Celebrating 12 years of the blog!

So, a couple of days ago saw the 12th anniversary of the beginning of this blog! In previous years, I’ve invited people to write a post related to some of Loughborough’s history, to be hosted on the blog, but this year I thought I’d write a series of posts myself, a couple before the actual anniversary day, and a couple afterwards. However, I’ve missed both the before and the on the day opportunity, and I’m only here today because I couldn’t let the occasion go by without some kind of post!

I am rather staggered that the viewing figures for the blog are now nearing one million! It had never occurred to me that my ramblings about our lovely town would ever have much longevity, and the idea that the blog has been read so many times is, well as I said, simply staggering. As I write this post, views are 988,086, and this year (August 2024 - August 2025) alone there have been over 270,000 views!

The past year has flown by, too, and I have been kept busy, not only with the blog, but with lots of volunteering activities, attending heritage events and meetings, giving presentations, and leading guided walks. Oh, and a new book coming out in late September!

I have a bit of a penchant for sharing stories of people, some well-known, others less so, but I see this year I’ve reined that in a bit and kept it down to five posts [1]! Unless you count the others, like Robert Bakewell anniversary post [2]; a couple of posts about the Coltman family and Burleigh Hall [3], and three posts about Shelthorpe House and the people who used to live there [4].

With the 100th anniversary of the exhibition in Paris that led to the naming of the Art Deco movement and the April A-Z blogging challenge coming along at the same time, I wrote 26 posts related to Art Deco, which took up almost the whole of April! A full list of these articles was posted around the beginning of May. [5]

In September 2024 I presented quite a number of posts related to the Heritage Open Days events which were taking place as part of Loughborough’s contribution to this programme. Many heritage-related places took part and were open during the final weekend of the Open Days, and overall lots of visitors came and enjoyed their visit.

The Hope Bell and the beacon in Queen's Park

I try very hard to keep up with what’s going on in our town, but have really struggled this year! I presented the customary review of buildings that had been demolished, or disappeared during the previous calendar year [6], and managed to cover things like the installation of the Hope Bell (although I was away for the opening ceremony) [7], the re-dedication of the gates of the parish church [8], the parish church Christmas Tree Festival [9], an exhibition of research into Nanpantan [10], and a celebration of 120 years of our beautiful public library [11].

Other than to keep on blogging, I have no firm plans for the blog into its thirteenth year, but I know I still have a few series to finish for you, which includes Goadby’s History of Loughborough, a whole load of Agatha Christie connections to Loughborough, and maybe some connections I discovered on a recent trip to London.

In the meantime, you might spot me out and about leading guided walks, especially during this year’s Heritage Open Days, when I will be extending beyond the weekend of 20-21 September, and walking beyond the confines of the town centre streets!

Thank you for reading the blog!    

 

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NOTES

[1] A.E. King pt 1, and A.E. King pt 2; 

Thomas Barker; William Thomas Cartwright; John Thomas Judges

[2] Robert Bakewell 

[3] Coltmans and Burleigh Hall pt 1, and pt 2

[4] Shelthorpe House the early years; the middle years, and the final years

[5] The full list of Art Deco A-Z posts

[6] Changes pt 1, and Changes pt 2, and Ones to Watch out for in 2025!

[7] Hope Bell installation

[8] Re-dedication of the parish church gates

[9] Christmas Tree Festival

[10] Nanpantan exhibition

[11] 120 years of the public library

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Copyright:

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 (2025). Celebrating 12 years of the blog! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2025/08/celebrating-12-years-of-blog.html  [Accessed 6 August 2025]

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Ernest Gimson and Andrew Carnegie

You may be wondering why I am writing a blogpost about Ernest Gimson and Andrew Carnegie, and what on earth these two people might have had in common. 

Both questions are easy enough to answer, but let's start with the latter!

Andrew Carnegie died on August 11th 1919: Ernest Gimson died on August 12th 1919. Thus, August 11-12 is the centenary of the deaths of Gimson and Carnegie, both of whom have a strong connection to our area.

As a librarian by day, and a customer of libraries for the past 55 years, the name Andrew Carnegie has been familiar to me for most of my life. However, it wasn't until I did my Leicestershire your guide training in 2012-2013, and on our exam walk one of my fellow tour guides mentioned our public library, and that he himself had been awarded a Carnegie Scholarship to study at university, that I started to wonder about Carnegie, the man and the frequency with which his name seemed to appear.

So, Carnegie, born in Scotland in 1835, emigrated to the United States with his family when he was in his very early teens. He began working as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill, followed by a stint as a telegraph messenger, then telegraph operator, then superintendent with part of the Pennsylvania railroad. With his steady job, Carnegie was able to trade in shares, and to cut an enormously long story short, he made a very large fortune in the US steel industry. At one time, Carnegie was allegedly the richest man in the US, but, of course, by the time he died he had given away much of his fortune.  

Probably one of the most familiar things associated with Andrew Carnegie are the many public libraries in the UK that bear his name, which includes Loughborough's own! Ours was designed by local architects Barrowcliffe and Allcock, was constructed in 1903-5 and, like many others, is a listed building. I think the first library in Loughborough was a subscription library down on Baxter Gate, which was only available to those who could afford to pay the subscription. The first free public library was on the corner of Ashby Road and Green Close Lane.

Carnegie's connection with these libraries is that he donated some, if not all of the money towards the cost of the buildings. Seems like the idea of match funding has been around far longer than the Heritage Lottery Fund, since Carnegie would only donate the building costs as long as the local authority paid to equip the building and for maintenance costs.  It's possible that Carnegie's strong feeling about the education and welfare of less fortunate children was influenced by his own experience, particularly when Colonel James Anderson made his own personal library available once a week to working boys. 

Not only did Carnegie donate money to the building of libraries - in the UK and the US - he also funded a range of other buildings, like museums (e.g. the Melton [Mowbray] Carnegie Museum), concert halls (e.g. the Carnegie Hall in New York), educational institutions like Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the Carnegie educational scholarship as mentioned above, and the Carnegie Medal for children's literature in the UK.

Some Carnegie libraries in the UK are now under threat, as council budgets contract, for example in Abergavenny where a recent plan was to erect a mezzanine level in the market hall for use as a library, while other libraries are being renovated (like Harrogate public library) while others remain as they are, like ours.

Kendal Carnegie Library

Loughborough Carnegie Library

Moving on to Ernest Gimson, we find that he was born in Leicester, son of Josiah Gimson, the engineer and iron founder who owned the Gimson Engineering Company which in turn owned the Vulcan Works. Ernest Gimson was in training to be an architect with the well-known Leicester architect, Isaac Barradale, when he heard William Morris, a leader in the arts and crafts movement, deliver a lecture at the Secular Hall in Leicester. So influenced was he that Gimson moved to London to work as an architect and designer, following Morris's ethos. 

Together with his friends and colleagues, the Barnsley brothers, Gimson moved to Gloucestershire where they worked until Gimson's death in 1919. During his lifetime, Gimson built three homes for his close relatives in Leicestershire, one of which became a home for Donald Gimson, and is our local Stoneywell Cottage, up at Ulverscroft. It's now run by the National Trust and really worth a visit. It's a lovely cottage, full of arts and crafts furniture and decoration, with lots of local slate.          

And there I must leave you for the week!

Below are some useful and interesting websites with more information:

Andrew Carnegie: pioneer, visionary, innovator.

Restoration of Harrogate public library, 2019 and before restoration. 

Statutory Listing for Harrogate public library

Listing for Abergavenny public library

One proposal for a replacement library for Abergavenny (the Morrisons store has been built but not the library: there have been other proposals which include creating a mezzanine floor in the market hall to house the library, but the link is not currently working).

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Ernest Gimson and Andrew Carnegie. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/08/ernest-gimson-and-andrew-carnegie.html [Accessed 11 August 2019]

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   

Holiday connections and anniversaries

Continuing with the holiday connection theme ...

In my last post I'd got as far as sharing with you some connections that made me think of Loughborough whilst I was in Launceston. Hmmm, this was actually the first day of my two-week holiday, and it was the 'let's stop off here for a break' place, in what was to be a 350-mile journey. My thinking now is that if I took a whole blog post to share the revelations from a 2-hour visit to Launceston, then it will take me about 14 blog posts to cover the rest of the holiday, so below are the edited highlights!!!

My most exciting find was on a walk in the countryside near St Ives. In previous years we've walked the coastal paths, so this year we decided to visit some of the inland footpaths and some of the small country lanes. For some reason or other, which now escapes me, I'd gone on this walk carrying with me as little as possible - so no camera, and no phone - so, of course, we had to go back another time for me to take some photos. Hence, late one evening, these are what I took:

Now, I haven't done any research into these initials, but I'm supposing they are Edward Hain, an MP for St Ives, and the owner of a shipping company. Like James Eadie, of the brewery company, remains of which affiliation can be seen on the former Station Hotel in Loughborough, Edward Hain had gone into the tea business, before switching careers. 

The significance to Loughborough of these initials is not in Edward Hain, but in Edward Hands who originally lived on Burton Walks, but moved to Castledine Street, where, if I remember rightly, he had the house extended and his initials inscribed in a plaque. Sorry for the poor quality of the photo:

Driveway into the former home of Edward hands

Edward Hands initials on Castledine Street

A couple of other connections from St Ives include this attractive house name a lovely Celtic design painted on slate, the other connection being that my children all went to Holywell School:

And just one more, so as not to bore you!! This beautiful blue enamel street sign is oh so similar to some in Loughborough, like Park Street and Charnwood Road, but what a difference - white walls and red brick walls!

