The Generous Briton

On a recent trip to Melton Mowbray I was told a story about the origin of one particular Melton Mowbray pub name, and this intrigued me, as I had written about our own Generous Briton in my book ‘Loughborough Pubs’, which was published back in 2023.

Our own pub seems to have been around since the early eighteen hundreds, and when it was auctioned in 1875, it was described as consisting of “a bar, parlour, taproom and kitchen, along with several bedrooms, good cellarage and brewhouse, and outside was excellent stabling with granary above.” The building we see today, on the corner of Ashby Road and Regent Street is a new one, built in 1937 to replace the much older building. Since that time, the GB has had a number of refurbishments, and been included in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, as well as at one time being celebrated for its historic interior. Here is the building photographed from Ashby Road in 2021, and from Regent Street in 2013. 

So, what of the name, the Generous Briton? According to a website about Nottinghamshire villages, the name is used in an ironic way, and is supposed to have come from a poem called “The British Prison Ship”, written as long ago as 1780, by Philip Freneau. Freneau was known as being the poet of the American Revolution, and the poem was written as a result of his experience being held captive by the British on a prison ship. This was during the American War of Independence, when Americans were captured and held on overly hot ships, without much access to fresh food or water, so the death rate was very high. The idea of the “Generous Briton” is therefore in contradiction to what the prisoners actually experienced.      

As well as the intriguing origin of the name, it was also suggested to me on my visit to Melton Mowbray, that there were only three pubs bearing this name in the country, and all of them being in Leicestershire! Here's Melton Mowbray's pub during renovation works in 2023.

Well, I just had to check that out! So, as well as Loughborough’s GB, there is a GB in Costock, although I’m not sure whether or not this is still open; there is also a thriving one in Melton Mowbray on King Street, and there is one on the High Street in Brant Broughton in Lincolnshire, although again, I’m not sure if it’s still a pub. The GB which was at No.12 Lombard Street Newark hasn’t been a pub for many years, and the latest picture I could find of it was taken in 2001. It has since been renamed as Clinton House, and has been an insurance agent, to let as shops and offices, and currently subject to a planning permission to become flats.

Why there are only a handful of pubs with the GB name, and why most of those remaining are in Leicestershire I have no idea!

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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.

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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). The Generous Briton. Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-generous-briton.html  [Accessed 13 April 2025]

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S is for Swan

Talking to someone the other day, they wondered why there were a lot of swans in Melton Mowbray. I must admit, I wasn’t sure if they were talking about real, live swans, or some other kind of swan, but whichever it was, it got me to thinking about swans in Loughborough!

A couple of really obvious ones, are the real ones that can be seen on the canal, or down at Charnwood Water, or the little pond adjacent to the Tuckers clay pit off Forest Road, called Swan Lake.

Then there’s the swans that give their name to something. So, Swanns Funeral Services on Bridge Street was established in 1892. Then, we’ve got Swan Street, which joins High Street and runs towards Derby Road, via The Rushes. On one of the maps I’ve seen, The Rushes was identified as being called West Street. I can only assume that these street names came from the knowledge that the area was frequently flooded?

Of course, along The Rushes, we also have a pub called the Swan-in-The-Rushes, but it hasn’t always been called this. Previously the pub was known as the Charnwood Forest Railway Inn, then became the Charnwood Inn when the old building was demolished and the new one built in 1931-2. It wasn’t until 1986 that the name changed again, to the Swan-in-The-Rushes.

But this wasn’t the first pub in Loughborough to have the word Swan in its name. In 1831, there appears to have been a new building with a yard built on Wellington Street, which was being used as a public house called the White Swan, and had been recently occupied by George Slater. This advert appeared in the Leicester Journal and Midlands County Advertiser of 10th June 1831. This new building must have replaced an older building which was also used as a pub, but called the Black Swan. Apparently, the White Swan closed in 1959.

On my recent travels, I have seen both White Swan and a Black Swan in Melton Mowbray, and the Three Swans at Market Harborough, all of which had lovely 3D signs!

  

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This is one of a series of posts in the ‘April A-Z 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 (2024). S is for Swan. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/s-is-for-swan.html  [Accessed 22 April 2024]

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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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.

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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

Ladybird at the Museum

Today I’ve been out on the allotment helping to keep in good shape, and make sure it produces lots of lovely fruit and veg! While I was there, doing a bit of weeding, I spotted a ladybird – and that got me thinking about Ladybird Books!!

I remember going to an exhibition in Leicester Museum and Art Gallery a few years ago, and our own Charnwood Museum has a Ladybird Corner, and has hosted some dedicated exhibitions, as has the local public library. So, it seems like Leicestershire are showcasing Ladybird Books across several of its museums.

I believe Melton Carnegie Museum are also going to feature Ladybird Books in a forthcoming exhibition. This will run from 4th May to 14th September 2024, and will focus on the series Well-Loved Tales. This is s0sre to be an interesting exhibition, and Melton Museum is worth a visit to see its other exhibitions which tell the story of Melton and its surrounding area.

I think the Ladybird Books exhibition at Market Harborough Museum has been and gone, but there is to soon be an exhibition in the community showcase featuring books from the At Work series, and the People Who Help Us series, and the responses of people who live in Market Harborough and around about.

Both Charnwood Museum and Melton Carnegie Museum also have a community showcase: Charnwood’s is called the Spotlight Case, and is currently hosting an exhibition called m’Other Voices. Melton’s is currently about the Observer Corps., but from May will be focussed on the battalions of paratroopers who were stationed in and around Melton Mowbray ahead of Operation Market Garden, which took place in September 1944. Some units of the 82nd Airbourne Parachute Regiment were also billeted near Melton, and in Rutland, as well as being in Quorn.

Anyway I hope you get to have a look around the museums in other parts of the county as they are well worth the trip, especially as the themes are often cahnging!

From the Ladybird exhibition at Market Harborough

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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 (2024). Ladybird At the Museum. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/ladybird-at-museum.html [Accessed 21 April 2024]

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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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.

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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

ABC

So, you may have noticed that I’m currently taking part in the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’ which means writing a blogpost every day (except Sunday) themed around a letter of the alphabet. Goodness, what a lot of extra work that has turned out to be!!!

So far, we’ve had posts on Abbeyfield Houses; Brooks; canal mile markers; Domesday Book; The Eagle; Fire; Garages; Heritage Open Days; Incorporation of the Borough; John Jones; K, and Lucy boxes! I wonder what delights next week will bring?!

Interestingly, I’ve also been acting out an ABC for real this week, as I’ve been helping to move the Archives, down at the Bellfoundry, where a group of us have formed a Chain to take boxes, books, and journals from the current archive room, down the stairs, and into the new archive room, with its whizzy compact shelving! An exciting few days, rewarding, but pretty tiring!

Earlier in the week I had been at Market Harborough Museum, where they are in the last stages of planning an exhibition focussed on Loughborough’s Ladybird Books. Interestingly, Melton Carnegie Museum is also playing host to a Ladybird exhibition! Must be the season for it! Reminded me of the wonderful exhibition they had at New Walk Museum in Leicester a few years ago, and the Ladybird illustrators exhibition at Nuneaton Museum a few years before that, and our very own Andrew Everitt-Stewart, Ladybird Book illustrator many years before that!!

Not much else to report this week, as I’ve done very little research or writing that’s shareable!

Pop back to the blog again tomorrow, where hopefully you’ll find an entry for the letter ‘M’! No idea what it’s going to be yet though!!

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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 (2024). ABC. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/abc.html  [Accessed 14 April 2024]

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

Christmas Tree Festival 2023

Every year I like to go and see all the beautiful Christmas trees that people set up for the Christmas Tree Festival. I guess I’ve been to the Melton festival the most, to support the Hathern Band, (here's the 2014 Festival, and the 2016 Festival,) but I’ve also been to Lichfield and a couple of other places.

Closer to home, I’ve made it to the All Saints tree festival for a couple of years (here's the 2018 Festival the 2019 Festival and the 2022 Festival, and this year was no exception. There were some lovely trees to view, and if you’re quick, you can still catch them, if you haven’t already been down. Every year I think I might contribute a tree myself, but so far I’ve not managed to do it. However, I was surprised to see my contribution to the Old Rectory Museum tree still hanging on in there!!!

Here are some photos from this year’s festival at All Saints. Enjoy!

____________________________________

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 (2023). Christmas Tree Festival 2023. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/12/christmas-tree-festival-2023.html [Accessed 17 December 2023]

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

Casting of the Hope Bell

Over the past couple of months, for one reason or another, I seem to have spent quite a lot of time down at the bellfoundry. On one particular occasion, I was lucky enough to visit during a time when a bell casting was taking place. I’ve seen quite a few bell castings, but this one was especially meaningful and poignant, as it was the Hope Bell.

 

Following the pandemic, which resulted in many unexpected deaths, people around the UK have been installing public memorials to those who lost their lives. Some towns have created public benches – at Grantham, for example – other places have created memorial gardens – like that at Melton Mowbray. 

The WW1 memorial bench in Grantham

The COVID commemorative bench in Grantham

COVID memorial garden at Melton Mowbray

COVID memorial garden at Melton Mowbray

COVID memorial garden plaque at Melton Mowbray

After much consideration and consultation, it was decided that an appropriate memorial to commemorate those from the Borough of Charnwood would be to create a clock chime installation to be sited in Queen’s Park. This would comprise bells made by the last remaining dedicated bellfoundry in the country, which happens to be in Loughborough.

 

You can find out more about what has become known as the Hope Bell from the Charnwood Borough Council website where there is also more information about the casting. 

The casting and the associated event were filmed so there is a video available for you to watch.

And here follows a few of my own photos from the event, with apologies for the blurriness of some of them!

If you are keen to see the work of the bellfoundry, pop over to the Trust's website for details on how to book a visit!

____________________________________

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 (2023). Casting of the Hope Bell. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/03/casting-of-hope-bell.html [Accessed: 9 April 2023]

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.

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

Isolation in Loughborough

As we are all aware we are currently living through some difficult times, but I shall keep

Isolation hospital on Ling Road

going on here for as long as I can. I'm very conscious that some of us are glass half full people, and others glass half empty, so some of us will find seeing pictures of things we enjoy - spring flowers, summer beaches, family gatherings - exciting things we can look forward to when we emerge from these hard times, or things that just upset us even more. I'm just gonna have to take the plunge and, as usual, blog about things that I think are interesting, and hope I don't lose any of you along the way.

Pestilence Cottage in Woodhouse

Way back in October 2017 I wrote a few posts about the plague in Loughborough, starting with one about disasters (plague and fire), then about disasters and plague houses, and finally about plague and Dead Lane.








On a more cheery note (I jest, of course) last summer when we went to St Ives we managed to catch a show at The Minack Theatre (as we do most summers). It was called 'Roses of Eyam'. Now, this almost seems like a portent (that and the Year of the Rat, and the health warning that came with that - as a Rat myself, I found that a little bit disconcerting). We went with the usual travel company from St Ives, so that we didn't have to travel around the narrow Cornish roads late at night, but it did mean that while many people went home at the interval, we sat it out in the pouring rain, which actually made the play even more atmospheric and deeply felt. It was the Stamford Shoestring Theatre Company that delivered the play, and they did it so well. I probably took some pictures, but here are some on The Minack website.

So, the villagers of Eyam basically closed off their village and isolated themselves during the plague. There's a good article in The Guardian that explains it far better than I can and a nice article on the BBC website.

Back here in Loughborough, at one time there was apparently an isolation hospital on Cross Hill Lane, and children with infectious diseases would be taken there by horse-drawn cab. Later, from about 1901 there was an isolation hospital on Ling Road. Diseases that were around in the early 1900s included, typhoid, which was often fatal, and amongst other things, smallpox, diptheria, scarlet fever, and chicken pox. Into the 1930s and it was scarlet fever and diptheria that were most prevalent, and required isolation.      
In the county, there were other isolation hospitals including one at Nanpantan, Markfield and Melton Mowbray. Markfield have a great local history page on the web where you can find out more bout their hospital, and if you'd like more information about former hospitals in Leicestershire pop over to this site.    

That's all for this week.

Keep safe and strong,

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 (2020). Isolation in Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/03/isolation-in-loughborough.html  [Accessed 22 March 2020]

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