Z is for Ziggurat

For the final entry in the A-Z Blogging Challenge focussing on Loughborough’s Art Deco buildings, let’s first have a look at some ancient structures!

We’ve already mentioned in earlier posts in this series, the influence of Egypt on the Art Deco style - Egyptomania and lotus flowers - but not so far mentioned the pyramids. I’ve never experienced the pyramids for real, but from what I’ve seen in photographs they appear to be huge structures, starting with a very large square base, with layer upon layer of structure that decreases at each level. In some cases, the outside surfaces look like tiny, tiny sets of steps, in other cases they almost look like very, very deep steps. An example of the former might be the Great pyramid of Giza, and of the latter, the Pyramid of Djoser.

According to the National Geographic, Egypt, with its astonishing pyramids, was a close neighbour to ancient Mesopotamia, the latter being between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, and better known today as Iraq, with parts of northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and western Iran. Being neighbours, it is not surprising that the architectural styles and structures could be deemed to be cousins, although the purpose of the buildings was different.

While Egypt had the Pyramids, Mesopotamia had the Ziggurats! I’ve never seen the ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats for real either, but from photographs it would appear that the base is rectangular, and the landings (if we’re thinking of these steps as a staircase) seem to be much wider, and thus there are fewer layers. So, for example, the Great Ziggurat of Ur has only three layers, while the Temple of Marduk has seven.

And the significance to Loughborough? Well, the town is replete with Ziggurats!! Our Art Deco buildings showcase loads of them! We just need to look up, to spot them!

Here’s a few examples from our wonderful town centre, starting with Cashino, then the corner of High Street and Baxter Gate, followed by the Blacksmith Arms on Ward's End, Fenways (now Peter's Pizza) on Baxter Gate, and finally a view of the former Echo Press offices, showing the three bays, and the steps to the keystone. 

 

And remember, next time you are in town, look up to view some of the other ziggurats not pictured here, like the former Baxter Gate Café, and the former Revs on Baxter Gate, Caffé Nero in Market Place, and the row of three buildings, each with three bays, on Market Street. 

Thank you for following along with the posts in this A-Z Blogging Challenge – I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed putting them together! A full list of these A-Z entries, plus all the other posts on the blog can be found on one of the special blog pages.

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Z is for Ziggurat. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/z-is-for-ziggurat.html  [Accessed 30 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

Y is for Young Pilsbury and Young

The company of Young, Pilsbury, and Young had been established in 1881 and was housed in a large Victorian shop. The business was drapery – clothes and household linens. In 1922-3 the old Victorian shop at 36-37 on High Street was pulled down and replaced with a brand new, state-of-the-art building, some of which remains today.

The two Youngs in question were probably Henry Frederick (christened Frederick Henry) who was born in Basford, Nottingham, in 1844. At the age of 16 he was an apprentice but it’s not clear to whom, nor in what trade. He is also rather elusive until he reaches the age of 45, when he is listed as a draper living at 7 Forest Road, with his mother, Ann, aged 74, and his sister Annie aged 38. Given that at this time Annie was also a draper, I assume that she is the other Young mentioned in the name of the business. By 1901, Henry Frederick was still living at 7 Forest Road, but with only a servant, except that on the night of the census return, he had a visitor, widow Sarah Towle Burton. Sarah had been born Sarah Marriott, and had married Joh Henry Burton in 1875, and had two daughters with him. In 1885 the couple were divorced, but it wasn’t until 1901 that Henry Frederick, and Sarah married, in Chesterfield. In 1911 they were living at 26 Burton Street (Holly Bank), with Florence, Sarah’s daughter. By 1920, they had moved to 83 Loughborough Road, in Nottingham, and Frederick Henry died in 1922, when they were resident on Melton Road West Bridgford. Sarah lived on until 1931.

So, the Pilsbury in question would have been Albert John Pilsbury, born in 1861 in Lichfield. By 1881, Albert was apprenticed to William Tidd, master draper at 11 Market Place, Loughborough. The following year he married Josephine Yeomans, who was also born in 1861. Albert’s father was a commercial traveller, and Josephine’s a smith. By 1891 the couple had three children, Mabel, Harry, and Hilda, and were living at 32 Toothill Road. Albert was a draper’s assistant. Another two sons were born by 1901, and the family were still living at 32 Toothill Road. Albert was now a draper and shopkeeper, employing daughter Mabel aged 18 as an assistant, son Harry, 16 was his apprentice, and lodger, Harry Parker Simmons was also an assistant. In 1905 Albert was initiated into Howe and Charnwood Lodge of the Freemasons, and in 1911 Albert and Josephine were staying at a hotel in London. In 1921 Albert and Josephine were living at 59 Forest Road, with daughter Hilda and son Arnold. Albert is a retail draper, employing staff. By 1939, Albert had retired, and he and wife Josephine and son Hugh, who worked as a clerk in the Treasurers Department in the Town Hall. Albert died in 1947: he had been living at 59 Forest Road, but died in Radmoor House. Josephine moved to 42 Colgrove Road, where she died in 1949.

An advert from around the 1950s

Many people will remember the payment system in Young, Pilsbury and Young, as it was one of those vacuum tubes which sucked the payment along a chute, sending it whooshing along to the till! I seem to think that when I came to Loughborough the shop was called Pilsbury and Towle and sold haberdashery rather than fully-made clothes – but I might have mis-remembered that! 

Anyway, part of the lovely Art Deco building can still be seen, and is now a bank cashpoint, while two-thirds of the shopfront was demolished and replaced in the 1980s (possibly) and houses the remainder of the bank that abuts the older bank building.  

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). Y is for Young Pilsbury and Young. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/y-is-for-young-pilsbury-and-young.html [Accessed 29 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

X is for eXercise Book!

Ok, so Letter X was always going to be challenging, and so I am resorting to the common practice of making an entry under the Letter E, as the Letter X actually sounds like it starts with a Letter E – if you see what I mean!!

So, an eXercise book!

Miss Winifred Ellen Sarson was born on 28th December 1900, to William and his wife Lizzie. Her birth was registered in Leicester in January 1901, and the family were living on Kirby Road, Leicester, probably at number 24. Winifred had an older sister, Gladys born in 1892, and an older brother, Kenneth born in 1899. Winifred’s father, William was a commercial traveller in the boot and shoe industry. The family continued to live at 24 Kirby Road until at least 1921, when William was working for Barsley Tomlinson Watkins in Cosby.

In 1939, Winifred and her sister Gladys were living together at 79 Westcotes Drive, a place where Winifred lived after the death of her sister Gladys on 24th July 1975, until her own death on 20th December 1986, aged 85.

So why Winifred, and why an eXercise book?

The book is a notebook issued by the Leicester Municipal Technical & Art Schools, and it was used by Winifred to record notes, designs, and progress in the area of the Elements of Design, when she was a student at the College around the beginning of the burgeoning of the Art Deco movement. In the eXercise book she describes the meaning behind designs – like an ornament being an enrichment of an object or of a service, or repeating geometric patterns. Many of the drawings she made are of classic designs, and she talks of Roman patterns, Greek patterns, Byzantine patterns, and Renaissance patterns. She also draws a number of Egyptian inspired patterns which chime perfectly well with the Art Deco movement that was about to take off.

In her notes on geometric ornaments, she describes a geometric pattern as being the most conventional of all patterns, which might consist entirely of straight lines, entirely of curved lines, or a combination of both! Triangles, squares, lozenges, diamonds, hexagons, octagons, and polygons being the main geometrical forms for patterns in ornament.

One of the final sections in the eXercise book looks at the idea of plant forms in ornamentation. After a very short introduction, Winifred writes extensively about the Egyptian lotus, papyrus, and palms.

“The Lotus & Papyrus are plants of ancient oriental civilisation; & plays an important part in the social life of the Egyptians and Assyrians. The died stalks of these water plants were used as fuel, or made into mats and other plaited articles; their roots served as food; the pith as wicks for lamps. The paper of the ancients was made of Papyrus. This explains its appearance in the ornamental art of these nations, & its special [?] in Egyptian style.”

As we have already seen in Letter E, and Letter N, these Egyptian motifs have a presence in Loughborough’s Art Deco buildings.

Winifred became an art teacher, and taught at Leicester’s Collegiate Girls’ School for 37 years, before retiring. Her sister, Gladys was also a teacher. Neither sister ever married.

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). X is for eXercise Book]. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/x-is-for-exercise-book.html  [Accessed 28 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

W is for Waves Wheatsheaves and Weedon the Architects

I simply can’t decide between these choices for the Letter W, so let's cover them all!

So, Harry Weedon’s architectural practice was the one favoured by Oscar Deutsch to design his Odeon cinemas. Arthur J. Price was one of the architects in the practice, and it was he who designed Loughborough’s original Odeon on Baxter Gate, most recently a Beacon Bingo, and now in the process of being renovated.

The Art Deco style was rather influenced by the designs of things of travel and speed – like the Mallard train built in 1938, which broke the speed record for steam locos in the summer of that year; like Babs the racing car which broke the speed record on Pendine Sands in 1926 with J.G. Parry Thomas in the driving seat; and like the popularity of the cruise ships. Hence the building designs that almost mimicked the shape and style of the cruise liner, or included waves, or wave-like patterns in their ornamentation. Perhaps you might stand where Market Place joins High Street and look at the amusement arcade, which if you get the right angle, looks like the front of an ocean liner. Plus, its ornamentation is decidedly wavey - and the central panel almost looks like the letter W!

