Showing posts with label The Grove. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Grove. Show all posts

Sunday, 22 October 2023

Spotlight on Ashby Road 2023 Odd Numbers

Back in August 2013, I took a trip down Ashby Road, photographing the beautiful houses, some of the architectural detail, and the area in general. I also briefly looked into the history of some of the houses, and who had lived in them. This led to a blog post in October 2013, which has been one of the most popular ones to have appeared on the blog.

In August 2023, I replicated my trip down Ashby Road. Of course, this wasn’t my only visit since 2013, as I regularly walk down Ashby Road, and spent a lot of time doing this during the lockdown of 2020. Anyway, on that August 2023 trip, I photographed the beautiful houses, some of the architectural detail, and the area in general!!! In the earlier post, I did share some views of the shops, too, but I shan't do that this time, but will perhaps put them into a separate post - such a lot of changes in 10 years!!

Anyway, here's what I saw in August 2023, and I’ll try and show you a photo from 2013 next to one from 2023, so you can see what has changed!

In 2013 I mentioned the gate piers of the Laurels, no.99, so here's a picture from 2023

No.101 is named Holly Hurst, although this is almost indecipherable from the gate piers

The front garden of the property next to the sports physiotherapist has been completely cleared, and no longer appears to be offices 
Looking along from about 105 to 101


View from 2023 showing nos.101 along to at least 107


View showing the Victorian 115 with its much newer neighbours in 2023





Row showing nos.121 (top window only), 119, 117, and 115 in 2023. In 2013 no.121 was the New Life Guest House, but is now a residential property in 2023


View showing the former Kingscliffe day nursery (left) and a pair of semis, 2023

Detail of that pair of semis from 2013

No change in the detail from that pair of semis pictured above in 2023


Another detached Victorian property, no.129, in 2023

Another point of interest is that I hadn't realised before that if I stood in front of this house I could see the bell on St Peter's church, made by the local bellfoundry


What I didn't notice before on this house was the lovely little round window with its beautiful terracotta decoration, 2023. 

Detail from the gate pier of the house pictured directly above, 2023

Ash Hurst in 2013



Ash Hurst with its lovely turret in 2023

The side of the end terrace, from Cumberland Road, 2013

The side of the end terrace, from Cumberland Road, 2023

The whole row of Victorian terraced properties in 2013



The whole row of grand Victorian terraces 2023


Large detached residence 2023

Large detached residence 2023

The Grove in 2013

The Grove in 2023 (see also a blog article about letterboxes!)


Beyond the Grove, towards the Epinal Way roundabout


Towards the roundabout

Towards the roundabout


The end of the section of Ashby Road that runs towards the Epinal Way roundabout from town

Bastard Gates entrance to the University in 2013


Bastard Gates entrance to the University in 2023


Field House (subject of its own blogpost) 2013


Field House 2023 - the only difference I spotted was the external lighting fixed to the terracotta banding on the left


Field House 2023, view from the roundabout

Part of William Morris halls 2013

Part of William Morris halls 2013

Somerton, one of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

View of some of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

Side view of Clavering, part of William Morris halls 2023

Long view of some of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

Clavering, one of the buildings of William Morris halls 2023

Although there haven't been many changes along this odd-numbered side of the road, I hope you enjoyed walking along Ashby Road with me!

Next time we'll have a look at the even-numbered properties on Ashby Road, where more changes are evident! Following that, we'll look at some of the shops!

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog.

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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 (2023). Spotlight on Ashby Road 2023: Odd Numbers. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/10/spotlight-on-ashby-road-2023-odd-numbers.html [Accessed 22 October 2023]

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Sunday, 16 October 2022

Loughborough's letterboxes, Pt 3

Over the past two weeks, we've been looking at some interesting pillar boxes in Loughborough, firstly a rare anonymous box, followed by a couple of pillar boxes bearing the VR cipher. This week, let's stick with pillar boxes, and have a quick tour around those with the EVIIR cipher, the GR cipher, and the GVIR cipher. 

Sadly, we don't have any EVIIIR boxes in Loughborough, but we do have at least a couple of EVIIR boxes. Out on Ashby Road, close to its junction with Epinal Way, the EVIIR box stands proud outside the university's Harry French halls of residence, in the grounds of The Grove, on the left-hand side of the road as you come into town from the roundabout. It's actually This box dates from between 1901, when Edward VII became king on the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, and 1910, when he himself died, and was made by McDowell, Steven & Co.. 

EVIIR outside The Grove, 2016 

A close-up of the EVIIR cipher, 2013

The other EVIIR box is on Empress Road, located outside the corner shop at its junction with Judges Street. Again, we can date this box to 1901-1910, and it was also made by the firm of McDowell, Steven & Co.. The houses adjoining the shop were built in 1900, and those a couple of doors down have a distinct Edwardian look about them. A number of houses the opposite direction, closer to where there is a wall bearing shrapnel marks from the Zeppelin bomb attack of 1916, were built in 1903ish. It would seem that as the area grew, so did the need for a post box. This is the corner shop that Josiah Gilbert, who was killed by the Zeppelin bomb, ran. 


Empress Road EVIIR box, 2022

Close-up of the EVIIR cipher, 2022

Empress Road box outside the corner shop, 2022

Upon the death of Edward VII, in May 1910, George V became king, and reigned until his own death in January 1936. As you'd expect, we have more George V pillar boxes than those with ciphers of the earlier monarchs, and these are distinguishable from those of George VI's time, as George V's cipher is simply GR. Pillar boxes placed in Loughborough between 1910 and 1936 can be found on Forest Road, outside the shop; Knightthorpe Road, just after and opposite Dean Street; Leicester Road, at its junction with Factory Street; Old Ashby Road, at its junction with Windleden Road close to the shop; about halfway along Outwoods Drive; Cordell Road, off Braddon Road, and on Shelthorpe Road, at its junction with Woodthorpe Road. All these boxes were made by the Carron company.

The box on Forest Road outside the shop is interesting as it at one time had a directional arrow on its cap, but now no longer does.

Forest Road GR, with missing directional arrow, 2022

Close-up of the GR cipher, Forest Road, 2022

Maker's mark on the bottom of the pillar box, Forest Road, 2022

This is also true of the pillar box on Leicester Road which is situated outside a barber's shop, but which used to be a post office.

Leicester Road GR pillar box, 2022

GR box, Leicester Road, showing missing directional arrow, 2022

The GR pillar box on Cordell Road is a little puzzling as it sits in amongst a housing estate that was created in the 1970-1980s, and until the mid-twentieth century, the area of Thorpe Acre only had about 20 or so houses. I'm guessing this box was here before the newer estate was built.

GR box on Cordell Road, 2022

GR box on Cordell Road, 2022

Sadly, as I said above, I haven't found any pillar boxes in Loughborough bearing the EVIIIR cipher, and not many GVIR boxes either. The latter, dating between 1936 and 1952, appear on Beacon Road, opposite the junction to Herrick Road; Nottingham Road outside the former Towles factory, now SOFA, and close to Clarence Street, and on the corner of Broad Street, close to its junction with Ashby Road. The latter was positioned next to the post office, which is now an Oriental supermarket, before moving to the opposite side of the road, and now Ashby Road being without a post office. As far as I can tell, all the GVIR boxes in Loughborough were made by the Carron company.  

GVIR box on Broad Street, 2022

Close-up of the George VI cipher, Broad Street, 2022

A clear maker's mark on GVIR box on Broad Street, 2022

____________________________________

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

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

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Loughborough's letterboxes Part 3. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/10/loughboroughs-letterboxes-pt-3.html [Accessed 16 October 2022]

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.

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.  
 
Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne