Lynne About Loughborough: White Swan

Showing posts with label White Swan. Show all posts

Monday, 22 April 2024

S is for Swan

Talking to someone the other day, they wondered why there were a lot of swans in Melton Mowbray. I must admit, I wasn’t sure if they were talking about real, live swans, or some other kind of swan, but whichever it was, it got me to thinking about swans in Loughborough!

A couple of really obvious ones, are the real ones that can be seen on the canal, or down at Charnwood Water, or the little pond adjacent to the Tuckers clay pit off Forest Road, called Swan Lake.

Then there’s the swans that give their name to something. So, Swanns Funeral Services on Bridge Street was established in 1892. Then, we’ve got Swan Street, which joins High Street and runs towards Derby Road, via The Rushes. On one of the maps I’ve seen, The Rushes was identified as being called West Street. I can only assume that these street names came from the knowledge that the area was frequently flooded?

Of course, along The Rushes, we also have a pub called the Swan-in-The-Rushes, but it hasn’t always been called this. Previously the pub was known as the Charnwood Forest Railway Inn, then became the Charnwood Inn when the old building was demolished and the new one built in 1931-2. It wasn’t until 1986 that the name changed again, to the Swan-in-The-Rushes.

But this wasn’t the first pub in Loughborough to have the word Swan in its name. In 1831, there appears to have been a new building with a yard built on Wellington Street, which was being used as a public house called the White Swan, and had been recently occupied by George Slater. This advert appeared in the Leicester Journal and Midlands County Advertiser of 10th June 1831. This new building must have replaced an older building which was also used as a pub, but called the Black Swan. Apparently, the White Swan closed in 1959.

On my recent travels, I have seen both White Swan and a Black Swan in Melton Mowbray, and the Three Swans at Market Harborough, all of which had lovely 3D signs!

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This is one of a series of posts in the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Copyright:

Dyer, Lynne (2024). S is for Swan. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/s-is-for-swan.html [Accessed 22 April 2024]

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Sunday, 4 November 2018

Pubs and a bit of art!

While I was away in Wales a couple of weeks ago, I kept seeing pubs that reminded me of Loughborough, and in one town there was even a pub called the Robin Hood - which seemed a long way from where I'd have expected to find it!

A couple of weeks ago I went along to a writing session at the Three Nuns as part of the Hidden Voices project. It was great fun listening to other people's stories of how they came to be living in Loughborough, and it was great to see all the results of this project on display in the Old Rectory over the last couple of weekends. Sessions weren't just held in the pub though - there were other meetings of other groups of folk in different places, which made for a varied ad interesting display. You can read more about the events that have taken place at the Old Rectory on their blog. See pics at the end, too.

We were recently discussing different pub venues for such writing events, and someone suggested the Orange Tree. Funnily enough, I've just read today that the Orange Tree and Kelso have been sold to the Charles Wells Brewery. Let's hope they continue to be successful in welcoming both townsfolk and students.

I've also popped across to Woodhouse Eaves for the annual exhibition of the Woodhouse Eaves art group. This was a lovely event with so many beautiful paintings on display, from a range of very talented artists. While I was there I noticed an advert for another art event, this time in what I still call St Peter's Community Centre, which I believe is now Rosebery Community Centre, so I dropped in there too. Again, lots of talented artists showing a wide variety of art!

This last Friday I visited the Local Studies area of the public library, where it was really, really busy! This was the last day the area would be open to the public, as the library is now closed until the beginning of January while they install SMART access. When it does re-open, the display in the Local Studies area will feature the life and work of the architect William Railton.

Pubs spotted on holiday