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]

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Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne 

Leicester, Swannington and Loughborough

Having difficulty deciding what to blog about tonight, so going with Leicester, Swannington and Loughborough!

Apologies for not blogging last week: my internet connection disappeared into the ether and I was without contact with the outside world - except I could phone people or visit them or send them a letter!!

I was lucky enough a couple of weeks ago to attend a lecture at the refurbished City Hall in Leicester delivered by Sir Peter Soulsby on the subject of Leicester - its history through architecture. This was part of the City Series lectures organised by the Leicester Urban Observatory, a joint venture between Leicester City Council, De Montfort University, Leicester University and Loughborough University, which aims to explore the urban development, architecture and history of Leicester. 

See the following websites for more info:

Sir Peter's page
The Leicester Urban Observatory Project page
De Montfort University's involvement

It was an interesting lecture, with an interested audience, and we romped through the centuries in Leicester, as well as learning of Sir Peter's vision for the city. Sadly, there seems little co-operation and understanding between city and county. As we know, there is to be new GCR Museum at Birstall, which is scheduled to open in 2021, Abbey Pumping Station is likely to be refurbed, a Science Park is being developed near the National Space Centre, and there are plans afoot to revamp the Jewry Wall Museum, I would imagine partly because of more Roman finds at the latest dig on High Cross Street.

Enough of Leicester!! Last weekend I was also lucky enough to attend the latest Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society (LAHS) talk given by Roger Bisgrove, Chair of the Swannington Heritage Trust, on the industrial history of Swannington. This was simply fascinating, covering Swannington through the ages, from coal mines (bell pits) from the 12 hundreds (1200s), through coal mines (gin pits) in the fifteen hundreds (1500s), to Newcomen boilers in the 1700s, Jessop's tramway, the Charnwood Forest Canal, and the Charnwood Forest Railway.  Oh, and, of course the Hough Windmill and the Califat Spinney. 

Back at work, I happened upon a book called "Vanishing Victoriana" and was particularly taken with the chapter on graves! The chapter was lamenting the poor state of many of the London cemeteries, and this made me consider our own, on Leicester Road. Loughborough Cemetery was created in about 1857, just after the peak of the popularity of Swithland slate gravestones, thus many of the headstones to be found in the cemetery are not made of slate, but rather of Carrara white marble with lead lettering, of sandstone, of polished pink granite, of Portland stone or of polished black granite. There are large memorials, small memorials, single plots and family plots, elaborate and plain, and quite a number of war graves. The grounds are maintained, although the edges can be quite overgrown in summer. The railings surrounding the cemetery, and the wrought iron birdcage turnstile are typical of the town. The chapel building, designed by the Lincolnshire architects Bellamy and Hardy, was refurbished sometime after 1994. The building had a chapel for the Church of England worshipers and one for Nonconformists. Since its refurb it has been let out to various companies.

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). Leicester, Swannington and Loughborough. [Online] Available from: http://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/02/leicester-swannington-and-loughborough.html [Accessed 11 February 2017]