Mysteries of Middleton Place uncovered
OriginsMuch of Loughborough in the latter part of the 19th century was given over to farms and farmland. According to Charnwood Borough Council (2006) the area on which Herrick Road, Park Road, and Middleton Place is built, was originally mostly made up of trees:
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| Coming up to the entrance to Middleton Place |
“The estate consisted of
several fields, some 17 acres with fruit trees and hovels (presumably
agricultural sheds), lying between Far Park Lane [now Park Road] and Middle
Park Lane [now Beacon Road] ... It was divided into 50 plots of about a third
of an acre each.”
In 1875 bylaws were
introduced that specified room sizes and ventilation standards. This meant that
the building of small, plain terraced houses, like those on Albert Street and
Victoria Street, and Oxford Street, Paget Street etc., stopped and houses became more flamboyant, with elaborate bay
windows and being built in a grid, with, what I would call a side passage, but
with what you, coming from Leicestershire, would call a side entry.
Middleton Place is named after Mr Middleton, who died in 1878, who may also have been at one time the landowner. Edward Chatterton Middleton was the joint owner of Loughborough Bank, with one Mr Craddock, and his son, Edward William Craddock Middleton. The Borough Council (2006) suggests that Mr Middleton [snr.] died leaving behind debts of about £10,000: This is an over-simplification of the situation, but as this is not the main subject of my discussion here, I refer you to Day (1986) where the matter is fully investigated, and to newspaper reports of the time (Times 1878, London Gazette 1878 & 1882), which make for interesting reading.
In 1881 Mr Middleton’s debt
was cleared, possibly by the surrender of the aforementioned land, which was then freed
up for the building of houses, and by 1889 the first six houses had been built
on Middleton Place. According to a 1901 map of Loughborough, Middleton Place
was called Middle Park Lane, but people recorded their address on the 1901
census returns as Middleton Place. I suspect that the naming of the street was
at least in part in honour of the previous landowner: As well as being a
respected banker, he was also a Justice of the Peace, Sheriff of
Leicestershire, Paymaster to the Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry, and laid the
foundation stone of the cemetery chapel.
Build, build, build
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| Right to left: Nos. 3-13 |
If you imagine the street to be like a letter r then the houses were on the top line of the r.
There were six of them, and they were numbered 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13. There must have been some reason for this numbering, but I admit, that had it been me, I would have used numbers 1-11!
At the time of the 1891 census, all the
houses except number 3 were occupied: If there were any occupants, perhaps they
were away visiting relatives!
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| Right to left: Nos. 53-59 |
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| Right to left: Nos. 61-67 |
Others (61, 63, 65 & 67) all had bay windows, were slightly taller than 53-59, with rounded arches over the doors, and with the house name carved into shaped stone above the door (Sunnydene, Lyndene, Rosedale & Avondale), possibly called epigraphs!
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| Right to left: Nos. 77 to 83 |
Numbers 77, 79, 81, and 83, have very similar doorways to 61-67 and, like 61-67, the house names – Mystrayla, Jesmond, Danesford, and Cresford - were carved into a stone block above the doorway, but these were a more plain rectangular shape.
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| Right to left: Nos. 85 and 87 |
Victorian house-building often followed a pattern, and this might help to explain why the properties on Middleton Place were built in twos or multiples of twos. Apparently, houses were often built in pairs, and were owned by the same person, who lived in one of the pair, and rented out the other one.
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| Left to right: Nos. 22-24 |
It wasn’t until 1925 that more house-building followed, with the construction of two almshouses. Numbers 22 and 24 were two bungalows, built by the Edgar Corah Trust. They were different from previous builds because, as well as being bungalows, with low roofs and pebble-dashed walls, they were built on the opposite side of the road from all the previous properties.
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| To the right of the lamppost - No. 69 |
Fill the gaps, please
Rather like today, if there
were a gap between properties, it was likely to be filled, and this was indeed
the case in 1930 when a single property, number 69, was tacked on to the end of
one of the rows of terraces. However, this still left a little bit of space,
so, between 1941 and 1945, a pair of semi-detached houses were built to
completely fill that gap.
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| Right to left: Nos. 71 & 73 |
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| Right to left: Nos. 45 - 51 |
There followed a hiatus in
house-building on Middleton Place, presumably due to the restrictions imposed
after the war which stated that you had to prove a need to build new
accommodation, and even then there were serious restrictions on building
materials. However, in 1959, after the passing of the Housing Act 1957, two
pairs of semi-detached houses were constructed on the corner with Oliver Road.
In order to accommodate the corner, one pair was set back, well off the road.
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| Right to left: 15-23 |
A row of five dwellings,
built in 1977, was attached to the first row of six Victorian terraced houses
that were built, on the short arm of the road. The juxtaposition of these
relatively modern properties, with their obvious low ceilings and up-and-over
garage doors, with the stately redbrick, bay-windowed Victorian buildings is
quite telling.
Joining the dwellings on the less well-developed side of the street, in about 1986, was another bungalow. So, similar only in that it was a bungalow, but in other respects quite different, with its brick construction, different roof tiles, and concrete and brick garden wall. This was the last of the new-builds on Middleton Place, at least, for the twentieth century!
So who lived on the street?
What does the future hold?
We cannot know what changes will be seen on Middleton Place in the future. A recent application to build a pair of semi-detached houses beyond number 85, where there are currently several garages, was refused. The work on a loft conversion at number 49 has been completed, and a loft conversion and extension have recently been added to number 73 and have also been requested for number 71.
