Loughborough's letterboxes, Pt 1

September seems to have flown away in no time at all, and left me wondering just what exactly has happened. I mentioned in an earlier post about some of the events that took place following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and there has been much discussion in the media about what happens with coins and banknotes, and postage stamps, which carry a picture of the queen's head.

While I was out shopping the other day, I happened to notice a headline in one of the national daily newspapers, about the royal ciphers that are on [most] postboxes across the country (and in other countries like Guernsey etc.). I've always been interested in postboxes, and have been a member of the Letter Box Study Group for many years, so it had not occurred to me that there might be any mystery behind the inscription and wording that appears on the boxes. 

I've had a look through my photograph collection, and see that over the years I've taken many pictures of the postboxes in Loughborough, but not of all of them. So, I went out last week and took some pics of one specific postbox to share with you.

But first, perhaps I should say that the initials - sometimes intertwined, sometimes not - represent the initials of the monarch who was on the throne at the time the postbox was installed in its position. So, EIIR represents Queen Elizabeth II (where E is the initial of her first name, and R is for 'regina', meaning Queen, and II indicating that she was the second queen who had the name Elizabeth). You can see a similar cipher on the uniforms of the Beefeaters (Yeoman of the Guard). 

Briefly, you will find the initials VR on postboxes installed during the reign of Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901); EVIIR on those placed when Edward VII was on the throne between 1901 and 1910, where in this case, the R is for 'rex' or king. The cipher for George V, however, who reigned from 1910-1936, is simply GR. Edward VIII was only on the throne for 325 days, so there are not many postboxes in existence that bear the initials EVIIIR.

George VI reigned from 1936 until 1952, and postboxes installed during this period bear the cipher GVIR. Once Queen Elizabeth was crowned, new postboxes carried the EIIR cipher, and now that King Charles III has taken the throne, any new postboxes created will be identified with CIIIR.

Postboxes came into being in 1852, but there was no standardised design until 1859, and even then that standardised design was regularly changed. Some of the early postboxes were made by Andrew Handyside, whose ironfounding firm was based in Derby, but the first standardised ones, between 1859-1866, were made by a firm called Cochrane, probably at their Woodside works near Dudley. Cochrane also made the distinctive Penfold boxes, designed by architect J.W. Penfold, between 1866-1879.

Anyway, back to the specific postbox which is the subject of this blog! Our postbox was created between 1879 and 1887, and in the year 2000, there were 300 of these boxes still standing. These boxes are known as anonymous boxes, because they do not carry any royal cipher! The initials on these should have been VR, but the Post Office, who were responsible for the design, admitted there had been an oversight. These boxes were created by Handyside, at his Britannia Works in Derby. Despite not having any cipher on the front, the boxes do carry the name of the company around the base, although in many cases the box has been re-painted so many times, that the embossed lettering is difficult, and in some cases impossible to read.

Here are some pictures of our anonymous postbox which can be found at the mini roundabout that links Park Road, as it leaves Royland Road, to Beacon Road.

Handyside Derby appears on the base

The top of the postbox

Posting aperture and collection plate

Well, that's one Loughborough postbox covered, only another 60ish to go!!!

Here's a link to Part 2 of the Loughborough letterbox blogposts.

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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. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Loughborough's letterboxes Part 1. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/10/loughboroughs-letterboxes-pt-1.html [Accessed 2 October 2022]

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Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne                   

Tuckers Bricks Part 2

Last week we looked at some of the early buildings across the country, up to 1927, that were constructed with bricks made by Tuckers of Loughborough. This week, we'll have a look at a few more such buildings.

In 1928 the Skegness Convalescent Home for Derbyshire miners was built in a neo-Georgian style. The 'Sheffield Daily Telegraph' described the home as:

"faced with Loughborough bricks of pleasing colour and roofed with tiles to harmonise, from the same neighbourhood." 

and continued:

"The builder’s skill was not hampered by lack of good material, and ‘Tucker’s silver-grey and stock bricks’ were specified. These bricks are individual monuments to craftsmen – they are made entirely by hand by G. Tucker and Son, Ltd., Loughborough."

