Loughborough connections!

Bit of an apologetic blog this week: the last two weeks have been full-on as they say, and I've hardly had a moment to compose a post.

Friday of the week before last I went to Green's windmill in Nottingham. It's a working tower mill, and it's possible to climb right to the top to see all the workings. Fascinating! I couldn't help wonder if any windmill we might have had in Loughborough would be similar, but I'd always assumed before that we'd have had a Midlands-type post mill, rather than a tower mill, but, who actually knows?

The following Saturday I found myself at Stoneygate Tram Depot in Leicester, from where I took a circular ride on a 1973 single-decker bus!!! Not sure if this had a Brush body or not, but I'm sure someone will be able to tell me! So much to see in the depot, including the Midland Red bus and the underground area - torches provided! After this visit, I popped into the University of Leicester botanic gardens, which was full of interest despite it being the end of summer, nearly autumn. I spotted a Swithland slate roof, but were the granite setts from Mountsorrel?

  

Last Sunday I was out supporting a Loughborough runner at the Rutland Marathon. Not much to report on this, except he completed in a good time of 3 hours 56 minutes - a little over the target but still under 4 hours. Oh, and I suppose this is the closest we get to the sea in our area - except when we have sand in Loughborough Market Place?! 

Monday saw me in Warwick dropping off a student starting at the Med School. From here I went to Kenilworth Castle, another place I can't say why I've never been before. Lots of Loughborough connections here - the Dudley family (Lady Jane Grey being married to the younger brother of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1), the 1st Baron Kenilworth, John Davenport Siddeley (a founder member of Hawker Siddeley, a company which took over the Brush in 1957), and Baron Hastings (Henry Hastings was created Baron Hastings by Simon De Montfort of Kenilworth Castle, in 1264: the Hastings family were Lords of the Manor of Loughborough).

Then, on Friday this week I helped install a sub-warden at Bill Morris, the university hall of residence on Ashby Road opposite the Bastard Gates. I was looking forward to this as I'd imagined I'd get a chance to look around the detached houses that are part of the hall, but alas, a couple of them were already inhabited by folk on the Cricket Academy, so the best I could do was take a couple of photos of the houses from the outside, and some interesting things inside the grounds:

So that was last week, and I haven't even started on this weekend's trips! But, time is moving on and it's getting late ...

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 connections. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/09/loughborough-connections.html [Accessed 23 September 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

The cemetery chapels

Last weekend I spent an enjoyable afternoon at the local Sutton Bonington Show. Over the years I've been many times, initially because the Hathern Concert Brass band played a turn there, but I still try and go even though the youngest no longer plays with them.

This year, I'd recently been to the Leics. County Show at Market Harborough, and I couldn't help but compare the two events. These were so similar, that I even chatted to some of the same stallholders at both the events, but I somehow felt that the Sutton Bonington Show, considering its size and location (when compared to the Leicestershire Show Ground, and the Leics. show being a county-wide event) the Sutton Bonington show was equally as good, and in some cases better. Last year at SB we saw the Nottingham Knights perform in the ring: they weren't here this year, but they were at the County Show. There were not quite so many animals on show at SB, and the variety of cows were not quite as diverse, so they concentrated on Dexter cows. What I particularly like about the SB show is the handicraft / horticulture / baking tent, where competition entries are put on display alongside the judges comments: this is what makes SB a local event I suppose, unlike the County Show. See photos of the event at the end of this post.

Anyway, this is not the topic of this week's blogpost!! To the cemetery chapels ...

This weekend and next are the Heritage Open Day events, and I have been lucky enough to make a number of visits, and although there were literally hundreds of places to visit,  for some reason or other, my visits have centred around cemetery chapels! 

Perhaps this is because of our very own cemetery chapels, on Leicester Road, and maybe my visits were sparked by reading about these in "Loughborough in 50 Buildings" or in the recent "Loughborough Echo" piece about the buildings being up for rent again, the lift company having moved out. Here's a bit about our cemetery chapels from "Loughborough in 50 Buildings":

"Loughborough Cemetery was created following the passing of the Burial Acts, the chapel being designed by architects Bellamy and Hardy of Lincoln in the popular Gothic Revival style, and built by John Sudbury of Loughborough.

At a ceremony in July 1856, a procession, including members of the Burial Board, which comprised many well-known local men, including Edward Chatterton Middleton, Edward Warner, Beauvoir Brock, and Henry Toone, walked from the Town Hall to the cemetery, where Edward Middleton laid the foundation stone for the chapels." 

And some photos:

As authoritative sources suggest, our chapels are some of the most splendid in the country. So, on the trail of others with which to compare, I went off and had a look around those in Melbourne, South Derbyshire, Melbourne being one of my favourite places. The chapels are somewhat smaller, of slightly different design, ours were opened in 1856, Melbourne's in 1859, and both are Grade II Listed. They do, however, differ in current usage, the Melbourne one being "in need" and the subject of a joint project between the Parish Council and Melbourne Historical Research Group to re-vitalise the buildings, and Loughborough's renovated and leased to a company (recently Cibes Lifts, but currently vacant). Some photos below of the Melbourne cemetery chapels:
   

The cemetery chapel at Rothley is quite different from the ones at Loughborough and Melbourne, being constructed in 1904, hence why it's of red brick construction. Also, being rather close to Swithland, it has a Swithland slate roof. With Rothley being a somewhat smaller town than either Loughborough or Melbourne, the chapel is correspondingly smaller. It does not appear on the register of Listed Buildings, but is of sufficient importance to be locally listed. On the day I visited, the building was hosting an exhibition about the Barrow upon Soar workhouse, which covered about 30 local parishes. This was an excellent exhibition and, as you know, I'm quite interested in workhouses, so I'll come back to this when I have more time. In the meantime, please enjoy photos from the Rothley cemetery chapels, followed by the Sutton Bonington Show.

The Sutton Bonington Show:

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). Leicestershire County Show. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-cemetery-chapels.html [Accessed 9 September 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

     

Lynne really was about Loughborough this week!!

Well, are the weeks ever quiet?? Is there ever any let up in this local history lark that sees me chatting with chums, engaging in email exchanges, partying with heritage project volunteers, and going all star-struck over those Star Wars toys?! Seems not!

So, a few landmark events this week to share with you.

The week started with a plea for help in publicising a book signing event taking place in the Harvester on Ashby Road. My friend had written a book about the Sea Around Us (the former name for the Harvester) and had been invited to sell the book at the 35th anniversary of the pub on Bank Holiday Monday, with all proceeds from the sale going to Sam White Legacy fund. Whilst chatting, my friend revealed that he is the only person to have sat on the town hall clock!!! Sounds a bit odd, doesn't it, but it makes more sense when I tell you he used to be a fireman!!   

Then Woodhouse Eaves seemed to take over my thoughts again early this week, partly because I was contacted by someone enquiring about Burleigh Hall. During my research I discovered that the owner of Burleigh Hall had donated towards the children's recovery home at Woodhouse Eaves. A bit more research revealed that actually, there were at one time 8 recovery / convalescent homes in Woodhouse Eaves, so quite which one it was, I'm not sure, but I've a pretty good idea. Here's a picture of one candidate:

Coincidentally, chatting with a chum later in the week, unprompted, he mentioned that he had spent some time at the children's convalescent home in Wooodhouse Eaves when he was a young child, recovery from TB! How absolutely amazing is that?!

Meanwhile, in the local studies section of the public library, I was perusing the Taylor's exhibition and chatting with the volunteers there, when I was introduced to the wife of the former carilloneur. That was extremely interesting, as my uncle plays the carillon in his church in New Jersey. 

I also discovered that the library had a short dissertation which explained the background to the recovery / convalescent homes in Woodhouse Eaves, so I shall be popping back to read that in more detail at a later date. Better not leave it too late as I believe the library will be closed from mid-November to the end of 2018 for the installation of SMART access. 

Friday night I was at a party to celebrate the culmination of the Woodhouse Eaves St Paul's church heritage project which saw the collapsing chancel repaired, and the history of the church and its environs researched and showcased in the church over the last couple of months. Volunteers had researched a huge range of topics - from bells to clocks, from bats to birds, from slate to stained glass, from village life to personal lives. Research was recorded and displayed on pull-up banners, talks were given and walks were led. The Memorial Rooms were full to bursting with volunteers who had taken part, and they were thanked for their contribution to the project with a wonderful buffet, and sincere thanks from the person I can only describe as the "project manager".

Saturday I made a special trip into town to purchase a copy of "Songster", a book written by my friend, and illustrated by her friend. As it's not yet officially published, these were being sold on a market stall. On the way there I bumped into a bowler friend - a different one from the one I bumped into earlier in the week in town - and we chatted for a while, and once I was at the market stall, whilst chatting to another friend, I discovered that during the carillon renovation works, he had been lucky enough to actually go right to the top of the carillon, and touch the cross on the top! 

If any of you have read a book called "Loughborough in 50 buildings" you might have seen mention of Delice, the cafe on Baxter Gate. Well, since the book was published, Delice has closed its doors, but today was the opening day of a new cafe based in this beautiful 1930s building, Baxter's Tea Rooms, so I popped in there for a quick brew - which turned into a long cuppa when I bumped into friends who were also in there, and then another as I was on the way out!!

Delice

Eventually, on Saturday afternoon I made it the New Walk Museum in Leicester to see the Star Wars exhibition! It's a lovely building, and has been fairly recently renovated, with a new stairs put in, and extra cafe tables. Anyway, the Star Wars exhibition was upstairs, and was really quite exciting (even for someone like me who isn't really into the SW thing), mostly because it brought back memories of my misspent youth!! On leaving the museum, we popped into the cathedral to see RIII, had a coffee in the nearby Buddhist Centre and then had a wander around the city. For a special treat, we had dinner at Feast India, a buffet on Melton Road, Leicester.

Sadly, I missed two things this week: firstly, the bells of St Paul's starting their return journey to London, having been at Taylors for refurbishment, and then the refurbishment of the Fearon Fountain. 

Anyway, better go now - I have research for a book to do!

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). Lynne really was about Loughborough this week! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2018/09/lynne-really-was-about-loughborough.html  [Accessed 2 September 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