Your favourite posts!

So, I can hardly believe that the blog has been going for 3 years now! When I first started it on August 4th 2014 it was in response to a real concern that some people had a very dim view of Loughborough, and I wanted, not to change their view, but at least to tell the story of our town in a different way, through its people, its buildings, its history, and through its current day life. I hope, if you've been following me all this time, I've informed you, amused you and left you wanting to know more. If you've only just found the blog, do go and have a look at some of the older posts, accessible via the archive of posts, or the labels listed on the left-hand side. 

As is now usual at this time, I like to review the past year, and have a look and see which posts you've looked at the most. So, first these are the posts from this year with the most views - with links so you can click and go directly to the if you wish:

* 10th most popular post: From the rooftops, part 1 with 1363 views

* 9th most popular post: Loughborough in 50 shades of red with 1389 views

* 8th most popular post: Village Bands with 1429 views

* 7th most popular post: Christmas trees with 1435 views

* 6th most popular post: Loughborough, Ladybird and book illustrators with 1439 views

* 5th most popular post: Swithland Slate with 1452 views

* 4th most popular post: Cinema memories with 1473 views

* 3rd most popular post: From Loughborough to Melbourne and back again with 1501 views

* 2nd most popular post: Obelisks everywhere with 1540 views

* 1st most popular post: Bradgate Park with 1669 views


And, here are the most popular posts of all time:

* 10th most popular post Christmas trees with 1435 views

* 9th most popular post Loughborough, Ladybird and book illustrators with 1439 views

* 8th most popular post Swithland Slate with 1452 views

* 7th most popular post Red and green houses abandoned in favour of a picnic! with 1456 views

* 6th most popular post Cinema memories with 1473 views

* 5th most popular post From Loughborough to Melbourne and back again with 1501 views

* 4th most popular post Obelisks everywhere with 1540 views

* 3rd most popular post Spotlight on Ashby Road with 1620 views

* 2nd most popular post Bradgate Park with 1669 views

* 1st most popular post Ghost signs of Loughborough with 2327 views

As well as the regular (well, as regular as I can make it!) Sunday evening posts, I've also added a few pages that are fairly static. In order of popularity these are:

* 10th most popular page Photo gallery with 70 views

* 9th most popular page Exhibitions at Loughborough Local Studies Library with 146 views

* 8th most popular page Musical and creative Loughborough with 283 views

* 7th most popular page #100daysaboutloughborough with 373 views

* 6th most popular page Bibliography with 1008 views

* 5th most popular page What's on with 1009 views

* 4th most popular page Loughborough Zeppelin trail with 1049 views

* 3rd most popular page Books about Loughborough with 1142 views

* 2nd most popular page Loughborough, Luddites and lace trail with 1255 views

* 1st most popular page Loughborough sculpture, art and architecture trail with 1312 views


For the coming year, I have some plans to re-vamp the site, and add some new things, as well as pruning out some of the pages and some of the information on the pages. Hopefully, this won't put you off reading! If there's anything you ever want me to investigate, do please leave a comment below (I know, it's not as easy as it should be) alternatively send me an email at the address on the About Me page (following the instructions about substitutions!).

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). Your favourite posts. Available from: html https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/08/your-favourite-posts.html [Accessed 6 August 2017]

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 

Great Central Railway Mountsorrel branch

I might have mentioned, quite some time ago, a visit I made to the Mountsorrel and Rothley Heritage Centre? This is a relatively new venture that includes a cafe, two rooms of information boards and exhibition cabinets, a nature walk and a train!

Well, on a lovely sunny Good Friday 2017, hubby and I visited again, on one of our long walks, this time from Quorn GCR station, to Swithland Reservoir, down to Mountsorrel and then back to Quorn. We had two tea stops on the walk, the second was at Stonehurst Farm in Mountsorrel, but the first was at the Heritage Centre.

Hubby hadn't been before, so, after having a cup of tea, we spent quite some time reading the information boards in the Heritage Centre (1), before going on the lovely nature walk. The approach to the nature walk was actually across the railway track, and pausing before crossing there was a lovely old bridge to the left of us in the direction of the reconstructed Mountsorrel station, and to the right a set of levers for changing the points, beautifully painted.

Whilst we were down near the tracks, we saw a building, and set off to investigate. Popping inside, I was aware of a strong smell of paint, but that didn't put me off looking at the fascinating information boards, which were related mostly to the railway and quarry. Quietly minding our own business, and deep in concentration, we were startled by a voice asking us if we were ok! 

Turning, we saw a man in a high-vis jacket coming towards us. We got into conversation, and were surprised to learn that this was the first time this particular building had been open! In the larger building next to this one - also its first day of opening - there were a couple of trains, and outside were a couple of interesting, eco-friendly toilets!!

We were told that there were regular weekends when the train runs, and that eventually it is hoped to link up with the Great Central Railway. Originally, the Mountsorrel branch line was an industrial line, serving the Nunckley Quarry and Swithland, and linked up with the GCR at one point and the Midland mainline at another. 