Convalescent home for Derbyshire miners in Skegness

Convalescent home for Derbyshire miners in Skegness, showing rooms to the right with sea views

Nearer to home, in Derby, three small villas were being constructed on Balfour Road, in 1929. Each house had 7 rooms, as well as a coal-house and outside toilet, and were constructed of Tucker’s multiruf facing bricks and with white spar on the front. Balfour Road is cut in half by Portland Street, but it has been impossible to identify the houses in question, partly because those from the right era which are situated on the street today are generally semi-detached properties. Since the 'Derby Telegraph' explicitly says the houses are: "exceptionally well-built: nothing jerry or shoddy" then one cannot but expect that these houses are still standing!

Continuing with the theme of houses, Tuckers multiruf facing bricks were also used exclusively for the housing development on Nottingham Road in Derby. Apparently, Messrs Browning Bros, builders, used only these facings on their schemes in Leicester, Rugby and Oxford, and by 1931 these developments amounted to over 400 houses.

Meanwhile, over in Staffordshire, Tuckers provided facing bricks for the new Burton-on-Trent Picturedrome, which was built in 1931, and replaced the earlier Picturedrome that was housed in a converted roller skating rink! Butterley provided the 'common' bricks, while reconstructed stone was provided by the Croft Granite, Brick and Concrete Co.. The building was described by the Burton Observer and Chronicle as having an imposing frontage, with "the facade to Curzon Street [being] built in deep red bricks, the tone of which is emphasised by white mortar joints."

The upper floors of the Burton Picturedrome

Still in 1931, but this time moving to the capital, the 'Nottingham Journal' reported that: "a million 'multiruf' facing bricks have been supplied by Messrs. G. Tucker and Sons, the Loughborough brick and tile manufacturers, for Messrs. Gamages new London store." This new store was at Marble Arch was designed by architects C.S. and Ernest Martin Joseph, alongside Edwin Lutyens, the latter's work being evident in much of the external design, including embellishments like the columns. This store was built only a year after the store's founder had died. Today the store is a Primark.

The same bricks, this time half a million of them, were supplied by Tuckers for the building of the John Player factory in Nottingham. Well, one of the John Player buildings: some sources seem to suggest this was the building known as No.2 on the Radford site - which seems the most plausible to me - but pictures that I have seen (since the building has been demolished) seem to confuse buildings No.2 and No.3. I believe the photo at the bottom of this webpage is the building we are interested in. There's a bit about the history of the company, and another picture of our building on an associated page.

Multirufs were also used in the building of numerous blocks flats, and in London for Warwick Mansions, the Queen's Club in Kensington, and the Liberal Jewish Synagogue, the latter built in 1925 to the design of Ernest Martin Joseph who had been a founder member of the Synagogue in 1911. 

Warwick Mansions, Cromwell Crescent, London

     

By 1933, Tuckers multiruf facing bricks were increasing in popularity, partly because they could be produced in large quantities quickly. As such they were used in the construction of the Civic Offices in Nuneaton, for churches, public buildings and offices. However, not only were the facing bricks proving popular ... 

The 'Chelsmford Chronicle' in 1932 reported upon the tudor style, half-timbered Army and Navy Hotel, the architect of which was Thorold Bennett of Gravesend, as follows:

"Loughborough tiles were selected for the roof coverings, and they were supplied by Messrs. G. Tucker and Son, Ltd., of Loughborough, who are also specialists in high-class facing bricks, which are produced in a large range of colours. This old-established firm supply tiles to almost every part of the British Isles as well as for export to the continent and elsewhere, and have a great reputation as manufacturers of hand-made, sand-faced tiles."  

A multiruf brick, photographed in situ - it really was upside down!

Well, where are we going to find ourselves next time, when we look at more use of Tuckers bricks?!

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 28 March 2021

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2021). Tuckers Bricks Part 2. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/03/tuckers-bricks-part-2.html  [Accessed 28 March 2021]

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.

You can leave comments below, but do check back as my reply will appear here, below your comment.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne                   

Loughborough holiday connections 2017 Part 1

Well, just returned from the annual summer holiday, which this year took a bit of a different turn.

A week booked into a cottage in St Ives, Cornwall, turned into only 5 full days, as we travelled across to Southampton for the graduation of the eldest son, and then spent 2 days discovering Dorset before returning home and discovering more about Derby and other local areas.

As ever, wherever I am, Loughborough is never far form my mind, and the less I look for, the more I find things that connect my holiday destinations with Loughborough. I've probably got enough to write a book, but I shall restrain myself and go with a short blog post! Some of the content here has already been covered in brief detail over on my #100wordsaboutloughborough page - do pop over and have a look! I'm about a third of the way through the initiative now, so need a bit of encouragement to keep going!

Setting off at just before 5am, we arrived in Penzance just before 11am. We parked in the large car park by the harbour and walked to Marazion and St Michaels Mount. Nothing to connect this to Loughborough, apart from walking next to the train line, passing a signal box, and spotting a train wash! However, when we came back towards the town centre, we spotted the lovely dome of the Lloyds Bank at the top of the street called Market Place. In reality, Lloyds of Penzance only takes up half of Market House, and is distinctive because of its lead covered dome with octagonal lantern. A quick bit of research reveals that this was a Grade I listed building when it was originally registered in 1950. Here's a snippet from the original listing description:

"1837. Architect Harris of Bristol. Large building of granite ashlar. 2 storeys. Crowned by lead-covered dome and octagonal lantern, the drum with alternating twin Tuscan columns and semi-circular headed windows, and entablature with heavy cornice. North and south elevations 9 windows, ground floor semi-circular heads, flat pilasters, 3 bay beneath dome pedimented. East end, tall Ionic tetrastyle facade. West end, central pedimented entrance, curved corner bays set back with giant engaged columns, entablature, raised pediment at centre with clock."

By contrast, our own Lloyds Bank, 37-38 High Street, is only locally listed. To my mind, it's a stunning building (I would say that, wouldn't I - leading a group of folk around our town the other day, I realised my focus is very much on banks and pubs!!)

Our Lloyds Bank is of red brick, and terracotta, the latter possibly by the Hathern Station Brick and Tile Co.. The parapet is decorated with elaborately sculpted fish, and an allegorical figure, holding in the left hand a money bag, and in the right a rolled up deed or bond. It is possible that the work is by A.E. King, a sculptor who was active between the years of 1899 and 1928. I've seen a picture of the figure from 2008, and all was well, but when I took a photograph in 2014, the left forearm and the money bag had been lost.  

Here's an extract from the local listing for our Lloyds:

"Bank & Offices Late C19/Early C20. Neoclassical/Baroque Revival. Red brick on stone plinth with expressed piers and stone string courses. Richly modelled stone embellishments include GF fascia, arched window heads with feature keystones , engaged pilasters, decorated panels between 1st and 2nd floor, cornice and upstanding parapet crowning rounded corner elevation. Pitched slate roof. 3 storeys. Generally, casement windows to GF, vertical sliding sash windows on 1st and 2nd floor. Only 2nd floor windows appear original." 

So, there were at least 60 years between the building of the Penzance bank and the Loughborough bank. A quick bit of research into Penzance reveals that the brick used in their buildings was probably of Dutch origin, as because they were a port, it was actually cheaper to buy brick in. Also, Cornish granite was not often used to build with. And, because it was a seaside resort, many of the buildings were stuccoed anyway, and apparently there was some lamenting the loss of this stucco in the 1970-1980s.

On the opposite side of the road to Lloyds Bank, at no.3 Market Place, there stands another Grade II listed building. This one was originally for the Devon and Cornwall Bank, and this can be seen on an engraved panel "D and CB" and "Est. 1832": this reminds me of our HSBC which has similar engraving on its two pillars, "1829" on one and "1893" on the other, indicating the date the original bank on this site (Middleton and Cradock) was built and the date the new bank was built.

Back to Penzance - the polished pink granite colonettes on the former Devon and Cornwall Bank are most likely to be Scottish, rather like those on the Fearon Fountain in Market Place, Loughborough.

Goodness me, so much to write, and only the end of day 1 of the holiday! This could go on for a week!

Lloyds Bank in Loughborough

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Loughborough holiday connections. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/07/loughborough-holiday-connections-2017.html [Accessed 22 July 2017]

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.

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

References:

http://tom.goskar.com/2014/05/06/is-penzances-iconic-market-house-falling-into-disrepair/

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1221062

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1143940

http://freepages.family.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treevecwll/pzmktplace.htm

https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101389613-3-market-place-penzance#.WXOk1IjyuUk

   

The Great Central Railway, the Diesel Gala, and an information session on electrification of the mainline!

The leaflet!

To be honest, I had no idea that I was at all interested in trains, and in reality, I don’t think I am, but I was intrigued by a leaflet telling me about a discussion that was planned by the East Midlands branch of Railfuture, the focus of which was the electrification of the Midland Mainline from Bedford to Sheffield, and I hoped to bump into some people I knew, as well as spend some time in a building I was last in when I was doing my tour guide training!


Lovatt House from the rear!

One of the diesel engines at the gala.

The railway landscape has changed over the last 20 years, when stations north of Bedford were in danger of being closed. Now, there has been much improvement and development of the train services in our area, and the latest plan is electrification of the line.  David Horne, Managing Director of East Midlands Trains, spent a couple of hours giving us information on the growth of the service, projects on the go, upgrading and electrification of the network, and other development opportunities, as well as answering numerous questions and concerns, and receiving high praise from a critical audience.

In 1993, at the time of the privatisation of the railways, annual passenger numbers amounted to about 5 million. East Midlands Trains were awarded the second franchise for the area in 2007, and in 2014 passenger numbers had risen to a healthy 14 million, that, despite the economic recession and all the hardships that this brings. Interestingly, the Public Performance Measures (PPM – which shows the percentage of trains that arrive at the destination on time and combines punctuality and reliability figures into one measure) for East Midlands Trains run into the early 90s, making them one of the more high-performing train operators (see also the sub-operator performance link about three-quarters of the way down the page).

Station approach, Loughborough

If you’ve ever travelled to or through Leicester station you will know that this received a very large, successful make-over in 2012 (see the review from the Leicester Victorian Society). And, if you’re reading this on a blog about Loughborough, then you probably know that Loughborough train station had a major programme of improvement works in 2012, with a new footbridge and lift, extensions to the length of the platforms, new car and cycle parks, new ticket machines and various refurbs.

 

 

Summer 2013 saw the turn of Nottingham station, although this work was more about signalling improvements, as well as improvements to the entrance and concourse. David explained in more detail about the signalling, and other improvements, but also stressed that the 750,000 rail travellers affected by the temporary closure of the station would not be interested in such technicalities, so EMT embarked on a serious customer care campaign, introducing a life-size mascot, a dance-off, and engaged staff from areas of railway work who would not normally be involved in face-to-face interaction with the public, to guide people to waiting buses. Staggeringly, customer satisfaction was running at about 86% before the works, and 92% during! Other improvements at Nottingham (some still to be completed) included a new multi-storey car park restoration of the glass canopy, repairs to the terracotta frontage, a new cycle hub, the linking of a tram bridge and a new southern concourse. 

 

Other projects in the area that David drew our attention to were the increase in speed from 100 to 125 miles per hour, although some areas, like around Wellingborough, are still running more slowly due to things like the curvature of the line.  Plans in the pipeline include improvements to the Leicester area, particularly around Wigston (maybe a flyover), some re-signalling work at Derby, and, plans for improvements at Market Harborough are in their infancy, although it was recognised that the platforms are too short and not in line with the height of the trains, no shelter and poor access for the disabled.

David’s description of the electrification of the line was comprehensive, discussing details like work that would be needed on 100 bridges, the use of diversionary lines (used by freight and during times of maintenance), the older electrification systems in use south of Bedford, and what rolling stock would be appropriate to use on the new system. More information on the electrification can be found in East Midlands Route: Summary Route Plan from Network Rail.

As the second speaker was not available, David fielded a wide range of questions from an audience with a wide interest, ranging from someone who was concerned at the possible use of continental-style, heavy locomotives that would most certainly cause unwanted vibrations thereby threatening older buildings, to the question of extra capacity at Nottingham, the need for the national grid to up its game in relation to the increasing need for energy, to a concern that St Pancras station was too cold and the new seats (made out of the Olympic rings that adorned the station entrance in 2012) too exposed, to a suggestion for re-routing of a few lines to include Loughborough, to a consideration of possible HS3 and HS4 routes.

I for one, was glued to my seat for the duration of the presentation and ensuing discussions, and am now looking forward to journeying to Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Market Harborough just so I can witness the improvements and some of the problems at first hand! Maybe I should invest in one of those new Two Together railcards! And was it just me who thought there was a degree of irony in the fact that we were meeting in a building belonging to the Great Central Railway, who that day were having a diesel gala - and there we were talking about electrification!

The Great Central Railway, Loughborough station.