written more extensively on a very early blogpost.

Stone that has been used in the construction of the church includes Millstone Grit; Triassic Red Sandstone; North Charnwood Diorite; Upper Lincolnshire Limestone; Charnian (metasediments0; Swithland slate, and Mountsorrel Granodiorite.

Holy Trinity Church, Moor Lane 

This church is no longer a religious building, but was once a busy church serving the Leicester Road area of Loughborough, opened in 1878, to a design by William Arthur Blomfield. You can find out a bit more about its history on an earlier blogpost.

The range of natural stone used in the construction of the church is much less varied than the Old Rectory and Loughborough’s All Saints church, comprising only of Mountsorrel Granodiorite and Upper Lincolnshire Limestone.

Emmanuel Church, Forest Road

The church was created around 1838, and its first rector was William Holme, who was also Rector of All Saints. The first Rector dedicated solely to Emmanuel was Reverend Bunch, who lived at the Emmanuel Rectory, on Forest Road, close to Mountfields House.  

I’ve not written much about Emmanuel church, but have done a couple of posts about the associated rectory. Part 1 and Part 2 

It appears that Emmanuel Church is constructed solely of Millstone Grit, but has a much later extension using other stone.

St Mary’s Nanpantan

St Mary’s church in Nanpantan started life as a Mission Hall, created by the Warner family of Nanpantan Hall, in 1888. Since 2015, St Mary’s has been a parish in its own right, so no longer connected to Emmanuel.

Using Charnian (volcaniclastic sandstone), St Mary’s is another church which is constructed only from one stone, that is until the 1960s when a granite Chapter House, with a flat-roofed vestry was built.

All Saints Thorpe Acre

This particular church is more usually known as Thorpe Acre church, and was built in 1845 to a design by William Railton, who was the architect responsible for the design of Nelson’s Column in London, and a number of other local Leicestershire churches. I've written extensively about Railton - here's one example post. The church, which replaced All Saints at Dishley (see below), is proud to have an east window, created in 1892 by Charles Eamer Kempe, and in the 1980s, the church was extended and joined to the school house.

All Saints, Thorpe Acre, was constructed using only Millstone Grit, until the extension was built.

All Saints Dishley

Dishley church is now a ruin, having been deconsecrated when All Saints Thorpe Acre was created in 1845. The ruins, which contain plaques to the agriculturalist, Robert Bakewell, are close to Dishley Grange Farm, which was part of the Garendon Estate.

The stone used in the construction of All Saints at Dishley includes Charnian (volcaniclastic sandstone); Diseworth Sandstone; Charnian (igneous); Triassic Red Sandstone; Cobbles (Bunter), and Bromsgrove Sandstone.  

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2023). Building Stone. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/06/building-stone.html [Accessed 11 June 2023]

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