E is for Egyptomania

For today’s A-Z April Art Deco Blogging Challenge, I was originally torn between going into [too much!] detail about Egyptomania, and some detail about the Paris Expo of 1925. But, instead I included details of the Expo under letter A, where I explained how the Art Deco movement was only named in the 1960s, and how it was a name that was influenced by that 1925 exhibition. So, let’s look at the influence of Egypt!

Egyptomania – an enthusiasm for all things Egyptian, particularly Ancient Egyptian – has always been a thing! The Western world has always been fascinated by Ancient Egypt and Egyptian motifs, and Western interpretations of these, have been around for centuries.

However, when in 1922 the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered, and subsequently opened, by Howard Carter, there was a renewed interest in Egyptian designs and artefacts. These Egyptian ideas were incorporated in, and became part of, the visual culture, including in the UK. They were adopted in many aspects, including fashion, like jewellery and clothing, furnishings, and in architecture.

We saw in D is for Diamonds, the brightly coloured painted columns on a shop on Ashby Road, which somehow hints at Egyptian decoration

But, our most magnificent Egyptian treasure is hiding behind some wooden covering, so not easy to spot! The building on Swan Street that was once home to the Echo Press shows off many of the features of Art Deco architecture exceedingly well, and it is here that the Egyptian columns can be found. They are hiding as when the road was open to two-way traffic one of the columns was hit and damaged by a lorry. First we have an aerial view of Swan Street, with the Echo Press building closest, and then a view of the two columns, with their stunning colours.

 

 

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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). E is for Egyptomania. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/e-is-for-egyptomania.html  [Accessed 5 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

B is for Barley Twist

As we saw under letter A, the Art Deco style of architecture is often colourful and easily identifiable, when it isn’t being what I describe as utilitarian!

One of the things that helps to make it identifiable is the use of motifs. These are usually decorative features, which are often repeated, and recur across the same building.

For letter B in the A-Z April Blogging Challenge, in which I’m featuring Art Deco, let’s have a look at some decoration that is, in the case of Loughborough’s buildings, created from the same material as the building’s cladding – barley twists! I suppose when they are vertical, these are a little bit like mini columns, and I’m thinking barley twist legs on chairs on tables, rather than barley sugar sweets!! Sometimes these decorative effects can be found in a building’s string course, so horizontal rather than vertical.

Here's an example from a building on Swan Street, Loughborough, which is currently an estate agent and jewellers downstairs, and possibly an escape room upstairs.

The building has many other Art Deco features that will likely appear in future blogposts in this series, so I won’t go into much detail, except to say that the building was originally constructed for the Echo Press, who published the local newspaper, the Loughborough Echo, and some local books. The building also housed the Press’s stationary shop. Here's an aerial view of the whole building - not too close up so we can't see too much detail - yet!

 ____________________________________ 

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). B is for Barley Twist. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/b-is-for-barley-twist.html [Accessed 2 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

Weddings

So, last week I was enthralled by the first page of a Loughborough Echo from 1954, and got quite excited by some of the estate agents that were around then, and some of the properties they were selling.

This week, I opened the same paper, just to see what else there might be of interest within. In truth, there was so much!! Perusing page 2, it seemed to cover quite a variety of things, from what was on at the local cinemas, to what the local branches of the WI were getting up to. As well as that, there were photographs of local people who were getting married. 

Nosey as I am, I glanced over the names to see if I recognised any. There was: 

Mr R A Bexon and Miss B M Reeve; 
Mr R F H Whitcroft and Miss J I Hayward; 
Mr J Nooney and Miss P Kynaston; 
Mr Tony Wassell and Miss B M Adams; 
Mr H G Judd and Miss P A Phillips and 
Mr P A Crooks and Miss M S Wood.

Hang on a minute, did you say Whitcroft?? That sounds familiar ... Oh yes, there's a Whitcroft Lane over on the way to Bradgate Park. Oh, and yes, the maiden name of one of my friends was Whitcroft. She lived on Herrick Road at one time. Let's have a look ...

Well I never, I was obviously fated to read this paper!! Here's the full transcript of the Whitcroft/Hayward entry:

"A gown of white taffeta and lace with an overskirt of net was chosen by Miss Joan I Hayward, daughter of Mr and Mrs R Hayward of 333 Park Road Loughborough, for her wedding on Saturday to Mr Rodney F H Whitcroft, son of Mr and Mrs T S Whitcroft 138 Herrick Road Loughborough.

To complete her ensemble the bride had a full length veil held in position by a head-dress of orange blossom. She was attended by the Misses Joyce Hayward and Sheila Whitcroft who wore dresses of lemon taffeta with figured net overskirts and matching head-dresses.

The ceremony was performed by the Rev. L E Dashwood and the best man was Mr A Pilsbury of Costock.

Before leaving for their honeymoon, which is being spent in London, the couple attended a reception at the Loughborough Hotel.

Gifts included a chiming clock from the bridegroom's  fellow workers in the E.D.O. Drawing Office at Messrs. Herbert Morris Ltd., and numerous presents from the bride's friends and clients at "Joan's" Ladies Hairdressing Salon at Quorn."

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Weddings. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/03/weddings.html  [Accessed 4 March 2018]

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  

House for sale

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to go to a postcard fair with my youngest who was home from university for the weekend. I've been to these affairs before, but I think he was a bit surprised at the sheer number of postcards - and cigarette cards, tea cards, first day covers, books, maps, ephemera, coins, medals - on offer! 

So, we spend a happy morning leafing through postcard after postcard after postcard, and I will admit to buying a couple! What I also got were a couple of old Loughborough Echos. Yes, I know they're available in the public library, but he chance to own a couple of issues of my own was far to much to miss, so I came home with some from 1945 and 1954. 

I've only just had a chance to look through the 1954 issue and was reminded that in those days the front cover wasn't the place for the big splashy headline, but more the place for the small ads, those selling anything and everything, including houses and land. There were a couple of things that caught my eye: Shakespear McTurk and Graham was one of them. When I bought my first house (Oxford Street), SMcTG were the firm who surveyed it, and were based in the left-hand side of the Echo Offices building on Swan Street. Other familiar included: W. Pennington - they were the agents who I bought my first house from (anyone else remember Mr Lee from Yorkshire?). Gartons were also on the front page of this issue of the Echo (should I admit we used to call them snotrags?!) as were Armstrongs. Familiar also were Adkinson and Freckleton, based as now at the start of Leicester Road. 

The unfamiliar names included Cumberlands (auctioneers and estate agents on Church Gate), and Walker, Walton & Hanson, but on closer inspection they were based in Nottingham, so it's unlikely I'd have recognised the name.

I was particularly taken by Adkinson and Freckleton who were selling a modern semi-detached residence on Middleton Place, which had 2 reception rooms, 3 bedrooms and modern half-tiled bathroom, as well as a garden and coal store. Thinking about this, I'm supposing this was either number 71 or 73, being a pair of semis constructed between 1941 and 1945. 

Adkinson & Freckleton, property for sale in Middleton Place

The other thing that jumped out at me was the W. & F. Armstrong advert for a well built villa residence on Middleton Place containing and entrance hall, drawing room with bay window, dining room, breakfast room, kitchen fitted with a deep sink with hot and cold water, a pantry, 4 double bedrooms, bathroom with hot and cold water and toilet. There was also an outside toilet, coalhouse, shed, and a well laid out garden. Now, I can't quite work out which property this was! Might have been any of numbers, 3-13, 53-59, 61-67, 77-83, 85 or 87, all of which were built between 1885 and 1901.

W. & F. Armstrong, property for sale in Middleton Place

Of course, there were 101 other things of interest in this Loughborough Echo of Friday, January 15th, 1954, but they will have to wait for another day!

For other information on Middleton Place, and connections please see earlier posts: Spotlight On, Victorian House Plaques, A Society Wedding, Red White or Green Maybe?. 

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). House for sale. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/02/house-for-sale.html  [Accessed 25 February 2018]

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  

Plague and Dead Lane

Last week we had a quick look at disasters and plague houses in and around Loughborough. Today, a quick word on the plague house and some comments upon Dead Lane.

Following the death of Clemente Parsons and his son, Richard Harryman was paid eleven shillings to build the Pesthouse in The Rushes. Hewgh Foster provided either the foundation for the building, or the doorway and Nicholas Smith was paid five shillings for nails, and eighteen pennies for carrying stone to the house.

Of course, you know what I'm going to say next ... Nicholas Smith also died of the plague in May 1610.

Percy Davenport, author of that 1935 article on the plague, goes on to say that the Accounts of the Bridgemasters include an entry which indicates that they paid five shillings to have the Pesthouse taken down. Initially this sounds odd, but Percy establishes that this probably refers to a building that was already standing that was to be replaced by this new one that was currently being built. A later entry in the accounts shows that the building (whether this means the old one or the new one isn't quite clear) was sold to a John Marshall of Cossington for the sum of fifty shillings. Where exactly the Pesthouse was on The Rushes is not clear.

Next we learn that people buried at this time weren't given their own coffin, so one coffin was re-used time and time again. This particular coffin was made by Robert Joyner who was paid two shillings to make it.

As well as casting huge bells for churches and cathedrals, Taylors the bellfounders on Freehold Street, also make handbells, but I don't think they were responsible for making the handbell used during times of plague in Loughborough, as Nicholas Smithe was paid four shillings and sixpence for it. Besides, Taylors were not in Loughborough at the time.

And so to the topic of Dead Lane, or le Dede Lane, or le Dedlane, or Dedelane, as it has variously been known.

Percy suggests that the story of the origin of the street name, handed down from generation to generation of Loughborough folk, and even told by a respected school teacher to pupils of the Churchgate school in the 1890s, is an unlikely tale.

Percy thinks it's also unlikely that plague pits were dug along Dead Lane in the 17th century, and has not found any evidence that the ground had been consecrated. The street name goes back much further than this, and Percy goes on to quote five instances of mention of the name Dead Lane in old documents:

the oldest comes from a deed probably in the reign of Edward II, so between 1307 and 1327, in which it is recorded that Adam, the son of Ellias de Shathewelle, was granted land in Dede Lane.

in 1460 William Staunton rented a piece of land near Dede Lane from the Lord of the Manor, which land was adjacent to several tenements on Dede Lane itself

unscoured ditches on Dede Lane in 1486 led to a number of people being fined

in 1488 someone appears to be illegally living on le Dedlane

rentals paid to the Lord of the Manor in 1490 refer to le Dede Lane

So, there were people living on Dead Lane from times much earlier than the plague of 1609-1610, and even before the earliest mention of the plague in Loughborough, in 1515.

Percy's final comments are, well, either ironic, or poignant:

"I strongly hope that the suggestion which has recently been mooted, for changing the name of this old lane, will not be listened to by the Corporation."

Today, Dead Lane, which if I remember rightly, ran alongside the Shakespeare Street School, is no longer there, being covered by the ground level car parking area of The Rushes shopping centre.

The school at the top of Shakespeare Street 

The new build at the end of Shakespeare Street along which Dead Lane used to run

Dead Lane used to be on the left of what is now a ground level car park in The Rushes

Post Script
I've made this post into a video. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/nBPzHBD8QlA

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Disasters in Loughborough! Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/10/plague-and-dead-lane.html  [Accessed 22 October 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 

Disasters and plague houses

Last week we had a look at some of the fires and disease that have affected Loughborough over the years. 

A quick flick through some of the literature and I came across a chap called Percy Davenport, who had written an article about the plague, in the Loughborough Echo. A bit more of a delve revealed that Percy was an "old boy" from the Grammar School, who, whilst working at the Ministry of Health, used to copy out old documents he found, in his leisure time. Some of these are the Manor Accounts and Wills of Loughborough.

So, if Percy read what he was copying in any detail, his voice holds a lot of weight. In his 1935 article in the newspaper he wrote about "When the plague came to Loughborough", saying:

In the years 1609 and 1610 Loughborough was a place to avoid, for it was then in the grip of the deadly plague. The story told by the Parish Registers is indeed a grim one. Under the month of August, 1609, the writer sets down the simple words "A plague began on the 24th day," and for the period of the next 18 months or more, long lists of victims who succumbed are entered, each name prefixed by the letter "p". 

He also mentions the possibility of there being a "plague house" somewhere, which was associated with Thomas Rawlins who founded a school in Woodhouse in 1691. This school lasted until the late eighteenth century, after which it closed until it relocated to Quorn village hall where it re-opened in 1892, firstly, as a boys' grammar (Thomas Rawlins Grammar School), before becoming a co-ed school of the same name, and based in the building occupied today by the Rawlins Academy. Thomas Rawlins is reputed to have escaped the 1665 Plague of London and settled in Pest Cottage in Old Woodhouse. This cottage is still standing today, and is named Pestilence Cottage. 

Percy has this to say about Pest Cottage:

Whatever may be the historical facts behind the "Plague House" of Thomas Rawlins, allusions to which have appeared in recent numbers of the "Echo", we are on solid and indisputable ground when we speak of a "Plague House" in Loughborough.    

The Accounts of the Bridgemasters, (who gathered funds to maintain the bridges, and the Free Grammar School and for many other local needs) were responsible to the Feoffes of the Loughborough Town Lands, and these accounts show that the feoffes took responsibility for building a Pesthouse in The Rushes, in a vain attempt to stop the spread of the plague in 1609. 

Percy quotes from the accounts:

Payed to Richard Harryman on Thomas Wingkfeild hosse [house], in earnest for the newe house in The Rushes vjd [6 old pennies]." 

This is a formal transaction, and the builder is bound to enact the contract and build the house, which is outlined below:

Payed to Clemente Parsons for Carriadg of wood into the Rushes xjs [11 old shillings]

Ironically, both Clemente Parsons and his son died from the plague in October 1610, only a few months after this contract was agreed.

Sadly, I've run out of time to carry on with this post, so pop back next week for a final installment on the plague in Loughborough, and some comments about the infamous Dead Lane!

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). Disasters in Loughborough! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/10/disasters-and-dead-lane.html [Accessed 15 October 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 

Old Rectory Museum open for the season

The local newspaper, the Loughborough Echo, recently did a feature on the Old Rectory Museum which is now open for the summer season, Saturdays, 11-3, until October. A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes in preparation for the opening, and it really is worth a visit!

Last weekend, I took advantage of the break from work and popped over to Newark, to visit the National Civil War Centre. I don't know how long it's been there, nor why I've never happened upon it before, but it was really very exciting, beautifully presented and very informative. Interestingly, the building is also the local theatre, has a lovely little shop, a changing exhibition (currently on Lawrence of Arabia) and a gorgeous attic room which housed the Magnus School. 

Article in Loughborough Echo Weds 26 April 2017, p11

A selection of photographs of the new Civil War exhibition and inside the Old Rectory Museum:

A selection of photographs from the National Civil War Centre, Newark

The National Civil War Centre in Newark

Part of the grenadoes from Leicester

Civil War uniform

Ceramic grenadoes from Leicester

A replica weapon and some dressing up clothes!

A fireplace in the Magnus School attic room

The themed waste bins in Newark town centre

A paving slab in Newark town

Of course, there is another site in our area that is associated with the Civil War, and that is the bridge at Cotes where there was a minor battle. I do have some pictures, but that would involve getting the hard disk out and hunting through, but it's getting a bit late tonight ...

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). Old Rectory Museum open for the season. Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/04/old-rectory-museum-open-for-season.html [Accessed 30 April 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 

From the rooftops of Loughborough Part 1

Last Saturday was a bit of a dull day, and I didn't much feel like doing anything, so by the time I managed to galvanise myself into action, the sky had darkened and the temperature dropped. The furthest I felt like walking was into town. 

Despite the dank weather, Queen's Park was resplendent with some beautiful daffodils

Daffodils at one of the entrances to Queen's Park

Lovely to see teenagers out and about, and it is them I have to thank for the idea of this post! Yes, ok, I've been to the top of the car parks in town and taken photographs before, but it has been a while, and I don't think any of those pics ever made it to the blog, so now seemed as good a time as any!!

Sadly, I don't have time to make this into a quiz, like I did with the pub pictures a very long time ago, so I'll share some pics I think you might like, and I'll caption them so you don't have to guess where they are - although some of the angles are a bit odd some might be a bit harder to place in context! So, here goes, let's start on the top of the Somerfield car park (entrance on Packe Street):

The Town Hall through the trees

Across the park: The old mill on Devonshire Square

The Carillon in the distance

Across the Granby Street car park to the old mill on Devonshire Square

The Town Hall

The HSBC Bank in Market Place

What used to be a furniture shop beside the car park

The Generator building on Packe Street

The Town Hall clock

The rooftop of the HSBC Bank in Market Place

The top of the NatWest Bank in Cattle Market

Our beautiful Carnegie public library

Next up, the views from the Carillon Court car park:

The Bell Foundry pub on Swan Street

The former office of the Loughborough Echo on Swan Street

Above the Halifax on Swan Street

Chimney tops, corner of Swan Street

The Masonic Lodge

The tower of All Saints with Holy Trinity church

Entrance and exit to the Carillon Court car park

The top of the library, with The Towers hall of residence in the distance

The Carillon peeping out over the top

The Town Hall from another angle

The HSBC in Market Place

The back of the 1920s shops on Market Street

The bell above the clock in Carillon Court

Looking down onto George's Yard

The allegorical figure atop Lloyds Bank

Well, that's two car parks, only another one to go, but I think I'll save that one for another time. I'll leave you with this picture though, as this was mentioned at a recent talk I went to, which might be the subject of a later post:

Southfield House, now home to the Register Office, formerly the home of William Byerley Paget

See you soon!

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). From the rooftops of Loughborough: Part 1. Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/03/from-rooftops-of-loughborough-part-1.html [Accessed 19 March 2017]