A similar ocean liner feel comes from the row of shops on Market Street, and they too have waves. These are above the windows at first floor level of the blocks either side of Party Pieces, although these almost look like eyelashes!

There are also some waves above the windows on the first floor of the row of buildings on the right-hand side of the former Ramada Hotel (previously the King's Head), although they do look rather more like window pelmets!

 

And my final choice for W is wheatsheaves! No, not the Jam Garden, but the architectural motifs that we can see on the former Burton Tailoring store. They are keeping well out of the way of the lions, and can be found on the outside pillars of the building, at first-floor level.

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). W is for Waves, Wheatsheaves, and Weedon the Architects. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/w-is-for-waves-wheatsheaves-and-weedon.html  [Accessed 26 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

V is for Vita Glass

Vita glass was apparently a true glass of high quartz content, which was developed in the 1920s by Francis Edward Everard Lamplough of Cambridge University. The glass, which allowed invisible ultraviolet rays to penetrate, was made in a factory in Birmingham. The belief at the time was that ultraviolet rays of sunlight were considered healthy: ironically, today we sometimes cover our windows in a plastic film which does exactly the opposite!

Other names associated with this development are Sir Leonard Erskine Hill, and Sir Peter Chalmers Mitchell. Vita glass was used in London Zoo Reptile House, and is still evident there. Around 1926, all Birmingham schools had vita glass windows installed.

Locally, in Ratby, amongst the buildings on a poultry farm being auctioned in 1936, was a ‘Brooder House’ – a heated space for young chicks - of 12 feet by 8 feet, which was glazed in vita glass.

Meanwhile, a report in the Leicester Mercury of 4th February 1930, shared the council discussion about the high cost of council housing in Loughborough, when compared with that in Grantham, and somewhere, possibly near Doncaster, where there were council houses, fitted with vita glass which were rented out for as little as 3s. 3d.. Over in Loughborough, the cheapest council houses were let out at 8s. 7d. and didn’t take advantage of the new glass! Some council houses in Loughborough cost 16s. or 14s. a week to rent, but apparently the council were contributing 11d. for the houses on Derby Road, and 3d. for the houses in Shelthorpe.

One of the two companies that made vita glass was Pilkington. Now, the ‘new’ library at Loughborough University, officially opened in December 1980, is named the Pilkington Library, and I'm supposing the library was named in honour of William Henry Pilkington, Baron Pilkington (I believe known as Harry) who was Chancellor of Loughborough University from 1966-1980.

So, to end this short post, were there any houses in Loughborough that had vita glass windows, I wonder?

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). V is for Vita Glass. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/v-is-for-vita-glass.html  [Accessed 25 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

U is for Utilitarian

In this series of posts featuring some of Loughborough’s Art Deco heritage, we’ve already had a look at some stunning buildings, many with some highly decorative and ornamental architectural features – I think one of my favourites has to be the torches on the Blacksmiths, and the lotus columns peeking out from the top of the columns outside the former Echo Press offices on Swan Street.

So, for today’s entry in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, we’re looking into the letter U. I’ve decided to go with Utilitarian. It’s not specifically an Art Deco term, and the dictionary defines the term as something that is designed to be practical and useful rather than something designed to be attractive, so those buildings I’ve just mentioned certainly don’t fall into that category.

Some of our Art Deco town centre buildings really are more utilitarian than some of the others, but in my personal opinion this doesn’t detract from their beauty and elegance. I’m thinking particularly about a couple of our pubs (nothing new there then!), like Fat Sam’s (at one time called the Mundy Arms, and you can find an explanation of why in ‘Loughborough Pubs’), the Generous Briton, which featured in a recent blogpost, and the former Moon and Bell. As I said, the design of the buildings in no way affects how important they are in our town’s history and streetscape.

I guess, you could call the side of Beacon Bingo utilitarian. Absolutely by necessity – the huge auditorium nestled inside the building means that the outside has to stretch a long way, and really it would have been too expensive and unnecessary to clad the whole length in Hathernware! However, do note the most unusual brick poster frame on the side which flows along Lemyngton Street.

There are plenty of other Art Deco buildings which one might suggest are utilitarian in style, and while the fronts of the shops along Market Street all have some lovely features on them – balconies, Crittall windows, beaten metal, and a variety of motifs – a sneaky peek around the back of the buildings, either looking along from the Market Street entrance to the Carillon shopping centre, or from the entrance to the Carillon car park on Derby Square reveals the familiar cube-like rooms at the back of the shops.

I suppose in this respect, the Generator Building might also fall into this category: construction began in 1934, and officially opened in 1937, it certainly is rectangular in shape, and well-suited to the activities that originally took place within its walls. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the new building on Frederick Street, close to Caldwell Street certainly echoes the style of The Generator to good effect.

And here we must leave these beautiful buildings and search for the next entry in this challenge! 

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). U is for Utilitatian. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/u-is-for-utilitarian.html  [Accessed 24 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

T is for Tutankhamun and Torches

We’ve already talked a bit about Tutankhamun, and the finding and opening of his tomb in 1922, under E is for Egyptomania, and N is for Nymphaea Lotus, and Nymphaea Caerulea, so instead, let’s have a look at another popular Art Deco motif – torches!

The Art Deco style was keen on its motifs, and things like sunbursts and bright colours were used widely. I guess torches could fall into this theme, unless, in 1931, people were looking forward to the spectacle that would be the 1932 Olympics, which was bigger and better than any that had come before! Or maybe it was just to do with the name of the building, and the trade of previous landlords!

I say 1931, because the best example of torches as ornamentation on an Art Deco building in Loughborough appear on a building constructed in 1931! We’ve actually seen this building before under Keystones, and I’m pretty sure we’ll see it again, but just look at these wonderful impressions of torches, which adorn the end pillars of the building, on both the top and the bottom of the frontage onto Wards End and that facing Brown’s Lane!! There are 8 in total! Firstly, a photograph of the frontage onto Wards End, and a close up of the top right hand torch. Then the corner of the building where Wards End meets Browns Lane, with a close up of that corner pillar. Finally, a close up of the torch furthest along Browns Lane, towards Royland Road.

 

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

 

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). T is for Tutankhamun and Torches. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/t-is-for-tutankhamun-and-torches.html [Accessed 23 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

S is for Shells and Swags

I may have mentioned in an earlier post that sometimes I find it hard to decide if the architectural ornamentation I’m looking at is feathers in a peacock’s tail, or shells!! I’m going to suggest that my interpretation of shells can be found on our former Echo Press building on Swan Street! These are placed at regular intervals on several rows, one row being just above the ground floor windows, the other row being part of the window surrounds on the first floor.

Often we think of swags and tails in relation to window coverings, but in this blog we are considering swags as architectural ornamnetation. One of the definitions I’ve come across for the architectural version of a “swag” is that it is a decoration which looks like a garland of fruit, or flowers, or leaves, and is draped between two points. The little 1920s building that is now part of Lloyds Bank on the High Street side certainly has a most wonderful depiction of fruit that it looks almost real! If you look into the building from across the street, and look up you can see there are some beautifully shaped windows towards the back. I was going to apologise for the poor quality of the photograph, but it's so bad Blogger won't even let me upload it - sorry!

Instead, here's a photo of the mosaic swags and tails on the building that is now Francis and Gaye, the jewellers, which was previously Denhams, which is a beautiful example of Arts and Crafts architectural decoration, and on this building, it dates from 1907.

  

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I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

 

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). S is for Shells and Swags. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/s-is-for-shells-and-swags.html  [Accessed 22 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

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Lynne

R is for Roses

Without more ado, let’s admire the roses, which are a popular motif in Art Deco architecture.

If you’re new to Loughborough, you might be familiar with the Loughborough Arms pub on Baxter Gate, with its seemingly old and appropriate name. You might also have noticed the stained-glass windows to the ground floor, and admired the depiction of roses and crowns. You might also have noticed that the building is dated 1924, so built during the period when Art Deco was popular.

This building replaced an earlier one, which was also a pub, but which was then called the Rose and Crown. There are some features on the new building which chime with the Art Deco style, for example, the beaten metal between the first and second floor, the cream-coloured faience tiles, and even the stained glass. However, the roof is tiled in Swithland slate, which isn’t common in buildings of this age, and the building almost has an Art Nouveau feel to it.

And what of the rose motifs? Well, on this particular building they are not related to the style of architecture, but more to the pub’s original name. The name Rose and Crown is reasonably common for a pub, and relates to the coming together of the House of York and the House of Lancaster, following the Wars of the Roses, when Henry Tudor married Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the families. By 1927, the pub was being run by Mrs Jones, and the name was changed to the Loughborough Hotel, but I’m not sure when it reverted to the Rose and Crown (which it had done by 1978).

 

And now to roses that really are motifs associated with some of Loughborough’s Art Deco buildings. Firstly, the empty shop next to the Loughborough Arms, which was most recently Baxters Tea Rooms, previously a café called Delice, and prior to that a Caribbean restaurant, an IT education space, and a gentleman’s outfitters. I’ve spotted twelve English roses adorning the front of this building – on the string course below the first-floor windows, above the first-floor windows, and just below the second-floor windows.

 

The beautiful former offices of the Echo Press building on Swan Street also showcases roses. These are on the first-floor string course, and in all I counted 16 of these! They are slightly different from those on the former café on Baxter Gate.

 

____________________________________ 

I'm taking part in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge!!

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

The copyright © of all content on this blog rests with me, however, you are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2025). R is for Roses. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/r-is-for-roses.html  [Accessed 21 April 2025]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne