Lynne About Loughborough: Tickle Belly Park

Showing posts with label Tickle Belly Park. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 April 2024

B is for Brooks

Just recently I've found myself discussing Loughborough's brooks with a few different friends. We have very many brooks in Loughborough; you could probably say we were awash with them (except that the Wash is in East Anglia, I think!). The brooks and their tributaries are one, among many of the reasons Loughborough is prone to flooding.

These are some of the brooks in Loughborough, or on the edge of Loughborough:

The Black Brook; this is the biggest of Loughborough’s brooks, and it flows from nearby Shepshed into the River Soar. It was built to feed the Charnwood Forest Canal in 1796, and a dam made from earthwork was created, but failed in 1799. The brook was later dammed successfully in 1906. The brook passes along by Morrisons, and through the Garendon Estate.

Black Brook Reservoir

The Burleigh Brook; this runs along Ashby Road, besides the site of the university, and some arms of the brook actually run through the campus. There was once a pond approximately where Cotswold Close is now, which was known as Burleigh Brook Park, or Tickle Belly Park. The brook passes under the Ashby Road and Garendon Road, and then runs alongside Alan Moss Road, and joins the Wood Brook close to the fire station and Loughborough hospital at the end of Epinal Way. Together the Burleigh Brook and the Wood Brook pass under the canal, right across to close to Bishop Meadow Lock, where they meet the Summerpool Brook, before then joining the River Soar, which itself then joins the canal.

The Grammar School Brook; this brook is relatively short and runs parallel with Shelthorpe Road, crosses under the Leicester Road, under and around the area around Tuckers Road, and then under the canal, close to the Peter Le Marchant moorings, to join the Hermitage Brook.

The Hermitage Brook; this is joined by the Grammar School Brook, and together they join the River Soar, where it runs parallel to Stanford Lane.

The Summerpool Brook; this appears to start at the Meadows, close to the Adey Steel factory, and is joined by the Wood Brook, and together they flow into the River Soar, before they all join the canal.

The Willow Brook; the route of the Willow Brook is very much harder to find! It is around and on the opposite side of the derby Road, where the Willow Brook Retail Park is now, and where the Willow Brook Coach Works was previously. I’ve written a bit more about this in ‘A-Z of Loughborough’, published in 2021.

The Wood Brook; this brook is probably the best known in Loughborough and joins with another brook around the bottom of Valley Road, then runs parallel to Forest Road, alongside the Home Farm sports field, across Outwoods Drive, through the Forest Green Belt, down the middle of Forest Road, skirts the leisure centre, passes the Queen’s Park entrance gates at New Street, crosses under Granby Street, then under Market Street, alongside Brookside, under The Rushes, alongside the canal, then under Jubilee Drive, and out towards the River Soar, close to Bishop Meadow lock, where it is joined by the Summerpool Brook!

As brooks in Loughborough are so important, there have been a number of streets named to reflect our brooks. These include:

Beck Crescent

Brook Lane

Brookside

Brookside Road

Summerpool Road

Woodbrook Road

Woodbrook Way (footpath)

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This post is part of a series in the 2024 ‘Blogging from A to Z April Challenge’.

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). B is for Brooks. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/b-is-for-brooks.html [Accessed 2 April 2024]

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Sunday, 7 January 2018

Walking the university

When I first arrived in Loughborough all those years ago, it was to attend an interview at the university for a place on a course. Arriving by train was an experience: all that derelict land between Burder Street and the railway station, and the long, long walk up Nottingham Road and on to the university campus.

Although I continued to live in Loughborough after graduating, I never went back onto campus, but read in the local paper, and heard about many of the changes happening on the campus as the university grew in size and reputation. However, more recently I have started to visit the campus, initially to attend meetings of the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society (ironically, who now meet at Knightthorpe Methodist Church), and then to attend my daughter's postgraduate award ceremony.

Hunting around on the internet, and talking to a friend, led me to a series of walk leaflets that the university produced (written, I believe, by my friend) to encourage folk to discover the campus and its buildings. Although there is no public right of way across the campus, the university is used by many local people taking a stroll, and including school children as a shortcut, so how nice to be able to do this and learn something about the university at the same time.

I recently had occasion to visit the Brockington Building as this is where my daughter is based whilst she furthers her studies. When I was a student, I didn't use Brockington, but we also walked through Schofield, and that brought back loads of memories of my interview, and the old library journals reserve stack that used to be there.

Today, a beautifully sunny day, my youngest and I took one of the walk leaflets onto campus and had an interesting and informative time following it. We chose Walk Five: The Village Walk, which took us past the Pilkington Library (which was where I was taught in my final year as a student, and which was named after one of the Chairmen of Pilkington Glass, whose factory in New Inn I remember very well, as it was on our route from our home to my grandparents, was close to where my father worked, and even closer to where my cousin lived - knocked down and now a housing development).

We also saw the Elvyn Richards halls, which was where I spent my interview night, and where my best friend at uni lived, along with Cayley, Royce, Rutherford, Telford, Faraday and Whitworth, which were started to be built around 1959. These halls have been joined by some newer ones - Robert Bakewell, John Phillips and the new Hazlerigg and Rutland halls.

So pleased to see that the Purple Onion shop is still there, but looks a lot bigger than I remember it!! Along Margaret Keay Road, we also spotted the Medical Centre where I spent a week in my second year. From here we glanced over towards Ashby Road where they appear to be doing some work; across the football pitch to the Hazlegrave Building, and up the road to the back of the old library and the EHB.

Taking University Road, we immediately turned and walked towards the old gardener's cottage and the Garden of Remembrance, before walking back to where we started at the Pilkington Library.

Here's some links to the walk leaflets, so you can have a go yourself:

Walk One: The Fountain Walk

Walk Two: The Towers Walk

Walk Three: The Walled Garden Walk

Walk Four: Paddock Walk

Walk Five: The Village Walk

Walk Six: The Holywell Walk

Walk Seven: The Olympic Torch Walk

And here are some photos from our lovely walk: