Plaques

Exciting new green plaque for Loughborough town centre! But first an update on Maypole Dairy!

So, last week we had a look at the history of the Maypole Dairy. Since then I've had a chance to get some photographs of the former Maypole Dairy in Swadlincote, which has been revealed during renovation work. The pictures don't do the sign justice but here they are:

Another shop that has been renovated in the town, the renovation taking the shop back to its former glory is Salt's. The Salt brothers had several shops which dealt in haberdashery, menswear and hardware. Today the shop is an antique-type shop, with a beautiful tiled entrance doorway:

Whilst I was out in Swadlincote, I also spotted that they have a heritage trail (available here as a pdf 6.1mb), and lots of plaques commemorating various people. Here's a selection of the ones I saw:

Seeing these reminded me of the plaques we have in Loughborough, which I've blogged about before (sorry, I still haven't got round to making them into a proper trail, but I will soon!). And now there's another one to add to the trail. Sadly, I missed the unveiling of the latest of the Leicestershire Green Heritage plaques, which took place about 10 days ago, because I was on a work trip to Birmingham (spotted some Hathern Station Brick and Terra Cotta work while I was out, so for a work trip it was pretty good!). 

So, Loughborough's new plaque is along Market Street, mounted on a pillar that supports the Iceland store, and commemorates John Heathcoat, who had a lace factory on this site, which was later used by Wright's (who also had a big factory in Quorn, now converted into flats). Now, I did write up a trail that followed the story of the Luddites who attacked Heathcoat's and Boden's factory on the night of 28th June 1816, so you can read a bit more about it on that page. There's more of the story over on my post about the Picnic in the Park event where the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers hosted a Ludd Hub, and one of their members walked from Loughborough to Tiverton in commemoration of the workers who followed Heathcoat to Tiverton to work for him after the attack.

There's also an account of a talk given by Tony Jarram on Luddites and Lace-Makers to the Friends of Charnwood Museum. You may be interested to know that it was Tony who successfully nominated Heathcoat's factory for a green plaque, which we now know was successful. As I said, I wasn't able to attend the unveiling, but here's a photo of the plaque in situ.     

Lynne

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Plaques. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/03/plaques.html  [Accessed 9 March 2019]

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

         

Maypole Dairy

Well, here I am back this week with the article on Maypole Dairy I promised you last week!

Way back in February 2016 I blogged about some holiday connections I'd found between Loughborough and Pembrokeshire, and one of those was the Maypole Dairy which I found operating as a cafe in Pembroke Dock. 

More recently, my memory has been jogged by a photograph on Facebook of the former Maypole Dairy in Swadlincote, the sign above the shop windows having been uncovered during some recent renovations. So, I thought it was about time I found out a bit more about the firm.

You can see from the picture of the Loughborough branch that it was situated exactly where the entrance to the Carillon Court shopping centre is, including the entrance to Topshop and the newsagents. To the left is Barclays Bank with its original gable end before it was modified, and to the right is what is now Caffe Nero, which at the time of the photo was probably Joseph D. Marsden's grocery shop. Marsden's shop has his initials carved into a plaque near the top of the building.

So, Maypole Dairy and its history. In the early 1800s the Watson family owned a provisions business in Birmingham, a business which was taken over by Geroge Jackson in 1859, and traded as Medova Dairies, but three of the Watson brothers were apprenticed to Jackson. Medova's business was mostly centred on butter, but when margarine was introduced, the Watson broke away from Jackson's business and created the first Maypole Dairy Company shop in Wolverhampton in 1887. The shop concentrated on the sale of butter, lard, and the newly developed margarine. At the same time as George opened the Wolverhampton shop, his brother Charles opened a Danish dairy in Wednesday, and in 1889 settled on a headquarters in Manchester.  

Strangely, George and Charles and their brother Alfred, re-joined Medova in 1898, and specialised in butter and margarine, but also sold eggs, tea, and condensed milk. They were careful not to compete against each other, so their respective shops were always in different locations - Charles focussing on the north, Alfred in the Midlands and Medova in the south and east. 

In 1912 the company reported a net profit of over £550,000. the majority of which was shared with the shareholders, the profit-sharing scheme having been introduced in 1890. By 1918 there were a staggering 889 Maypole branches across the country, and the Medova name was used only for branded products. Despite having so many stores, the company's reliance on fats from abroad to make margarine in England and Ireland, proved troublesome during the war years, although they were still successful enough to open a large factory in Southall - the Maypole Margarine Works in 1915 - which employed around 650 people, was the largest margarine factory in the world and by 1918 Maypole had around 50% of the market. 

Interestingly, competitors actually imported the finished product from places like Holland, and Maypole used the "buy British" idea to ensure their own survival. This proved a successful campaign during the war and for a few years afterwards. Sounds a lot to me, but turnover in 1921 ran to in excess of £36m, with a net profit of 3%, equivalent to £1.1m.. Despite these seemingly large figures, profits began to dip and in 1924 Maypole became part of the Home and Colonial group, but continued to expand, by 1928 having 1,040 shops, the 1000th having opened in 1926, and increasing the range of goods on sale to include jam and biscuits.

The depression of the 1930s did not leave MAypole untouched, and around 1934, profits had fallen to around £312,162, 28% less than they had been in 1921, and staff in many shops were 'let go'. 

It is generally considered that the success of the Maypole Dairy was down to its 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' philosophy, its concentration on the basic essentials, and the location of its shops which were often in working-class areas.

There existed a Maypole Dairy in Loughborough at the time of production of the 1927 street directory, in which it was listed as being at No.21 Market Place, along with Home and Colonial at No.6, Joseph Marsden's at No.8 and Lipton's at No.18. By the time of the 1939 directory, Maypole and Home and Colonial are listed as being at No.6, Marsdens at Nos.7-8, but I can't see Lipton's in Market Place. As Burtons are listed in the 1939 directory, I'm wondering if the original Maypole was in that funny block in the middle of the Market Place which was demolished in the late 1920s-early 1930s? The Maypole Dairy in Rushden, Northants, also moved location too, from one shop on its High Street to another, ending up next to Woolworth. Loughborough's Maypole Dairy, the Home and Colonial Store and the Marsden store were all still located in the same Market Place shops in the 1962 directory. 

Now my research is a bit hazy! When I arrived in 1978, these stores had disappeared, and in their place was the Charnwood Precinct. I'm not sure when this came into existence, but I think it was around 1973-4 that the precinct was built. I'd welcome any info on this later period in the history of the Maypole in Loughborough if anyone has any!

The Maypole Dairy shops themselves were often highly decorative, with beautiful mosaic floor panels showing the company name, just inside the door, with marble counters inside, again with the company name on. Maypole engaged the services of some of the country's top shopfitters of the time, like Harris & Sheldon and Parnall & Sons. As can be seen in the photo of the Loughborough shop, the company name appeared in gilded lettering with forked serifs on the fascia. Some shops had the monogram 'MDC' on the finger plates of the entrance doors. Inside, there were often beautiful scenes depicted in ceramic tiles, which were made by prestigious companies, like Pilkington. 

So, I think I've exhausted what I know about the Maypole Dairy, its history, and its place in Loughborough. 

See you next week,

Lynne

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Maypole Dairy. Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/03/maypole-dairy.html  [Accessed 3 March 2019]

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            

Thomas Cook or Maypole Dairy?

I recently caught sight of an interesting photograph of a Maypole Dairy which I want to tell you about, but first I feel I should explain about Thomas Cook!!

I was taken to task last week for suggesting that Loughborough was not a traditional tourist destination, because of the outing Thomas Cook made in 1841. Let me explain ...

When I suggested we weren't a touristy place, I was thinking around a number of things. When I first visited Loughborough I was an avid collector of souvenirs of places I'd visited, which usually took the form of a keyring with the name of the place on it. Sometimes these were beautiful with crests on, other times they were plastic fobs with a blurry picture of the place on, and other times they were a leather affair with the name of the town printed on. I looked all around the town, but the only one I could find was in Woolworths, and was one of the rather less-than-inspiring leather ones. I've still got it (and the rest of the collection) probably upstairs in the attic.

Ok, that's perhaps not the best reason to suggest Loughborough is not a tourist destination! The other thing that I was thinking was that I think people who would consider spending a week's holiday in Leicestershire are probably in the minority (something to do perhaps with a lack of coastline, and a dearth of charismatic, legendary heroes, like Robin Hood). I know I'm a bit on dodgy ground here, after all, Leicester now has Richard III, and it's true that visitors to the city have increased as a result of this, and not everyone wants to see the sea! 

As I said last week, when I first came to Loughborough there was a tourist information centre, but now there isn't. True, Leicester has a destination organisation in Leicestershire Promotions and they've done a good job of trying to connect tourist venues in the city and the county. And, as you know, I'm forever extolling the virtues of our 5 museums, our Local and Family History Centre, our wonderful buildings, our parks, our cinemas, our markets, our fair and everything else I can, when I chat with people, take people on guided walks, give talks, blog or write books. the one thing I keep forgetting to mention is that all our 'attractions' are within a very close area. If you start at the Market Place and walk the shortest route, these are the distances:

To Charnwood Museum in Queen's Park - 0.2 miles
To the Carillon in Queen's Park - 0.25 miles
To the Old Rectory Museum - 0.3 miles
To Taylors Bellfoundry - 0.5 miles
To the Great Central Railway - 0.8 miles 

So what of the Thomas Cook connection? Cook, living at Market Harborough, brought a party of about 500 people along to Loughborough from Leicester on a Temperance outing, on 5 July 1841. They each paid one shilling to travel by train, and arrived at the Midland Main Line station from where they walked to the meeting on Paget's Park, which I believe is now known as Southfields Park. This trip was successful, and Cook planned and executed excursions for Temperance supporters and school children over the next few summers. By 1854 Cook had given up his trade as a woodturner, and begun to make a living from arranging trips. So this is what makes Cook's trip from Leicester to Loughborough the first 'package tour', or more accurately, the first of Cook's package tours. 

Of course, Cook's trip in July 1841 was not the first trip to take place. An example of an earlier one happened when the Nottingham Mechanic's Institute brought a group of between 400 and 500 members by rail to Leicester to visit that town's * own Mechanic's Institute. This appears to have been a very successful visit despite there being few people around to welcome the visitors. However, by the time the group came to leave they were enthusiastically waved off by thousands of Leicester people.  

It does appear, however, that Leicester seems to play a role in those early trips. Sorry for the lack of photos and dense text!

Now, onto the Maypole Dairy. Ahhhh, sorry, I've run out of time today, so I'll be back next week with that story.

Thank you for reading. 

* Although Leicester was a city at the time of the Domesday Book, it lost that status in the 11th century, not regaining it until 1919, thus at the time of the visit of the Nottingham Mechanic's Institute, Leicester was a town. Nottingham gained its city status in the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Thomas Cook or Maypole Dairies? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/02/thomas-cook-or-maypole-dairy.html   [Accessed 24 February 2019]

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     
    

Loughborough and the holiday connection

So, every time I go on holiday I encounter something that reminds me of Loughborough! How odd!

In October 2015 I found myself in the tiny town of Pembroke in South West Wales. Given that Pembroke is on the coast, has a wonderful castle and a connection to Henry VII, you wouldn't think there would be anything here that could possibly evoke anything to do with the little market town of Loughborough, slap bang in the middle of the country, would you?

We decided to visit the museum/heritage centre of the Pembroke Dock Sunderland Trust, housed in the former Dockyard Chapel. There was an extremely interesting collection of artefacts concerned with battles (particularly those of the second world war) and especially with the Sunderland flying boats, as Pembroke Dock was Britain's largest base for flying boats during WW2. When we'd finished wandering around, we exited the grounds onto Meyrick Owen Way, and I was surprised to see on the corner of that road and the B4322 an old-fashioned looking shop, called - the Maypole Dairy!  

The Maypole Dairy in Pembroke Dock, October 2015

Of course, this looked familiar, because there used to be a similar place in Loughborough Market Place:  

The Maypole in Loughborough Market Place, 1960s

If you look closely to the right of the Maypole Dairy in Pembroke Dock, you might be able to work out that the attached building is called the White Hart! 

The White Hart in Pembroke Dock, October 2015

Ok, I grant you, that's a pretty common name for a pub, so it's not surprising that there is also one of these in Loughborough! 

The White Hart, Loughborough, 2015

So, I doubt it would surprise you to learn that whilst on holiday in Dorset last week, I spotted another White Hart, this time in Wimbourne:

The White Hart, Wimbourne, February 2016

Now, if this building in Wimbourne, pictured below, wasn't originally in use as a pub, I'd be surprised! I'd also be surprised if these weren't Hathernware tiles:

An Indian restaurant in Wimbourne, February 2016

Compare this to many 1930s buildings in Loughborough town centre, for example, the former offices of the Loughborough Echo:

Former offices of the Loughborough Echo, Swan Street, Loughborough

A visit to Dorchester County Museum not only reminded me of the place where I grew up, where there was a roman amphitheatre, but also of Loughborough, in the shape of church bells in the county museum. Ok, so they were not made by Taylors, but bells, to my mind, are closely associated with Taylors Bellfoundry on Freehold Street:

Bells in Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, February 2016

And as if that weren't enough, in one of the museum display cabinets was a fragment of an alabaster plaque, of the Nottingham School (and therefore, probably from Chellaston). In the nineteenth century folk in Loughborough carved ornaments to sell, probably at Skegness, from such alabaster: 

Fragment of an alabaster plaque in Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, February 2016

Of course, being in Dorset, we were near Portland, so it was no surprise to find some Portland Stone in a display case:

No.12, Portland Stone, Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, February 2016

But I must say, Portland Stone looks far better around the base of our Carillon, than it does in little chips in a glass display case!

Loughborough Carillon 

Walking around Dorchester, we found a lovely park, Borough Gardens, which was created in 1896, presumably in some way a celebration of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, rather like our very own Queen's Park. Borough Gardens had a lovely bandstand which rather reminded me of Loughborough's:

The bandstand created in 1897, Borough Gardens, Dorchester, February 2016

The bandstand in Queen's Park, Loughborough, 2014

Back in the town of Dorchester itself, I happened upon a beautiful post box which reminded me of the one that used to be on the corner of Burton Street and Park Street, before it was damaged by a car:

Post box in Dorchester, February 2016

By now it was getting rather late in Dorchester, so we made our way back to the car. What we hadn't seen on our way down into the town, was the bronze statue of a horse.

Bronze horse, Dorchester, February 2016

It was pretty dark so I didn't get to read what exactly he was doing there, but he reminded me of three things about Loughborough: the bronze sockman in Market place

Shona Kinloch's sockman, Loughborough

Songster, the replica war horse in the Carillon Tower and War Memorial Museum

Songster, the was horse

and the new cinema complex that is being built on the site of the old General Hospital. The Dorchester complex was on the site of the former brewery, although the building was renovated rather than demolished, but the range of eateries seemed to be similar

The development on the site of the former General Hospital

During our trip to Dorset we also visited Tolpuddle and the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum. You may wonder what on earth I could possibly find to remind me of Loughborough, but the whole experience brought to mind the Chartist risings in the Market Place (1848) and the Luddite attacks on Heathcoat's lacemaking factory (1816). 

The Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, February 2016

Information on the Chartist Movement in the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, February 2016

On our final day in Dorset we visited Cerne Abbas, the village with the giant chalk man on the hillside, and the site of an old abbey. Information provided by the Cerne Abbas Historical Society is available on the web and includes a variety of pictures. This is more-or-less what we saw:

This, of course, reminded me of our own Garendon Abbey, the Chapterhouse of which was excavated by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society in about 1965. Garendon Abbey no longer exists, but the archaeological remains are on the Garendon estate and can be seen in this flyover.

On our last day we travelled to Swanage, passing near Corfe Castle with its Greyhound Pub:

Greyhound pub near Corfe Castle

Strangely, I've been through my photograph collection, but can't find a picture of our former Greyhound pub, on Nottingham Road, which used to have an athletics ground behind it.

Anyway, our last port of call in Dorset was Swanage. Even I couldn't find much of a connection with Loughborough here, as Swanage is a seaside resort with a pier, beach huts and amusement arcades. One or two comparisons could be made though! Their war memorial was quite different from ours (see Carillon above):

The War Memorial at Swanage

I was also pleased to see that they had a steam railway, a teeny bit like our own Great Central Railway, which I wasn't expecting (I really hadn't done my homework at all!):

The platform at Swanage steam railway, February 2016

The platform at the GCR Loughborough

The Town Hall at Swanage was a pretty impressive stone building with an interesting clock on the front:

Swanage Town Hall clock

similar to the one on our Town Hall, although not designed to be seen from all directions like ours:

Loughborough Town Hall clock

I was also interested to see that new houses in Swanage were given names inscribed on stone tablets, just like on some of the older houses in Loughborough. This one was built in 1989:

Stone plaque on newly built houses in Swanage

House plaque on Chestnut Street, Loughborough

Finally, I can't resist posting this picture of Victorian street furniture on the pier at Swanage:

On Swanage pier, February 2016

Sorry, did I say finally? One last one, I promise! Yesterday I went shopping in Loughborough, and picked up some books on our local area at the Age Concern bookshop. Apart from one, which was about pubs in London. Which was odd. I leafed through it before going to sleep last night and read the following passage: 

"The Clanger. The Clanger is a new pub and it has taken the Great Fire of London as its theme ...There are also some interesting items concerning insurance companies. In those days these insurance companies each had a special crest which was displayed on the wall of insured premises and the fire brigades were only allowed to put out fires where these crests were to be seen."

MacLaren, R. (1977). London pubs & inns. St Ives: James Pike Ltd., pp3-4

Fire insurance crest on a house in Swanage, February 2016

Now, I'm pretty sure I've seen one of these somewhere in Loughborough, but I can't for the life of me remember where. Can anyone help?

Hope you've enjoyed this post! And with huge apologies for the changes in type size :(

See you soon

Market Place sale

Particulars and plan of an important freehold property suitable for redevelopment ...

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may remember a while ago I wrote a short article about the Drs Eddowes, who ran a practice in Market Place?

A recent chance find when I was rummaging around at a postcard fair were some sales particulars for a short row of shops in Market Place These shops were up for auction in April 1961, and the auctioneers in question were Messrs Garton (who appear in several of my earlier blogposts – Loughborough and the opening of the Temperance Hall, Spotlight on: 54 Baxter Gate, and rather tenuously on Ghost signs of Loughborough Part 2).    




 

The solicitors concerned with the sale of these properties were Moss, Toone and Deane (the only connections on this blog so far, is that Henry John Deane used to live at 145 Ashby Road ) who were based in 80-82 Woodgate. Although this solicitor’s practice has been through various partnerships and are now known simply as Moss Solicitors, they are still based in 80-82 Woodgate.

The shops in question were numbers 5, 6 and 6a Market Place, and were Easiephit (men’s shoes and fashion shoes), Maypole (which looks like a grocers, and is advertising butter and tea, and is listed inside the particulars as Maypole Dairy Co Ltd.), and The Home and Colonial Stores (again selling tea). Just to the left of Easiephit, was Melia’s (possibly number 4), and to the right was Charnwood Chambers (possibly number 7, or 7a).

As early as 1828, and for many years after that, the Eddowes doctors lived and worked in number 6 Market Place. What I’m not sure about is whether the building shown in the sales particulars is as old as 1828, or whether the surgeons would have lived in an older property on the same plot. I do know that William Godber, who was killed in action during WW1, worked as a grocer’s assistant at the Maypole Dairy in Market Place, so I’m sure the building is pre-WW1, but not sure it’s as old as 1828.  

Of course, numbers 5, 6 and 6a Market Place are no longer there, having been demolished around 1975 when what was then the Charnwood Precinct (now Carillon Court) was built. Charnwood Chambers, however, which is next to number 6, is still standing and whilst once it was MacFisheries, it now houses Café Nero. Melia’s, next to number 5, was demolished and replaced by the building that is now TopShop. 

 

 

 

 

What’s also interesting about these particular shops is that the sales brochure includes a rough plan of the shops that were in existence in 1961. This makes for interesting reading, and surprisingly, some of these shops were still in the same location in 1981 when I came to Loughborough. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the brochure comes with a pull out plan of the exact properties and outbuildings that are for sale. So, as well as the ground floor shops, there is also upstairs accommodation which, at the time, was let to Loughborough Club Co Ltd. and also over Melia’s. And, there was a workshop, occupied by Metalcraft Ltd., which was approached from Angel Yard. And, there was also a store and a garage in Angel Yard which were occupied by Messers. Wills & Hepworth Ltd. (of which more in a future post!).

From the page headed “Contract” it would appear that the owner of the shops was Arnold Montague Barrowcliff, a retired architect, and receiver of the Military Cross for his part in WW1. Arnold, who was living on Burton Street at the time of this sale, was the son of George Harry Barrowcliff of the architectural partnership, Barrowcliff and Allcock, who, amongst other things, in 1903-5 designed the public library in Granby Street.

 

Arnold Montague Barrowcliff's House today

The auction for these shops was held at the King’s Head Hotel, on Thursday 27^th April, 1961, at 3pm. I have no idea who the buyer was, but when I find out I will be sure to share this with you!