Changes in Loughborough in 2022

So, in my last post I rather rashly promised you I'd share pics of some of the changes that have happened over the past year. Well, that has turned out to be a mammoth task, as there has just been so much change, and I certainly haven't documented even one tenth of it. So, I am sharing a few select changes that have resonated with me. 

Firstly, the extensive works to improve the area around Bedford Square and Wards End have finally been finished - or have they?

February 2022

May 2022

June 2022

Meanwhile, down at the Bellfoundry, there's lots happening, as a new museum space is being developed. Let's have a quick peek at how this work began in March 2022:

Domestic properties have also been subjected to lots of work during the past year. Here's one Victorian property. I can't find my earlier photos, so here are two from December 2022:

As have some properties close by:

And a former farm being redeveloped in April 2022 (more pics in an earlier post):

The former Co-op on Derby Road has very recently featured in a blogpost. You can see pictures of it alongside other Art Deco buildings in a post from 2021. Here it is during its renovation in January 2022:

In August 2022

And in November 2022

Meanwhile, in the town centre, the Devonshire Square mural, which was suffering a little, has now been removed completely. This picture is from March 2022, and you can see more pictures of the whole mural in an earlier blogpost.

Over on Fennel Street, which is now the A6 inner relief road, things have been happening during 2022. The first shot is from February, the other two from November:

The 1930s labour exchange over on Cradock Street has now been demolished and a new building is currently being constructed. Here are pics from March and December 2022, and you can see more over on an earlier blogpost:

And the premises nearby that used to be Ellwoods Garage, and more recently a car wash, is no longer standing. Picture from December:

A former industrial building - GTG Engineering, previously one of the Grudgings, needlemakers, premises - over on Albert Street is also having an extensive makeover. You can read more about the Grudgings factories on an earlier blogpost and in 'Loughborough in 50 buildings'. The following three pics and the last one are from June and the fourth is from November:

And although it's slightly out of Loughborough itself, here are some pics from August and October of the work going on to build houses on the former Garendon estate:

Finally, the new cemetery off Watermead Lane is all ready to be used:

Apologies for not reporting on so many of the changes happening lately, but hopefully the above will show you a teeny bit of what has been going on during 2022!

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Dyer, Lynne (2023). Changes in Loughborough in 2022. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/01/changes-in-loughborough-in-2022.html [Accessed 5 January 2023]

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Lynne

Devonshire Square plaques

You probably know that there is a lot of work going on around Ward's End and Devonshire Square to pedestrianise the area and make it more attractive to visitors and shoppers? When I was walking the area a couple of weeks ago, I noticed plaques inset into the paving slabs, which celebrate things from Loughborough's history.

Two of these plaques commemorate the market and the fair, both of which are celebrating 800 years since the granting of the charters.

One of the other plaques marks the spot near which Clarke's Dyeworks and the bleach works were situated, conveniently close to the Wood Brook.

Devonshire Square was where the Devonshire Militia used to drill. Known as the 1st or East Devon Militia, and later the 3rd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, was a part-time unit based in Devon. In the early 1800s, when the 'Luddites' began to smash machinery, the Militia were sent to various parts of the country to restore order. They travelled first to Warwick, thence to Derby and Burton-on-Trent, before coming to Loughborough, and then onto Lichfield and Tamworth, before returning to Plymouth.      

In Loughborough, the Luddites destroyed the lace-making factory of John Heathcoat, which was situated approximately where Iceland is now, and which bears a Leicestershire Heritage Green Plaque.     

The idea of temperance really took hold in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This was a social movement with the purpose of persuading people to give up drinking alcohol. In Loughborough, a dedicated Temperance cafe was constructed on the corner of Devonshire Square and Granby Street, opened in  

View of the pedestrianised Devonshire Square, showing floor plaques and the 'mural' above

I wonder if there are any more plaques likely to spring up in our lovely town centre?

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 28 November 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). Devonshire Square plaques. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/11/devonshire-square-plaques.html  [Accessed 28 November 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.

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Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne