Isolation in Loughborough

As we are all aware we are currently living through some difficult times, but I shall keep

Isolation hospital on Ling Road

going on here for as long as I can. I'm very conscious that some of us are glass half full people, and others glass half empty, so some of us will find seeing pictures of things we enjoy - spring flowers, summer beaches, family gatherings - exciting things we can look forward to when we emerge from these hard times, or things that just upset us even more. I'm just gonna have to take the plunge and, as usual, blog about things that I think are interesting, and hope I don't lose any of you along the way.

Pestilence Cottage in Woodhouse

Way back in October 2017 I wrote a few posts about the plague in Loughborough, starting with one about disasters (plague and fire), then about disasters and plague houses, and finally about plague and Dead Lane.








On a more cheery note (I jest, of course) last summer when we went to St Ives we managed to catch a show at The Minack Theatre (as we do most summers). It was called 'Roses of Eyam'. Now, this almost seems like a portent (that and the Year of the Rat, and the health warning that came with that - as a Rat myself, I found that a little bit disconcerting). We went with the usual travel company from St Ives, so that we didn't have to travel around the narrow Cornish roads late at night, but it did mean that while many people went home at the interval, we sat it out in the pouring rain, which actually made the play even more atmospheric and deeply felt. It was the Stamford Shoestring Theatre Company that delivered the play, and they did it so well. I probably took some pictures, but here are some on The Minack website.

So, the villagers of Eyam basically closed off their village and isolated themselves during the plague. There's a good article in The Guardian that explains it far better than I can and a nice article on the BBC website.

Back here in Loughborough, at one time there was apparently an isolation hospital on Cross Hill Lane, and children with infectious diseases would be taken there by horse-drawn cab. Later, from about 1901 there was an isolation hospital on Ling Road. Diseases that were around in the early 1900s included, typhoid, which was often fatal, and amongst other things, smallpox, diptheria, scarlet fever, and chicken pox. Into the 1930s and it was scarlet fever and diptheria that were most prevalent, and required isolation.      
In the county, there were other isolation hospitals including one at Nanpantan, Markfield and Melton Mowbray. Markfield have a great local history page on the web where you can find out more bout their hospital, and if you'd like more information about former hospitals in Leicestershire pop over to this site.    

That's all for this week.

Keep safe and strong,

Lynne

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

Dyer, Lynne (2020). Isolation in Loughborough. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2020/03/isolation-in-loughborough.html  [Accessed 22 March 2020]

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 

Review of 2018

So, here we are already at the end of 2018! The year seems to have flown by and has been like no other: last year's major achievement was the 100 Days About Loughborough project, this year's was the publication of a book about Loughborough and the collection of a local history certificate from Oxford University. The blog continues to evolve, but its aim is as always - to promote our lovely town and spread the love for Loughborough!

So, let's have a look at some of your favourite posts of 2018.

* In 10th place is Anniversaries and Names, featuring the years 878 and 918 and a few selected place names

* Coming in at 9 is the Psychogeographic Walk Around Loughborough, featuring Whatton Gardens, Calke Abbey, Beaumanor Hall, Woodhouse Eaves, Maddy Prior, Henry Goddard, W. E. Cooke, an exhibition at the Loughborough Library and an open art house.

* The 8th most popular post is Finding Loughborough Everywhere, comparing Loughborough to the Cambridgeshire town of St Ives. 

* Your 7th favourite post is the Leicestershire County Show 2018, and 2005

* In 6th position is Picnic in the Park and on the Farm, featuring suffragettes and a visit to a local farm. 

* Half way up the table, at number 5, is Loughborough five years ago and now, a celebration of the 5th anniversary of the blog.

* At number 4 is 40 Years in Loughborough, a celebration of living in Loughborough for 40 years!

* In third place is House for Sale, taken from a Loughborough Echo of 1954.

* Runner-up is Loughborough Snow Today, featuring pictures of familiar and unfamiliar Loughborough in the snow in March 2018.

* And, the most popular post of 2018 is another extract from the same 1954 issue of the Loughborough Echo, featuring a local wedding and a local bridesmaid. The popularity of this post is tinged with sadness as the bridesmaid, a good friend, died this year.  

Of course, for all those popular posts, there are an equal number which didn't appeal to you! Here are some of your least favourite posts of 2018:

* In 10th place comes More on Suffrage and the Carillon, featuring Alice Hawkins of Leicester, the Suffragette exhibition at the Charnwood Museum and a talk on the Carillon, given by the Borough Carilloneur as part of the 2017-18 talk season of the Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society. 

* In 9th position is Exhibitions and the Ceramics Market, which covered the works on St Paul's church Woodhouse Eaves, and the ceramics market in Loughborough. 

* Coming in at 8th, Lynne Really was About Loughborough this Week, featuring, amongst other things, St Paul's Woodhouse Eaves, the Star Wars exhibition at Leicester, a book launch on Loughborough market, and an exhibition at Loughborough public library. 

* 7th place goes to Pubs and a bit of Art, featuring pubs in other towns with the same name as some Loughborough pubs, and a visit to another art event. 

* Your 6th least popular post is Connecting Loughborough, highlighting similarities between some Welsh towns and Loughborough.

* Halfway up the table, at number 5, is the Parish Church and Christmas Trees, some lovely pics from the very recent Christmas Tree Festival. 

* Coming in at 4 is Armistice 2018, commemorations of the end of the First World War. 

* In third place is Still on the Subject of Remembrance, a follow-up to the Armistice post. 

* Runner-up for the award is Loughborough Trinket Box, reporting on the little box I found at a local antiques market, bearing a local crest.

* Winner of the wooden spoon for the least popular post of 2018 is the Christmas Lights Switch On, pics from the event. 

Bearing in mind that the list above of the least popular posts are also the most recent, so there is still a chance for them to catch up with the others!

It's also been interesting hunting down the top 10 all-time most popular posts, from the start of the blog in 2013, to date. Amazingly, a couple of posts from 2018 make it into this table, which is some feat, considering the posts from 2013 have had 5 years to grow their numbers!!

* Coming in at 10th is one of the posts covering Swithland Slate, an ever-popular topic.

* In 9th place is a review of some of the recent archaeological work that's been happening over at Bradgate Park. 

* At 8th position is Disasters in Loughborough, including plague and fire!

* At number 7 is Loughborough Snow Today, featuring pictures of familiar and unfamiliar Loughborough in the snow in March 2018.

* In 6th place is another Snowy Loughborough,this time from December 2017

* Making it to halfway, to number 5, is an extract from a 1954 issue of the Loughborough Echo, featuring a local wedding and a local bridesmaid. The popularity of this post is tinged with sadness as the bridesmaid, a good friend, died this year.

* In 4th place is the Plague and Dead Lane. Thankfully, the plague has been eradicated, but Dead Lane is now part of a shopping centre.

* Coming close to the top, at third is Disasters and Plague Houses - disasters and plague proved to be popular!

* Runner-up in the all-time popularity stakes is Ghost Signs of Loughborough, featuring some of those faded painted signs on the sides of shops and buildings.  

* And the winner of the most popular post over the last 5 years is an early post from October 2013, Spotlight on Ashby Road. Probably well overdue for an update too!

All three walks have been updated for 2018, and this is the leaderboard:

* 3rd place goes to the Loughborough, Luddites and Lace trail

* 2nd place goes to the Loughborough Zeppelin trail

* The winner is the Loughborough Sculpture, Architecture and Art trail
And here are a few of my favourite photos from 2018:

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Review of 2018. Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/12/review-of-2018.html  

[Accessed 30 December 2018]

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

Loughborough five years ago and now

In all the excitement of the last couple of weeks - holidays, graduations and book publication - it almost escaped my notice that exactly 5 years ago yesterday I started this blog!! 

My first post was all about how wonderful Loughborough was and highlighted its attractions, its shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants, night life, architecture, parks and markets. Additionally, at the time we had the support of retail guru Mary Portas, so there was no way we deserved a place in a book about rubbish towns!!! And, posts that immediately followed showcased Loughborough in Bloom.

Since that first post, there have been many more - 329, to be precise - on various topics, including the streets of Loughborough, the buildings of Loughborough, the people of Loughborough, the pubs of Loughborough, the events of Loughborough, the connections between Loughborough and loads of other places across the UK, amongst other things! Some of the posts have been a bit text-heavy, others have almost been photoblogs! Sometimes getting the balance right has been hard!

I've been surprised by how popular some of the posts have been, and how unpopular some of the others have been! It stands to reason that older posts are more likely to be the most popular, as they've been available to read for longer, but actually, the 10 most popular posts come from every year except 2015. Here they are:

* Your 10th favourite post was one from 2016, From Loughborough to Melbourne (Sept 2016)

* In 9th place was Bradgate Park (Oct 2016)

* Coming in 8th place was Disasters in Loughborough (Oct 2017)

* 7th place was taken by Loughborough Snow Today (Mar 2018)

* Taking 6th place was Snowy Loughborough (Dec 2017)

* In 5th place was Weddings (Mar 2018)

* Your 4th favourite post was Plague and Dead Lane (Oct 2017)

* In 3rd place was Disasters and Plague Houses (Oct 2017)

* Runner-up, in 2nd place was Ghost Signs (Mar 2014)

* In 1st place the winner was Spotlight on Ashby Road (Oct 2013)

And here are some recent photos of Loughborough:

Site of the former Charnwood Forest Railway (Aug 2018)

Site of the former Charnwood Forest Railway (Aug 2018)

I&R Morleys (3M) July 2018

Royal George Pub (July 2018)

Loughborough In Bloom (Aug 2018)

Loughborough In Bloom (Aug 2018)

Carillon renovation (July 2018)

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Loughborough five years ago and now. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/08/loughborough-five-years-ago-and-now.html  [Accessed 5 August 2018]

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

       

Anniversaries 1068 to 1578

Following on from last week’s blog post, in which we delved into the history of Loughborough in the years ending with an 8, we shall continue with our journey.

We got to 918 when Britain regained control of its country from the Danes. Here's a bit more!

The year is: 1068

William I (aka The Conqueror) was the King responsible for commissioning the Domesday Book, which was the survey that listed all landholdings in England, along with the name of their current holder. Loughborough has an entry in this book – total population at the time 39 households, which in relation to other settlements appearing in the Domesday survey was a very large population.

It was in 1068 (or maybe 1069, depending on which sources you consult) that William I marched northwards from Westminster, through Warwick, Leicestershire, Nottingham and into Yorkshire, building castles along the way. His mission was to put down rebellions and it is said the area surrounding Loughborough suffered greatly during his march.

The year is: 1228

The Old Rectory in Loughborough, tucked away on Rectory Place, next to the new development of houses on Steeple Row, may well have been in existence before 1228, but it is from 1228 that the first written evidence is found, when the Old Rectory was acquired from the Cortlinstoke family by the church. There’s a full history of the Old Rectory over on the Old Rectory and Loughborough Archaeological and Historical Society blog.

The year is: 1238

When Ranulf de Blondeville, 6^th Earl of Chester, 1^st Earl of Lincoln, and Lord of the Manor of Loughborough died in 1232, the lordship of Loughborough passed to the Despenser family. Sadly, the first title holder, Hugh, who appears to have been popular with his monarch, King Henry III, died, despite being under the care of one of Henry’s physicians. Hugh was succeeded by his son, also called Hugh.

Not entirely sure what happened in the intervening 300 years but –

The year is: 1538

This is the year that sees the beginning of the keeping of the Parish Records – a book in which all births, marriages and deaths are recorded, the book being kept in the Parish Chest.

The year is: 1558

Queen Mary I had made Sir Edward Hastings, 2^nd Earl of Huntingdon, a Knight of the Garter, and in 1558 she granted him the title Baron Loughborough, as a reward for his bravery and loyalty. It is believed that Sir Edward was the first of the Lords of the Manor to live in the Manor House.

Later in 1558, Queen Elizabeth 1 acceded to the throne.

Tragically, also in 1558, there was a protracted outbreak of the plague, which lasted intermittently for 100 years, and killed nearly 300 people in the space of 18-months. There's a bit more about the later plagues on my blog.   

The year is: 1578

It was in 1578 that repairs were made to the whipping post, and the stocks. The whipping post was a wooden post to which the person to be punished was tied, in order to be whipped. The stocks were a wooden frame with holes cut out for the person being punished to put their hands and head through, where they stayed for a couple of hours whilst people threw all sorts of things at them.

Where exactly these instruments of punishment were in 1578, I don’t, know, but from 1688 both the whipping post and the stocks were near The Shambles, on the corner of Market Place and Market Street, where the phone shop is now, that was once Potters Toy Shop and Clemerson’s department store. The Shambles was the area beneath the court leet - a meeting place for local government – and was where butchers slaughtered animals.     

More information on medieval punishment can be found at:

http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-torture-and-punishment/stocks.htm  

  

and

  

http://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-torture-devices/stocks-torture-device/

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

Dyer, Lynne (2018). Anniversaries 1068 to 1578. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/01/anniversaries-1068-to-1578.html [Accessed 28 January 2018]

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  

  

Plague and Dead Lane

Last week we had a quick look at disasters and plague houses in and around Loughborough. Today, a quick word on the plague house and some comments upon Dead Lane.

Following the death of Clemente Parsons and his son, Richard Harryman was paid eleven shillings to build the Pesthouse in The Rushes. Hewgh Foster provided either the foundation for the building, or the doorway and Nicholas Smith was paid five shillings for nails, and eighteen pennies for carrying stone to the house.

Of course, you know what I'm going to say next ... Nicholas Smith also died of the plague in May 1610.

Percy Davenport, author of that 1935 article on the plague, goes on to say that the Accounts of the Bridgemasters include an entry which indicates that they paid five shillings to have the Pesthouse taken down. Initially this sounds odd, but Percy establishes that this probably refers to a building that was already standing that was to be replaced by this new one that was currently being built. A later entry in the accounts shows that the building (whether this means the old one or the new one isn't quite clear) was sold to a John Marshall of Cossington for the sum of fifty shillings. Where exactly the Pesthouse was on The Rushes is not clear.

Next we learn that people buried at this time weren't given their own coffin, so one coffin was re-used time and time again. This particular coffin was made by Robert Joyner who was paid two shillings to make it.

As well as casting huge bells for churches and cathedrals, Taylors the bellfounders on Freehold Street, also make handbells, but I don't think they were responsible for making the handbell used during times of plague in Loughborough, as Nicholas Smithe was paid four shillings and sixpence for it. Besides, Taylors were not in Loughborough at the time.

And so to the topic of Dead Lane, or le Dede Lane, or le Dedlane, or Dedelane, as it has variously been known.

Percy suggests that the story of the origin of the street name, handed down from generation to generation of Loughborough folk, and even told by a respected school teacher to pupils of the Churchgate school in the 1890s, is an unlikely tale.

Percy thinks it's also unlikely that plague pits were dug along Dead Lane in the 17th century, and has not found any evidence that the ground had been consecrated. The street name goes back much further than this, and Percy goes on to quote five instances of mention of the name Dead Lane in old documents:

the oldest comes from a deed probably in the reign of Edward II, so between 1307 and 1327, in which it is recorded that Adam, the son of Ellias de Shathewelle, was granted land in Dede Lane.

in 1460 William Staunton rented a piece of land near Dede Lane from the Lord of the Manor, which land was adjacent to several tenements on Dede Lane itself

unscoured ditches on Dede Lane in 1486 led to a number of people being fined

in 1488 someone appears to be illegally living on le Dedlane

rentals paid to the Lord of the Manor in 1490 refer to le Dede Lane

So, there were people living on Dead Lane from times much earlier than the plague of 1609-1610, and even before the earliest mention of the plague in Loughborough, in 1515.

Percy's final comments are, well, either ironic, or poignant:

"I strongly hope that the suggestion which has recently been mooted, for changing the name of this old lane, will not be listened to by the Corporation."

Today, Dead Lane, which if I remember rightly, ran alongside the Shakespeare Street School, is no longer there, being covered by the ground level car parking area of The Rushes shopping centre.

The school at the top of Shakespeare Street 

The new build at the end of Shakespeare Street along which Dead Lane used to run

Dead Lane used to be on the left of what is now a ground level car park in The Rushes

Post Script
I've made this post into a video. Here's the link: https://youtu.be/nBPzHBD8QlA

Dyer, Lynne (2017). Disasters in Loughborough! Available from:  https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/10/plague-and-dead-lane.html  [Accessed 22 October 2017]

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 

Disasters and plague houses

Last week we had a look at some of the fires and disease that have affected Loughborough over the years. 

A quick flick through some of the literature and I came across a chap called Percy Davenport, who had written an article about the plague, in the Loughborough Echo. A bit more of a delve revealed that Percy was an "old boy" from the Grammar School, who, whilst working at the Ministry of Health, used to copy out old documents he found, in his leisure time. Some of these are the Manor Accounts and Wills of Loughborough.

So, if Percy read what he was copying in any detail, his voice holds a lot of weight. In his 1935 article in the newspaper he wrote about "When the plague came to Loughborough", saying:

In the years 1609 and 1610 Loughborough was a place to avoid, for it was then in the grip of the deadly plague. The story told by the Parish Registers is indeed a grim one. Under the month of August, 1609, the writer sets down the simple words "A plague began on the 24th day," and for the period of the next 18 months or more, long lists of victims who succumbed are entered, each name prefixed by the letter "p". 