The owner of the land opposite numbers 15-23, which is currently given over to garages died a couple of years ago, and the land passed to his beneficiaries; so one does wonder what may be in store for this land, but so far all that appears to have happened is a general clear-up of the area, a small fire in one of the skips, and the Leylandii trees have been severely cut back!
And in a similar vein, the vista changed with the building of a house on a plot on Herrick Road previously occupied by a bungalow.
But, whatever may happen, the history of this street will be documented, through street directories, census returns, and other sources, like newspaper articles, and this will help to put the present day and the future into context for its inhabitants. Hopefully, it will remain the quiet backwater that it is currently.
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| The newest home |
Joining the dwellings on the less well-developed side of the street, in about 1986, was another bungalow. So, similar only in that it was a bungalow, but in other respects quite different, with its brick construction, different roof tiles, and concrete and brick garden wall. This was the last of the new-builds on Middleton Place, at least, for the twentieth century!
No more room?
Over the years, and into this, the twenty-first century, there have been a number of developments on the
street, with lots of improvements and extensions.
If you look closely at some
of the earlier pictures you can see evidence of late 20th/early 21st- century
loft conversions, rebuilt garden walls, and changes to windows.
So who lived on the street?
It is unlikely that the
occupants of the new houses built on Middleton Place in the early 1900s were
the owners; most would have rented their property. It is interesting to note
the types of people who were living here and how these changed as the street
grew. According to the 1891 census, when there were only five houses lived in,
the inhabitants were not natives of Loughborough, with some coming from as far
afield as Mauritius! Amongst the occupations of these folk were a
schoolmaster, a teacher of classics, and a Methodist minister.
In 1901 about half the people
who lived on the street were from Loughborough, and their jobs reflected the
industry of the time: there were people who worked in the hosiery industry, an
ironmonger and a blacksmith, as well as a nurse, a dressmaker, a watchmaker, and
several apprentices.
By the time of the 1911
census, slightly more than two-thirds of the house-dwellers were originally
from Loughborough, the rest coming from a whole range of areas, including
Ireland, Scotland and Wales, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire,
Norfolk, and Staffordshire. The range of occupations they were involved in
represented a cross-section of the community: There were several people living
under their own means, and quite a number of the inhabitants had live-in
servants. If you were to wander down Middleton Place in 1911 then you’d expect
to be sweetened up by the local confectioner, measured up by the local tailor, or photographed as you perambulated! Other occupants of the street were
engineers, apprentices, draughtsmen, joiners, and brick/tile manufacturers, as
well as The Headmaster of the Art School and The Principal of the Technical
Institute!
Today, you will find
schoolteachers and university staff, librarians, local government workers, NHS
employees, landscape gardeners, and retirees living on the street. Some have
been living here for many years, while a few are fairly new to the street.
Interestingly, number 51 was inhabited by the same owner from the time the
house was built in 1959, to well into the 21st century.
And what of the garages?
Apart from the houses, there are also a number of garages on Middleton Place. Some of these are wooden and appear along the street, whilst there is a group of other wooden ones opposite numbers 3-13, which actually look rather spectacular.
Also, there is a group of 1970s garages with up and over doors, opposite numbers 15-23 and 45-49. Before these garages were built the area housed the school kitchens where they cooked meals for all the local schools. After that, the area was used for a coal merchants depot (possibly called Martins, owned by Edgar Martin's father). Later in the twentieth century, the garage area was the headquarters for a taxi firm, but this was short-lived as house owners in the area complained about the persistent noise, somewhat ironic as now the area seems to be regularly used as a car park by a Loughborough taxi firm!
And what of the garages?
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| Part of the wooden garage block |
Apart from the houses, there are also a number of garages on Middleton Place. Some of these are wooden and appear along the street, whilst there is a group of other wooden ones opposite numbers 3-13, which actually look rather spectacular.
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| One small group of garages on the street |
Also, there is a group of 1970s garages with up and over doors, opposite numbers 15-23 and 45-49. Before these garages were built the area housed the school kitchens where they cooked meals for all the local schools. After that, the area was used for a coal merchants depot (possibly called Martins, owned by Edgar Martin's father). Later in the twentieth century, the garage area was the headquarters for a taxi firm, but this was short-lived as house owners in the area complained about the persistent noise, somewhat ironic as now the area seems to be regularly used as a car park by a Loughborough taxi firm!What does the future hold?
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| Loft conversion in progress, 2010 |
We cannot know what changes will be seen on Middleton Place in the future. A recent application to build a pair of semi-detached houses beyond number 85, where there are currently several garages, was refused. The work on a loft conversion at number 49 has been completed, and a loft conversion and extension have recently been added to number 73 and have also been requested for number 71.
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| Loft conversion completed |
The owner of the land opposite numbers 15-23, which is currently given over to garages died a couple of years ago, and the land passed to his beneficiaries; so one does wonder what may be in store for this land, but so far all that appears to have happened is a general clear-up of the area, a small fire in one of the skips, and the Leylandii trees have been severely cut back!
And in a similar vein, the vista changed with the building of a house on a plot on Herrick Road previously occupied by a bungalow.
But, whatever may happen, the history of this street will be documented, through street directories, census returns, and other sources, like newspaper articles, and this will help to put the present day and the future into context for its inhabitants. Hopefully, it will remain the quiet backwater that it is currently.
Text slightly updated as new information comes to light (2022).
Further posts on Middleton Place are available: on the VE-Day celebrations in 2020 contains information about past residents, and the Woodward family once lived on Middleton Place. Middleton Place has also been used as a case study for the blog about the streets of Loughborough.
