Devonshire Square Mural 2022

Back in December 2014, what I refer to as the Devonshire Square Mural was unveiled. This artwork was produced by Silent Hobo (Wei Ong) who describes himself as an experienced professional illustrator and mural artist, who specialises in digital artwork, and spray-painted graffiti. I had attended a consultation session earlier in 2014, at the Charnwood Museum, where ideas for what the mural might illustrate were discussed, and some of the history of the town was shared with the artist.

Silent Hobo took the ideas and the history and blended them together to make a 50-meter mural to cover the concrete walls of what had been a multi-storey car park, but which had been partially demolished, leaving only the ground floor, Granby Street car park.

In my first book, 'Loughborough in 50 Buildings' I wrote about the car park and the mural:

"49 Devonshire Square Mural, 2014

On Tuesday 26th January 1965, Councillor G. J. Humphrey, Mayor of the Borough of Loughborough, officially opened a two-storey carpark on Granby Street, in the presence of Aldermen and former Mayors, William P. Stagg, L. W. Hull, and George G. Allen, and Councillor Mrs M. Bradley. Ald. Stagg pleaded with motorists to make use of the new car park, instead of ‘cluttering up the streets’.

The new car park was originally intended to be four-storeys, but at the time of opening it was a two-deck construction, although sufficiently load-bearing to take the two extra levels that had been planned. The entrance was on Granby Street, but the length of the structure faced onto Devonshire Square, and the ground level was populated by shops.

What the car park had replaced was Clarke’s Dye Works, a long-established family firm which was liquidated in 1959, and the building demolished not long after.

The car park lasted for many years, until about 2012 when the upper levels were removed, and the ground level rear parking area spruced up. Following the town’s acceptance as a second-wave Mary Portas Pilot town, a plan for revitalising the Devonshire Square area was suggested, and Wei Ong, who calls himself Silent Hobo, was chosen from a group of twenty artists, to create an exciting mural to cover the railings that remained above the shops. Wei Ong had created much artwork for other towns, and after consultation with local residents, he planned his Loughborough mural to showcase some of town’s heritage, its seasonal events and its local people."

My photos of the mural in December 2014:

On his webpages, Silent Hobo provides a bit of background to the mural, and some stills of the actual work, as well as a couple of videos, one of which shows himself at work on a complementary project, painting Lady Jane Grey, in Loughborough market place. This portrait was hung on the entrance to Market Yard, on the wall of the shoe shop (but wasn't there the last time I looked, a couple of months ago).

During the pandemic, work was undertaken on the improvement of the area of Ward's End and Devonshire Square, which saw, amongst other things, some new heritage plaques inlaid into the new flooring around Devonshire Square. 

Sadly, however, the passage of time has not been kind to the mural, and its bright, vibrant colours have faded somewhat down the years. Some of the panels have started to come away from the concrete setting, and some panels have been lost altogether.

 

However, it has been announced that under the Charnwood borough Council's 'Future Charnwood Investment Plan', proposal number 5 is to cover the concrete wall above the shops in Devonshire Square with a living wall. Apparently, living walls are more than just a green facade (which might simply be ivy-clad walls), and involve vertical-growing plants, grown from containers in either soil, or using hydroponics, and supported by a frame. 

As far as I can tell, however, this proposal is one of several, and funding for it has yet to be approved. In the event that it is approved, it will be interesting to see this living wall.   

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Old Bleach Yard

Today I was lucky enough to be able to attend the opening up of the Old Bleach Yard!

If you know Loughborough, you are probably familiar with Angel Yard in Market Place, as being the original home of Wills and Hepworth, the publishers of Ladybird books, or maybe The George Yard, at one time home to James' Vaults. Yards like this, as well as courts, were very common in the Loughborough of old, but have changed over the years as new developments have replaced them.

The Old Bleach Yard is the path leading down by the side of the vacuum cleaner shop and The Moon and Bell (or Atherstone House) in Ward's End. For many years I used to buy my birthday cards in the pine shop that used to be on the left towards the bottom, but of late I have had little reason to go down there. The yard ends with a wall, and some concrete garages, with the old Clarke's dyeworks to the right. 

Well, I say this, but now the area has been transformed, the garages and wall knocked down and the pathway opened up into the Granby Street car park, with the aim of making it easier for folk who've parked there to come directly to the wonderful Ward's End, Devonshire Square, Bedford Square shopping area.

There is so much history associated with this area, I don't know what to highlight!! Obviously, Clarkes Dyeworks has played a very important part here, and I blogged quite some time ago about the Clarke family, and about some of the places, like The Gables, Park Street and Park Road where members of the family lived. The Woodbrook which runs through Queen's Park and across Granby Street was also important to the dyeing and bleaching industry. As you can probably tell from the name of this yard, there was also a bleach works, that went hand-in-hand with the dyeworks.

The cattle market used to take place near the opening of the Old Bleach Yard onto Ward's End, before it moved into what is now the Granby Street car park, evidence of which is still there in the form of the ring of stones near the entrance. Also, somewhere in the vicinity was the Drill Hall where the TAs used to meet (don't quote me on that: it might not have been the TA!!)

Just up the road from the entrance to the yard is The Orange Tree pub, previously the Wheatsheaf, and behind this a yard where Henry Moore (the spa ornament maker, not the sculptor!!) lived and worked on fashioning alabaster ornaments (I blogged about this a while ago, too!)

Just down the road from the yard is Devonshire Square, an area that has recently been rejuvenated with a colourful mural depicting local scenes, and created by Silent Hobo (subject of an earlier blogpost).

Whilst I was in town, I looked around Ward's End and took note of the many new shops that have opened in the area, like the Deli at 58, a new coffee shop, and a relatively new florists. Standing cheek by jowl with old-established businesses like George Hill's and Kent Stevenson, I'm sure this new link between the car park and Ward's End will encourage more shoppers to visit the area.

To end, here's some photos of today's event.

  

   

Devonshire Square

This week sees the unveiling of the mural by Wei Ong, in Devonshire Square. Wei Ong, who is probably better known by the moniker Silent Hobo, was chosen from a number of different artists, to produce a mural to liven up Devonshire, above the shops where the car park used to be!

He has been working on this for a few months, and some of his work was on display in the town for a little while, including his interpretation of Lady Jane Grey. Members of the public were quizzed in the town centre about what they would like to see appear on the mural, there was a public meeting in Charnwood Museum café, and many other opportunities for people to have their say.

Although the unveiling is on Sunday 6 December, 2014, the mural is already up and brightening up the area. My pics don't do it justice, and I really can't remember the order of the panels, but, if you can't get down to see it, perhaps this will give you an idea of what it looks like. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that these pics were taken on market day, and you might spot the new brightly coloured market stalls. And, if you have moved away from town, it might help you to place Devonshire Square if you remember that some of the shops in this area in the 1980s like Tesco, the Lotus House Chinese Restaurant and the Motorists' Discount Centre!

So far on the mural I've spotted Taylor's Bellfoundry, The Carillon, Ladybird Books, the fair, the library, the Charnwood fox, the markets, the "parish church", Towers (possibly!), a steam train, a canal boat, the Bastard Gates, and possibly Archdeacon Fearon, Robert Bakewell and Songster.