Exhibition about Nanpantan

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that several of the projects I had been involved with recently were coming to their conclusion. In that post, I talked about the Focus on the Foundry photography programme, and since then the Bellfoundry Trust has included a brief review of the project on their website. 

Another local project, although my part in it is completed, isn’t yet live on the internet, so I’ll share that when it’s publicly available. Another project was a small exhibition, which ended up being hosted somewhere other than originally planned, and even smaller than intended: when I’ve seen it, I’ll share it with you!! Yet another project did result in an exhibition, so here’s a very short piece about it!!

On Monday evening, 24th March, an exhibition was held at Nanpantan Hall, which showcased the research about Nanpantan done by a group of volunteers working under the guidance of an experienced Victoria County History researcher, Dr Pamela Fisher, who has previously written a couple of guest posts for this blog [1]. Finded by the Charnwood Forest Geopark, meetings were held towards the end of 2024, and into early 2025, at Home Farm, where the volunteers learned skills and techniques for researching local history.

The volunteers put these skills to good use either at home or in the public library, and researched things like the pubs in Nanpantan, the school, the reservoir, the local farms, the local scout and guide groups, and so on, together gradually building up a picture of the area over time.

Although I had previously done some research on Nanpantan, some of which I wrote up in my ‘A-Z of Loughborough’, some in ‘Loughborough Pubs’, and some on this blog [2], for this project I researched some areas I wasn’t previously familiar with, and I have to admit it was rather good to be part of a team and to work with other people who were also researching.

As I said, the results of the research – well, a small amount of it! (there’s always far more information found than can be accommodated in a book, a journal article, a blog post, or even an A3 poster!) – was exhibited at Nanpantan Hall.

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Notes

[1]

Mary Tate of Burleigh Hall 

Loughborough’s Second Workhouse  

[2]

Visit to Nanpantan Hall 

N is for Nanpantan 

Nanpantan and Temperance 

Nanpantan church stone 

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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). Exhibition about Nanpantan. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/03/exhibition-about-nanpantan.html [Accessed 30 March 2025]

Take down policy:

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N is for Nanpantan

Heading out of Loughborough along Forest Road, in the direction of Charnwood Forest, you will see the road name changes to Nanpantan Road, and you will pass through Nanpantan itself. Like Loughborough, it’s an unusual name, and also like Loughborough, the origins of the name are subject to some interesting suggestions – and spellings!

Possibilities for the derivation of the name are that it might have been named after a woman called Nan Pantain, or after the Anglo-Saxon word for an enclosure – a plantain. There is certainly an area of Charnwood Forest called Nan Pantain’s, which appears on the 1754 map of the area. It also seems that the spelling of the name was only relatively recently formalised – well in the 1920s, which is not that long ago really – to Nanpantan, rather than Nanpanton!

So, what’s there to know about the area? Be warned, I’m keeping it brief!

On the lefthand side as you go out of Loughborough, you will pass the Nanpantan Scout hut, and if you happen to be passing in December, you’ll see the bright display of Christmas lights in the front garden of the house next door! Someone once told me that the house the other side of the Scout hut was once an isolation hospital, but I haven’t as yet verified that. I do know that a little further up on the same side, there used to be a Temperance Hotel, which was often a venue for annual church, workers, or schools outings. 

Then, still on the lefthand side, there are some cottages which were part of the Nanpantan Hall estate, and then what is now a care home, but was once known as Jackie Bennett’s Longcliffe Hotel. Now that you’ve reached the crossroads, you’ll see a lovely pub called The Priory, opened in 1936. You can’t miss it, as it looks like a fairytale French chateau, its towers not unlike that on a house you’ve just passed on the right, called Foxhills!!

If you were to turn left at this point you'd soon come to the Nanpantan Reservoir, Home Farm on the right, and eventually the Outwoods on the left, but instead, continue past the crossroads, up the hill, you’ll pass the little church of St Mary, which was once a mission hall, but is now a church for the parish. Although it is a tiny building, there is a war memorial outside, graves and memorials, and a nature trail. 

A little further on the left are the lodge houses at the entrance driveway to Nanpantan Hall, built for the Warner family of hosiers in 1870, although they never lived there, preferring to lease it out, before selling it on to the Paget family, in whose ownership it remained until the death of the last of the direct family line in the late 1980s. It’s now a venue for courses, for weddings, and the occasional public event.

 

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This post is one in a series of posts for 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). N is for Nanpantan. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/n-is-for-nanpantan.html [Accessed 16 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:

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

Visit to Nanpantan Hall

Visit to Nanpantan Hall

Nanpantan Hall, situated on Nanpantan hill, on the way out of Loughborough towards the Charnwood Forest,  is one of those places that you can just about see from some of the footpaths and permissive paths in the area, but it is not generally open to the public. True, it is available for hire for events and weddings, and is used as a learning space for students of the independent School of Philosophy and Economic Science, but it is not open to the public. However, over this bank holiday weekend, the house and grounds have been the location for a unique art exhibition, in which ‘history meets’ art, as the publicity said, and has been open to all, subject to pre-booking and adherence to the COVID-secure procedures.

 

For once I was on the ball and managed to get myself booked in for a visit, although I did get the last available ticket for the day, so I couldn't have been that prompt! Anyway, it was a wonderful occasion to be able to visit a building that has so much historical importance and connection to our town, and once inside, I had a good look around at the art work, at all the family photographs, the documents and possessions, and also watched a short film about the house. There was plenty of opportunity to talk to the artists and the stewards on duty and it was fascinating to hear their stories and learn from them.

 

The grounds were also open to visitors where there were a few stalls – a willow-weaver, a stone mason and Charnwood Arts, to name some – and the farm (Home Farm) was open for refreshments and were doing felting demonstrations. I actually took a bottle of water and an apple with me, so I stood near a bench with a beautiful view to have these in the open air, rather than inside.

The walled garden was also available to walk through, and again, there were plenty of expert gardeners on hand to help with gardening tips, as well as learning the history of the gardens, the buildings on the site, and some of the gardeners who had been employed in the past.

 

As well as being installed in the house, artwork could be found in the grounds, like the pair of willow horses in the meadow, and the pieces of paper, filled with visitors’ comments, strung up on a washing line hanging amongst the volcanic rocks.

 

Apart from the exhibition and the artwork, other things to see were things that are always on the estate: some beautiful rhododendrons; horse chestnut trees; sheep – the list goes on and on, but obviously changes with the seasons!

 

All-in-all, a memorable visit that will stick in my mind for years to come.

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 30 May 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). Ceramics, pots and markets. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/05/visit-to-nanpantan-hall-nanpantanhall.html [Accessed 30 May 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                            

Cartwright and Warner

Oh dear, here I go again, promising you a further post on holiday connections, but finding myself eager to tell you about something else first!! This one's timely, as it follows immediately from my attending a book launch - a book about the Warner family, as associated with Cartwright and Warner (Hosiers), Nanpantan Hall, the churches of All Saints, Holy Trinity, St Peter's and St Mary in Charnwood at Nanpantan, and many other places!

Now, I don't want to spoil your reading of the book (by Derrick Hewitt) so what follows are a few snippets of information, not all of them gathered from the detailed talk that Derrick gave at the launch at the church of All Saints with Holy Trinity.

The Warner family is probably best known for its partnership with the Cartwrights in a hosiery business that seems to have been rather successful! There was enough money in the business for Edward Warner to buy Quorn Hall from the Farndon family, to build The Elms and Nanpantan Hall. 

According to Mr Hewitt, Aingarth (now retirement and sheltered housing) a Victorian building, was originally associated with The Elms, and the gatehouse to the Elms, now called the Lodge to Aingarth, fronts onto Leicester Road. This was recently for sale, and there are some pictures available. Both The Elms and The Lodge to Aingarth are listed buildings.

The Lodge to Aingarth

The Lodge to Aingarth

The Lodge to Aingarth

The Elms

The Elms

The Elms

Aingarth

Nanpantan Hall, was sold by the Warners to the Pagets (William Byerley Paget to be precise), and has latterly been part of the School of Economic Science. Not sure if this is still the case, as the Echo reported in July 2016 that Nanpantan Hall has recently become a wedding venue, ironic, since W B Paget's former house, Southfields House, is now the Loughborough Register Office!

The Warner family had connections with the Church of All Saints (now the Church of All Saints with Holy Trinity), and were instrumental in the building of Holy Trinity Church and St Peters Church, as well as a memorial to Archdeacon Fearon, in the form of Fearon Hall. 

Church of All Saints (today with Holy Trinity)

Fearon Hall

The company had various factories around Loughborough, including the one on Clarence Street (now a locally listed building) and those taken over by Towles.   

The Warner family were also benefactors of the Grammar School. 

In 1851 at the Great Exhibition, Cartwright and Warner* won a medal for their women's "union dresses" - a Victorian euphemism for women's combinations  

Apparently, one member of the Cartwright family, James, lived at 151 Ashby Road, in 1911.

There were a couple of Cartwright and Warner employees, Ernest Grimbley and Charles J Hunt, who died during the first world war and are listed on the Roll of Honour website.

In 1900 a row of almshouses were created on Mill Lane, as part of the Warner legacy. Sadly, the cartouche on the side of the building is beginning to wear away, but the properties are still, I believe, inhabited by former hosiery workers. These are administered by the Warner's Almshouse Charity in Melbourne, South Derbyshire. 

Mill Lane

One wonders if George Warner of Quorn, who went off to the United States, was part of the Warner hosiery family: Derrick may have said this, but I am a little hard of hearing and missed some of the talk.

An extract from White's Gazeteer of 1877 appears on the Genuki website, giving a brief description of Loughborough and naming various people associated with the hosiery trade. The complete White's Gazeteer is also available on the internet.

The Victoria County History of Leicestershire also includes some information on Cartwright and Warner, and is complemented by information on the British History Online website.

The Barrow Upon Soar Heritage Group include a report of evidence given by inhabitants of the village in regard to increasing mechanisation of framework knitting, some of whom worked for Cartwright and Warner in Loughborough.

If you're a member of the FaceBook Group Remember Loughborough, you've probably already seen this video of Cartwright and Warner employees leaving the factory in 1900 but here it is again!

Here are two of my favourite things - coincidences: whilst looking for mention of Cartwright and Warner on Grace's Guide, I happened upon a bell foundry called called J Warner who made the initial Big Ben, which was later recast by the Whitechapel foundry! And, would you believe it, John Henry Boyer Warner, one of Edward Warner's sons, moved to Kepwick Hall in Yorkshire, and on the top of one of the hills he built - you guessed it - an obelisk (see my previous post about obelisks)! The description I've found of this on various listed building websites seems to be incorrect, listing him as a Weaver not a Warner, but interestingly, the obelisk is constructed of Portland stone - just like the ground floor of our Carillon!

Portland stone bridge and Carillon base

We were lucky enough also to see some examples of original catalogues of products from Cartwright and Warner:

Finally, that institution, beloved of many Loughborough inhabitants, the Warner School, on what was the corner of Pinfold Gate and School Street, was funded by Edward Warner in 1870, as he provided both the land and the money for it. At the time it was most unusual as it had teacher's accommodation attached: ironically, today the teacher's accommodation is all that remains of the school which was demolished in 2015 to make way for the inner relief road. It is the only remaining stone building in Loughborough apart from the Old Rectory, and the former school on Nanpantan Road (which is classed as being in Nanpantan).

Warner School prior to partial demolition

The Warner School teacher's accommodation

The Warner School teacher's accommodation with a former framework knitters building adjacent

*Stanley, Chapman and Middleton-Smith, Jane (2015) John Smedley: the establishment of a tradition in fine knitwear, c. 1750-1874 In: Textile History, Vol. 46, No.1, pp.70-98 

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). Cartwright and Warner. [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/02/cartwright-and-warner.html [Accessed 26 February 2017]