He also mentions the possibility of there being a "plague house" somewhere, which was associated with Thomas Rawlins who founded a school in Woodhouse in 1691. This school lasted until the late eighteenth century, after which it closed until it relocated to Quorn village hall where it re-opened in 1892, firstly, as a boys' grammar (Thomas Rawlins Grammar School), before becoming a co-ed school of the same name, and based in the building occupied today by the Rawlins Academy. Thomas Rawlins is reputed to have escaped the 1665 Plague of London and settled in Pest Cottage in Old Woodhouse. This cottage is still standing today, and is named Pestilence Cottage. 

Percy has this to say about Pest Cottage:

Whatever may be the historical facts behind the "Plague House" of Thomas Rawlins, allusions to which have appeared in recent numbers of the "Echo", we are on solid and indisputable ground when we speak of a "Plague House" in Loughborough.    

The Accounts of the Bridgemasters, (who gathered funds to maintain the bridges, and the Free Grammar School and for many other local needs) were responsible to the Feoffes of the Loughborough Town Lands, and these accounts show that the feoffes took responsibility for building a Pesthouse in The Rushes, in a vain attempt to stop the spread of the plague in 1609. 

Percy quotes from the accounts:

Payed to Richard Harryman on Thomas Wingkfeild hosse [house], in earnest for the newe house in The Rushes vjd [6 old pennies]." 

This is a formal transaction, and the builder is bound to enact the contract and build the house, which is outlined below:

Payed to Clemente Parsons for Carriadg of wood into the Rushes xjs [11 old shillings]

Ironically, both Clemente Parsons and his son died from the plague in October 1610, only a few months after this contract was agreed.

Sadly, I've run out of time to carry on with this post, so pop back next week for a final installment on the plague in Loughborough, and some comments about the infamous Dead Lane!

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). Disasters in Loughborough! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/10/disasters-and-dead-lane.html [Accessed 15 October 2017]

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 

Disasters in Loughborough

Hunting around looking for something to write about, I happened upon lots of information about certain disasters that befell our lovely town, many years ago. Trouble is, there really is too much to read and digest at the moment, so here's a few tantalising mentions of plague and fire.

The Plague

*The earliest mention of the plague was in the will of Geffery Salesbury in 1515.

*In 1551 sweating sickness, which appeared to be more virulent among the higher classes, was mentioned in the Parish Records.

*Over a period of 18 months 1558-9, over 295 people died from the plague.

*In 1564 the Great Plague struck London, and reached Leicester. Because of this the Leicester Assizes met at Loughborough for a while.

*Over 452 people died of the plague in Loughborough in the outbreak of 1609-10.

*In 1631 the plague was initially concentrated around three houses, and 11 people died, but it soon took a firm hold, and eventually 1304 people died of the disease in this outbreak.

Fire

While illness might (or indeed, might not) be attributed to sanitary conditions, it is likely that fires start as a result of the industries in the town, and spread because of the wooden buildings with thatched roofs. 

*The fire in town that took place in June 1622 is mentioned in the Parish Registers.

*In 1666 (or it may have been 1668) a fire on 5th October destroyed nearly 200 houses, when a spark from a malt kiln in Wood Gate was blown so easily along the thatched roofs of the buildings. Only a week later, there was a fire in what is now Ashby Square.

*A fire in The Rushes in 1761, destroyed 13 hours in less than one hour.

*The Old Rectory, at the junction of what is now Rectory Place and Steeple Row, was re-built after it was almost completely destroyed by a fire.

*The factory of Paget and White suffered serious fire damage when a fire took hold in 1860.

*A serious attempt to make fighting fires easier came in 1866 when a fire station was built on Ashby Road, and in 1887 when the town got its very first steam-powered fire engine, this after the Nottingham Manufacturing Company was seriously damaged after a fire at the factory. 

*Taylors Bellfoundry suffered a fire in 1892.

*In 1902 there were two fires in schools, one at the Grammar School, the other at Cobden Street.

*A new fire station was built on Bridge Street in 1936.

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). Disasters in Loughborough! Available from: lhttps://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2017/10/disasters-in-loughborough.html [Accessed 8 October 2017]

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