Lynne About Loughborough: Richard III

Showing posts with label Richard III. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 October 2019

Loughborough is the best town in the world!

A couple of weeks ago I was very kindly sent a couple of newspapers which featured Loughborough.

The first of these was the Sunday Times Good University Guide which was published on

Towers never changes!

22nd September 2019. How wonderful it is to note that our very own university has again achieved 5th position in these tables. Not only that, it has been voted University of the Year again for a second time. And, as if that weren't enough, students rate their experience highly, making it third of all the universities.

Engineering is one of the strengths of the university, but it's perhaps best known for sport, so it comes as no surprise that Loughborough University won the British Universities & Colleges Sport championship this year. In another measure of university success, Loughborough gained a Gold for the quality of its teaching in the Teaching Excellence Framework.

The alphabetical listing of universities is peppered throughout with interesting statistics and short articles, including a spotlight on some particularly good 'student cities'. So, we can either be glad or a bit regretful that Leicester is recommended as a great student city - for students at Leicester and Loughborough. The article mentions the large number of festivals that are held in Leicester (like Diwali and the Caribbean Festival), explains that the remains of Richard III are now in Leicester Cathedral, and that live music is to be found everywhere. This particular article is accompanied by a picture by Eleanor Walker entitled 'Echoes', which focuses on Loughborough's Sockman, the Carillon, and Towers.

So, the other article was also from the Sunday Times and discussed towns where folk might want to live if they want to remain connected, but at the same time calm! Apparently, 57% of people stress that access to broadband is a key factor in their search for a home, and other things like being able to walk to work, being able to retain a modicum of privacy, having shops and amenities close by, as well as great public transport are also important.

London Marylebone anyone?

Some of the ideal places people may want to live identified by the author of the article include Banbury, Linlithgow, Malton, Penrith, Sevenoaks and Totnes. Oh, and Loughborough! Of all the towns listed, the average house price in Loughborough is the lowest. It's a 90-minute train ride to London; Leicester, Derby and Nottingham are 20-minutes away, and the countryside only a 5-minute ride away. Apparently, the town is a good place for small start-up companies too, which can only be a good thing.

I have to confess to being somewhat disappointed that we don't seem to have made it to that new daytime television house-hunting programme, Escape to the Perfect Town, which so far includes Abergavenny, Arundel, Berkhampstead, Bideford, Guildford, Knaresborough, Sevenoaks, Thirsk Tunbridge Wells and Woodbridge. Still, it's early days in the series, so there's time for us to make an appearance!

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). Loughborough is the best town in the world. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/10/loughborough-is-best-town-in-world.html [Accessed 20 October 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

Many of the things highlighted in this blog post are dealt with in more detail in 'Loughborough in 50 Buildings', e.g. the Carillon and Towers, and in 'Secret Loughborough' like the university.

Sunday, 5 March 2017

Kendal Troutbeck Scotland Carlisle and the Loughborough connection Part II

So, back to connections between Loughborough and places I've recently visited! Picking up where I left off, a few more connections with Dumfries before moving off to the Western Highland and Islands of Scotland.

The Dumfries War Memorial is a tall obelisk-type structure in the centre of the town, which is a little different from ours, a carillon sitting gracefully in the centre of the park that was created in celebration of Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1899.

War Memorial Dumfries town centre

War Memorial, Queen's Park Loughborough

Now, as you know, Leicester has fairly recently uncovered the bones of a certain King, and reconstructed the face: fittingly our King is now safely buried in the cathedral. So, Leicester has the bones of King Richard III; Dumfries has the skull of Robert the Bruce!

Skull of Robert the Bruce (reconstruction) Dumfries Museum

There are toy shops and toy shops! Loughborough's toy shop is in the former Alliance and Leicester Building Society building, but there are many buildings in Loughborough to match the toy shop in Dumfries.

The toy shop in Dumfries

Loughborough's Carnegie Library

The ironwork around Dumfries reminded me of similar work of the Loughborough iron founder, John Jones.

Ironwork in Dumfries

The work of the John Jones iron foundry in Loughborough Cemetery

Like Loughborough, as there in many towns, there are ghost signs to be found in Dumfries.

Ghost sign in Dumfries

Ghost sign on Nottingham Road, Loughborough

Thankfully, we managed to find an Indian restaurant to dine at in Dumfries, so we felt right at home!