The whole complex was quite fascinating, and it was interesting to hear that the buildings were originally positioned elsewhere, and were rebuilt on site, thus preserving them for posterity. So, for example, Granite's, the teashop, was once the "time office" for the old Mountsorrel quarry.

We felt really quite pleased that we had managed to inadvertently turn up on the first day of opening of some of these exhibits, and plan to pop back later in the year when the plans for further buildings on the site will come to fruition. 

Here's some pictures from our visit:

The new exhibition area

New exhibition area straight ahead and to the left

Inside the larger exhibition area

Inside the larger exhibition area

A mega digger

Nunckley Hill station

The tracks

A view from the nature trail to the track

In the nature trail

Picnic area in the nature trail

Changing the points

The bridge

The Mountsorrel station

(1) Each board had a very helpful QR code in the corner, which when input to a smartphone delivered an audio version of the board. Here's an example of the one on Saxon Britain. 

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). Great Central Railway Mountsorrel branch. Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/04/great-central-railway-mountsorrel-branch.html [Accessed 14 April 2017]

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 

Swithland slate

I've been wanting to tell you about Swithland slate for a very long time: it's been on my "to do" list almost since I started my training as a Leicestershire Tour guide in 2012, and since I started this blog way back in 2013, but it's one of those that I so wanted to do lots of research on and give you lots and lots of interesting snippets of information. Sadly, time rarely seems to be on my side, so here's a brief post which has been prompted by a talk on Swithland slate headstones, and the publication of a recent website on the same. But first, roofs!!

Swithland slate was quarried around Swithland, Woodhouse Eaves and Groby, and there were a number of quarries on land that belonged to the Martin family, who lived at The Brand in Woodhouse Eaves. In an article published in 1944, Albert Herbert (1) wrote that there were millions of roofing slates produced at these quarries in the preceding three centuries (although a certain online encyclopedia suggests the popularity of these roofing slates began as late as 1750 (2)). As was common in days of yore, building materials used in the area were usually locally made products, like bricks, made by Tuckers, or Hathern Station Brick Company, or were made of materials that were mined or quarried locally (like Swithland slate and Mountsorrel granite), partly because it was a good deal cheaper and easier to transport things only a short distance. 

A Swithland slate roof is quite distinctive. Unlike Welsh slate, Swithland slate is not easy to split, and in fact, blocks of slate were sawn with a hand saw, and smoothed with a mix of sand and water, so the slates are very thick and look quite rough. Also, whilst Welsh roofing slates are a uniform size on each roof (although different roofs have different sized slates (with differing names, like Duchess, Countess, Queen etc.)), Swithland slate roofs are distinctive because each row of slates is a different size from the others, so you get small tiles laid nearest the ridge, gradually getting bigger in size, until the largest row, at the base of the roof.

I'll show you some examples of Swithland slate roofs at various places, so you can see how distinctive they really are:

Outbuildings at Stoneywell Cottage

Outbuilding in the grounds of Stoneywell Cottage

Part of the roof of Stoneywell Cottage

Another part of the roof of Stoneywell Cottage

A Swithland slate roof at Ulverscroft Grange

Building at the University of Leicester Botanical gardens

Building at the University of Leicester Botanical gardens

Building at the University of Leicester Botanical gardens

Building at the University of Leicester Botanical gardens

The example from Ulverscroft above is quite fascinating, because the roof is at head height when approached from the road, so it's possible to get a really good look, and if you're tall enough it's possible to touch the tiles. 

There are many, many buildings in Loughborough town centre which have Swithland slate roofs. Here are just a few examples:

Lowe's shop on Church Gate

Caravelli's Italian restaurant on Sparrow Hill

The other part of Lowe's on Church Gate

12 Degrees West, formerly the Mundy Arms

Next time you're in town, have a look at the roofs and see which others you can spot. 

Apart from roofs, Swithland slate is also used for a whole variety of other things, like plinths, window sills, milestones, gateposts, animal troughs and many more things. Here are a few examples from Stoneywell:

Swithaland slate door frame (inscribed with G 1899)

Siwthland slate coat hanger inside Stoneywell Cottage

I have a feeling some of the fireplaces and window sills in Stoneywell were also made of Swithland slate, but my photographs are not clear enough for me to be sure.

My internet connection is not playing ball today and it keeps switching off, so I am going to post about the use of Swithland slate for gravestones another time. In the meantime, here's a photograph of some from our very own parish churchyard (All Saints with Holy Trinity) to keep you going:

Swithland slate gravestones in the churchyard of All Saints with Holy Trinity

I'll let you know when the post about Swithland slate gravestones is ready, so do pop back again!

PS I have now blogged about Swithland slate gravestones, although there will be a further post concentrating on photographs. 

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follow:

Dyer, Lynne (2016). Swithland slate. [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2016/12/swithland-slate.html [Accessed 11 December 2016]

References:
(1) Herbert, Albert (1944). Swithland slate headstones. Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society, Vol. XXII, Part III, 1943-44
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swithland_Wood