So Who Was Christopher Staveley?

  An A-Z of Architects of Loughborough

For a complete list of the A-Z posts please head over to the bloglist.

 

Short biography of Christoper Staveley

Christopher, the eldest son of Christopher Staveley, architect and sculptor of Melton Mowbray, was baptised on 16 April 1759. Christopher started his career in Melton, and classed himself as an architect, surveyor, and engineer. In 1872 Christopher was involved in the Melton Navigation works. He married Ruth Ella on 27 May 1793 and together they had seven children - three sons and four daughters. During his middle years Christopher was based in Loughborough, possibly in Church Gate, but definitely as tenant of the Bull’s Head on High Street, from 1797-1808, then Market Street until 1819 when he moved to Leicester. Christopher was in partnership with Samuel Waters in Leicester, trading as timber merchants on Humberstone Gate, until Staveley’s death on 23 July 1827. He was buried in Loughborough cemetery.

Ruth outlived him. In 1835 and 1841 she was listed in Pigot’s Directory under the heading “Clergy and Gentry” as living on Sparrow Hill in Loughborough, and on the 1841 census as living on Sparrow Hill, with Mary Staveley aged 30 her youngest daughter, and Fanny Lewis. Ruth died on 21 January 1842 and is buried in Loughborough cemetery.

Ruth Staveley

____________________________________      

What follows is a selection of buildings designed by Arthur John Price

Note: this is a selective, not a comprehensive listing.

____________________________________

*Maps of Charnwood Forest and the River Wreake Navigations

*Major reconstruction of the interior of the parish church, Loughborough 1799

*Parish Church Loughborough erected three galleries and relocated the pulpit (1815)

*Repairs, renovations and extensions to the Old Rectory Loughborough (extension of 5 bays at right angles to what existed, porch, entrance hall, 20x25 ft living room, and similar drawing room, three bedrooms upstairs, and a cellar (1799)

*Sutton Bonington Rectory (1811)

____________________________________

Basic facts

Name: Christopher Staveley

Parents: Christopher (1727-1801) Sarah nee Hill, the fifth of ten children, and the first of three boys. Father later married Lucy Smith (23 Dec 1784) who had been previously married to Robert Smith (she was daughter of Henry Kettle)

Date and place of Birth: 1758 Melton Mowbray

Spouse: Ruth nee Ella (m.27 May 1793) (1762-1842)

Children: 7 children - 3 sons and 4 daughters – eldest was Edward (1795-1872), Christopher

Death: July 1827

Places lived: Melton, Loughborough, Spa Place Leicester (1793-1797); Bull’s Head Loughborough (as tenant, 1797-1808); Loughborough (1808-1819); 1819 Market Street, Leicester At time of death Craven Street, Strand, London

Place of work/Offices: 1826 Humberstone Gate Leicester

____________________________________

I’m taking part in the April A-Z 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 (2026). So Who Was Christopher Staveley? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2026/04/so-who-was-christopher-staveley.html [Accessed 22 April 2026]

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

Carillon recitals

There’s been lots happening in Loughborough lately, but sadly, I seem to have missed quite a lot of it!

So, although I was invited to the ceremony to hear the first sounding of the Hope Bell, I wasn’t able to attend. Of course, I’ve been taking photos for a while now, so I’ve probably got enough over a period of time to write a decent account of the bell from start to finish.

I almost missed the demolition of the Herbert Morris factory on Empress Road, but just managed to catch the tail end of it. Again, I’ve taken plenty of photos over the past couple of years, so I’ll post them in a blog sometime.

What else did I miss? Oh yes, the opening of the new exhibition at the Old Rectory, which showcases the work done by the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society, and in particular Brian Williams, in uncovering the building which you see today, trying to understand it, and trying to present it to the public. Oh, and I missed the art exhibition down at the parish church, when, amongst other things, they had a VR flythrough high up in the ceiling! And I missed the Old Rectory Community Day!

As if that weren’t enough, although I heard the Carillon playing yesterday, and I knew it was Saturday, it wasn’t until this morning that I realised yesterday was the anniversary of the opening of the Carillon – in 1923! It’s always lovely to hear the Carillon being played – and played so well!!

I must admit, sadly I didn’t linger long enough to take in what the carillonneur was playing, but I have recently come across the programme for a recital, which was performed by Eric Jordan (I’ve previously written about him on this blog), on Saturday April 12th, 1924, at 5.30 in the afternoon.

The programme was billed as being “Toll for the brave that are no more.” and included

1. Softly awakes my heart, by Saint Saens

2. i. Smilin’ through, by A. W. Penn and ii. Love sends a little gift roses, by Openshaw

3. Andante, by Couperin

4. March van Hartopp, by Degruytter (18th century)

5. Le cygnet (The Swan), by Saint Saens

6. Tempo di Gavotta, by Fesch

7. i. Come back to Erin, ii. Blue bells of Scotland, and iii. Drink to me only with thine eye

8. Berceuse de Jocelyn, by Godard

9. Song without words no.9, by Mendelssohn

Such a worthy concert could not be concluded without a rendition of God Save The King.

Interestingly, there were to be recitals throughout the Easter period, which were given by M. Robert Dierick, who was the Carillonneur in the city of Ghent, in Belgium.   

 

____________________________________

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). [Post title]. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/07/carillon-recitals.html  [Accessed 27 July 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

Seeing the Old Rectory in a new light

I recently stopped off down at the Old Rectory and had a good look round. I’ve talked about this in a previous post, but here’s what I saw this time:

 

 

____________________________________

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). Seeing the Old Rectory in a new light. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/07/seeing-old-rectory-in-new-light.html [Accessed 23 July 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

Wells or bells?

Last year I was most disappointed to not be able to attend the very first Bell Festival that was held across town. It was September 2023, and I always seem to have a lot on in September, but luckily, I had someone who attended on my behalf, and took some wonderful photographs which I shared on a blog post.   

This year, the event was held in the latter half of October, and I was able to turn up at the events taking place, mostly in the older part of Loughborough, near the parish church and the Old Rectory. True, the Bellfoundry was open, but I was unable to make it to the factory.

The whole event opened in the early evening. You may be familiar with well-dressing – an occasion in many Derbyshire and Peak District villages when the wells that supplied water are adorned with handcrafted artworks, often created from natural materials like petals and seeds, or possibly with clay decorations. The events seem to run between May and September, but there seem to be several different theories as to the origin of well-dressing. Perhaps it started as a pagan celebration to thank the gods for the supply of water; or perhaps it originated around the time of the Black Death (c.1348), when people were very thankful for a clean water supply; or perhaps people were celebrating their constant water supply following a long period of drought (c.1615). Whatever the reason, well-dressing is now well-established, and draws many visitors to the area. 

So, imagine my surprise when I turned up at the opening of our second Bell Festival to be greeted by a “bell-dressing” event! I'm supposing that this originated as a way of celebrating Loughborough's industrial heritage of bellfounding (and, of course, our current bellfounders) and our cultural, artistic and crafting heritage. 

For the bell-dressing, lengths of cloth had been prepared and cut into long strips, and people were invited to ‘dress’ the willow bell that currently sits in the grounds of the Old Rectory. The bell was created for last year’s festival by local artist Nita Rao, and some of her other work can be seen permanently (in as much as untreated willow sculptures can be permanent!) in the Rectory Wildlife Garden, and during the summer period at various local woodlands, like The Outwoods, or Beacon Hill Park. The ‘dressing’ of the bell entailed weaving the strips of cloth through the stems of the willow, which, by the time it had been completed, looked rather effective!

The dressed bell in the grounds of the Old Rectory

The following morning I popped along to the Old Rectory, where they were giving a tour of the building and grounds to visitors, before moving over to the parish church where Taylors Bellfounders had set up a mobile ringing tower outside the church. This was really popular, and lots of people were keen to have a go at bellringing!! Meanwhile, inside the church a group of bellringers performed some music on handbells – quite fascinating to watch, and a lovely sound to hear!

There were a few other things going on in the Charnwood Arts building, but unfortunately I was rather limited for time, so only managed to get in and briefly see the bell-related exhibitions. I couldn’t miss the decorated railings along Rectory Place though!

Here’s hoping I can make it to next year’s Bell Festival!

____________________________________

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). Wells or bells?. Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/10/wells-or-bells.html  [Accessed 29 October 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

Loughborough's Heritage Open Days Success

I'm sure you're all aware that the past couple of weeks have been Heritage Open Days, a time that sees many heritage buildings that aren't usually open, allowing the public access. Or, sites that normally make a charge. throwing open their buildings for free, or putting on something special for the Open Days.

This year, some Loughborough venues got together to offer a greater contribution to Heritage Open Days than has happened in previous years. Loughborough's Heritage Open Weekend took place last weekend, and many buildings, groups, and organisations took part, offering free art sessions, free roadshows, free guided walks, free demonstrations, or free access to archive material.

On Saturday morning, I was lucky enough to be able to do a quick tour of some of the town centre offerings, and it was lovely to see lots of pink bunting around! Sorry I didn't get as far as the GCR, the Bellfoundry, or the Grammar School. 

On Saturday afternoon I went on a guided walk related to Zeppelins, and on Sunday, I spent a very sunny morning walking a group of people around some of Loughborough's Art Deco heritage, and a very wet afternoon showcasing some of our heritage sites!

Thank you so much to everyone who was involved in providing such a variety of places to visit!

Here's some very quickly-taken photos from the weekend.

____________________________________

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). Loughborough's Heritage Open Days Success. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/09/loughboroughs-heritage-open-days-success.html [Accessed 22 September 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