Indian restaurant in Dumfries

Whilst in one of the many museums associated with Robert Burns, poet, I spotted a painting of an eighteenth century man, who simply reminded me of Robert Bakewell, agriculturalist of Dishley

Unknown man in Robert Burns museum, Dumfries

Robert Bakewell mosaic at Dishley

Leaving Dumfries, we headed off to Portsonachan where we were greeted by a herd of deer!

Ornamental deer at the Portsonachan Hotel

Deer at Bradgate Park, January 2017

Oban was an interesting place: we went for a walk up Pulpit Hill and then walked back along the road adjacent to the Irish Sea. After a wonderful seafood lunch, we walked up the other side of Oban to McCaig's Tower, a folly in the shape of a Roman coliseum. Although rather different, it did remind me of Old John, high up on the hill at Bradgate Park.

McCaig's Tower, Oban

A rather odd view through Old John in Bradgate Park

It was lovely to see a water fountain in Inverary, but it was a shame it was surrounded by bins!

The water fountain in Inverary

The Fearon water fountain in Market Place, Loughborough

The builders were using slate to re-roof some of the traditional buildings in Inverary and this reminded me of the gravestones that had been the subject of some of my recent blog posts.

Slate in Inverary

Swithland slate gravestone

In Loch Lomond, I was very taken with the paddle steamer - not sure I've seen anything quite like that in Loughborough! But I also spotted some kind of boiler in the boiler room on the lakeside, which reminded me of the talk that the Chair of the Swannington Heritage Trust delivered to the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society meeting a couple of weeks ago

And in Carlisle, I spotted a carriageway arch that had a date inscribed on the top: as far as I know, we have plenty of carriageway arches in Loughborough, but none with dates.

Carriageway arch in Carlisle with a date carved centre top

Plain carriageway arch on Ashby Road (to the left is now Purple Pumpkin Patch

Another carriageway arch reminded me of one on Ashby Road, because it had a carved man's head on it, although our man's head has more wild hair.

Carved male head on carriageway arch in Carlisle

Difficult to see, but lions head carved into carriageway arch on Ashby Road

I'm sure there were plenty of other connections that reminded me of Loughborough whilst I was visiting Cumbria, Scotland and the North West of England, but I'm sure you've seen enough now!!

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). Kendal, Troutbeck, Scotland, Carlisle and the Loughborough connection part II. [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/03/kendal-troutbeck-scotland-carlisle-and.html [Accessed 5 March 2017]

Thursday, 31 December 2015

Review of lynneaboutloughborough 2015

Review of 2015

2015 has, in many ways, been a momentous year for me. I’ve spent virtually the whole year working full-time, and lynneaboutloughborough has suffered a little for this. On a more personal note, daughter gained a First Class Honours degree in Mathematics from Reading, and we were all ablet o go to her Graduation Ceremony. One son successfully completed his first year at university, and the other started his first year at Queen Mary in London, in Chemistry. Mid-way through the year, my daughter and I celebrated her 21^st birthday with a visit to Ascot Races, courtesy of her older brother. During a week-long summer holiday in St Ives, we became aware of health issues and undertook to loose some weight, eat more healthily and get fitter, a state of affairs that continues to this day. In September, my wonderful partner and I got married after 21 year together.

In Loughborough, so many things have happened, it’s impossible to document them! I’m thinking along the lines of pedestrianisation of High Street, the conversion of several pubs into convenience stores, and work starting on the new cinema complex.

As for lynneaboutloughborough, blogposts have varied in quality, detail and subject matter, ranging from a pub quiz, posts about WW1, needlemaking, posts about people, events and parts of the town, and posts consisting solely of pictures.

Here’s a reminder of the most popular posts of 2015:

Most visited post: Spotlight on Ancient Loughborough 2

2^nd: Sunloch, a winning horse

3^rd: Pub Quiz

4^th: Market Place sale

5^th: Loughborough 2014 in pictures

Joint 6^th: Red about Loughborough 2

Joint 6^th: Museums

8^th: Stoneywell Cottage

9^th: Old Bleach Yard

10^th: Loughborough Remembers

The posts you viewed least in 2015 were:

Least visited post: Out and about (Hathern Band etc.)

2^nd: Needlemaking and other Loughboroughconnections

3^rd: Ascot, Stamford and Loughborough

4^th: So who was John Nichols?