The other thing which I wanted to mention today is that today is actually the 6th anniversary of this blog, which I first started on 4 August 2013! Hard to believe it's been going that long! The initial impetus for creating it still holds true: I want to promote Loughborough and show the world what's good about our lovely town, through stories of its history, its current events and everything in between. I'm so pleased you're still with me!

In the spirit of promoting knowledge and a love for our town, I've written a couple of books - 'Loughborough in 50 Buildings', and 'Secret Loughborough', and I'm having a signing event for the latter at the Old Rectory Museum on Saturday 10th August, between 11am and 3pm - everyone welcome - no purchase necessary - and if you've already bought a copy I'd be happy to sign it. 

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

Dyer, Lynne (2019). Holiday connections and anniversaries. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2019/08/holiday-connections-and-anniversaries.html [Accessed 4 August 2019]

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  





















           

Birthday celebrations

Picnic in the Park is back in 2016!

Celebrate:

• Charnwood Arts is 40 this year!

• Loughborough's twining with Schwabisch-Hall is 50 this year!

• Loughborough's twining with Epinal is 60 this year!

• John Storer House is 50 this year!

• Loughborough University is 50 this year!

• Her Majesty the Queen is 90 this year!

Commemorate:

• Zeppelins raided Loughborough 100 year ago this year!

• Luddites attacked the factory of Heathcoat and Boden 200 years ago this year!

So what are we doing to celebrate and commemorate???

Preparations for BIG celebrations in Queen's Park are under-way, and there's an exciting programme of events planned! 

Some commemorations have already taken place, and we have seen the unveiling of the memorial plaque to those inhabitants of the town who died on the night of 31st January 1916, when the Zeppelin airship dropped its bombs on the town, popular accredited tour guide Bob Stephens led a walk of discovery around the sites where the bombs fell, (which has been interpreted also as a virtual walk), a vigil has been held, and there has recently been a huge commemorative event in the form of a weekend of short plays telling the story of each the town's citizens who died.

A local descendant of a family who fled the town after the Luddite attacks recently led a walk of discovery around the sites associated with Heathcoat and Boden, (which has been interpreted also as a virtual walk), and last week, on June 2nd, I attended the launch of an exhibition on the Luddite attack in 1816, at the local public library. "Loughborough's Lace and Luddite Heritage", was created by the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers, and others, and after an introductory welcome by one of these, the exhibition was officially opened by Dr Robert Knight from the Politics, History and International Relations Department at Loughborough University.

This is a wonderful exhibition, and much research and thought has gone into it (as we've come to expect from the volunteers, I might add). What was even more exciting was that the Tiverton Heathcoat Walkers sent three representatives from their group to be here in Loughborough public library for the opening of the exhibition. If you don't know the story of the Luddite attack and the subsequent events, the significance is that after the attack, Heathcoat transferred his business to the town of Tiverton, and took many, if not most, of his workers with him. They travelled to Tiverton on foot, following the Fosse Way.

So, back to Picnic in the Park! During the events on the weekend of Friday 24 - Sunday 26 June (for more detail see the LoveLoughborough website) there will be a "Ludd Hub" in Queen's Park, where all-things Luddite will be happening. This will be run by the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers, together with the Politics, History and International Relations Department of Loughborough University. The Tiverton Heathcoat Walkers will be attending, and after the event they will be walking back to Tiverton, just as their ancestors did in 1816, although the walkers in 2016 will be following the canals to Somerset, before taking a footpath and then picking up the canal again (I believe). The walk is expected to take 14-15 days and Loughborough people are very welcome to join the Tiverton Heathcoat Walkers on their long journey! Once you get to Tiverton, there is a local Heathcoat trail which can be followed, which links up the both the beginning and the end of the lacemakers' journey. 

In support of the commemorative events, a reprint of a publication called "The Lacemakers Story" is available from the Local Studies volunteers at Loughborough Library and costs £4.00. Free copies of "The Lace and Luddite Story" and the "Loughborough Luddite Trail" are available from the exhibition area in the library.

Here's how the local paper, the Loughborough Echo, has publicised the event, and how it has been publicised in the Exeter region.

Useful links:

• Follow the Loughborough Library Local Studies Volunteers, and get advance notice of upcoming exhibitions: Twitter - @Loughlibvol

• Follow Charnwood Arts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/377722418908350/

• Have a peek at the Tiverton museum website

The opening of the exhibition Loughborough's Lace and Luddite Heritage

Dr Robert Knight opening the exhibition

Just before the opening ceremony

You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, whilst giving appropriate credit. The correct citation for this post is as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2016). Loughborough Union Workhouse. [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/loughborough-union-workhouse.html [Accessed 9 June 2016]