5^th: Needlemaking in Loughborough

Joint 6^th: A walk in Booth Wood

Joint 6^th: WW1 memorial and church of All Saintswith Holy Trinity

8^th: Richard III and Leicester

9^th: Shakespeare in Loughborough and Macbeth

10^th: 250 years of Lloyds Bank

Of the posts that were not the most popular, nor the least popular, these are my favourites:

A society wedding: a description of the marriage of Edward William Cradock Middleton, banker, to Augusta Sophia Vavasour, daughter of the Rev, Marmaduke Vavasour, vicar of Ashby

Never far from Loughborough: description of things that reminded me of Loughborough whilst I was on holiday in Wales (like Taylors Bellfounders, the De Lisle family, and Richard III)

Walking China and Loughborough: a photographic record of my walk from Shelthorpe to the GCR, past the old Ladybird factory, along School Street, Pinfold Gate and Coronation Way, past the Cherry Tree flats, Cottons factory and home via the Baxter Gate development.

So, I do hope you all had a great break, and I wish you all a Happy New Year! Please enjoy these few photos from the Christmas tree service held at St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray, with Hathern Band.

Sunday, 25 October 2015

Never far from Loughborough!

This last week has seen me staying in South West Wales, Llanteg, to be precise. At one time I used to stay at Llanteglos every October half-term holiday, until we decided that we should investigate the whole of the Welsh coastline! We've done that now, apart from Swansea, so this year we decided to go back to Llanteglos, without the children, to celebrate the fact that we finally got married 5 weeks ago.

So, this time, we decided to visit some places that we'd been to before with the children, including Pembroke, Narberth and Llawhden castles, the National Botanical Gardens of Wales, and the towns of Pembroke, Sandersfoot and Tenby. We also visited some new places, like the Heritage Museum in Pembroke, Picton and Laugharne castles, and Lamphey Bishops' Palace. And we did some different things, like walk from Llanteg to Saundersfoot, Tenby to Saundersfoot, and from Freshwater East to Lamphey and back!

Interestingly, I learned all about flying boats and the difference between these and planes that can float, at the Pembroke Heritage Centre. I'd never heard of Sunderland boats before, but how strange to read all about them and to then go back to the holiday accommodation and find that they were being featured on the One Show!!

So, the area of South West Wales is not Richard III country, so there was much information about his adversary, Henry VII. I don't purport to be on any particular side of the Richard III argument. Being Welsh myself, one might suppose I support Henry VII. Having parents who've lived in Yorkshire for 39 years, one might suppose I support the idea that he should have been buried in Yorkshire. Having myself lived in Loughborough for 37 years, and worked in Leicester for 29, one might suppose that I support the Leicester case!

Whatever my thoughts and feelings on the matter, I was impressed to see the house in Tenby where Henry VII is reputed to have escaped to France through a tunnel, in 1471,

and equally impressed to see his birthplace in Pembroke Castle.

A couple of other Loughborough - or at least, Leicestershire - connections caught my attention whilst I was visiting Pembroke castle.

The information boards talked of Lord Hastings: was this the same family as were formerly Lords of the Manor at Loughborough?

They also talked of Simon de Montfort, a name which is very familiar to me!!

And then there was a quotation about seeing Henry VII's birthplace, from John Leland, a traveller who wrote about his journeys, which included comments about Leicester and Leicestershire, and whose words are quoted in Nichols.

In one of the rooms in the castle, there was a display about more recent wars, and it was here that I spotted the uniforms of the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry, and was reminded of our own Leicestershire Yeomanry, whose collection is in the Carillon. [Apologies for the poor quality photos].

Then there was the town hall in Laugharne: a beautiful white building with a tower and a bell which struck the hour, which reminded me of our own town hall with its bell, and of our bellfounders, Taylors.

Picton Castle has never been open when we've been past before, but this year they had extended their opening hours (as had Laugharne Castle). We went on a guided tour of the castle, and when we heard that the owners were Phillips, it did make me wonder if they were related to the De Lisles of Garendon!

Wandering around Tenby one day, we went into a bookshop, where I was very surprised to see someone from Loughborough with whom I worked in Leicester about 23 years ago!!

On our final day we visited the National Botanical Gardens of Wales, which we discovered are built on the site of Middleton Hall. I've no idea why the hall was so named, as the owner was a William Paxton, so no relation to the Middleton bankers of Loughborough!

Unfortunately, I missed all the excitement of the Loogabrooga Festival, but I hope you managed to catch some of it!

Sunday, 12 July 2015

Red about Loughborough Part 1!

These last few weeks have been hectic, so all I've managed to do is go out and about taking a few snaps about town, of all things red! Enjoy! And for more pics of red about Loughborough, check out Part 2!