Q is for Q 30541

In ‘Loughborough A-Z’ for the entry under letter ‘Q’ I chose to write about Charles Quastel, the head of the Spiritualist movement who came and opened Loughborough’s Spiritualist church on Steeple Row in the 1960s; the Queen’s Anniversary Prize, which our university has won numerous times; Quercus Petraea, because we in Loughborough are surrounded by these oak trees, and the Quorn Hunt, because so many of Loughborough’s gentry were part of this.

So, for today’s Q I contemplated writing about a local family going by the surname Quail, but eventually decided to appeal to the railway enthusiasts, by writing – very briefly – about the Q class locomotive, most especially Q 541, also known as Q 30541.

Apparently, the Q class was designed by Richard Maunsell, and was actually his last design. Q 541 was built in 1939 at Eastleigh for Southern Railway, and began its life at Guildford, but only stayed there for 8 years, before being moved to Three Bridges, which I believe is in Crawley. The railways were nationalised in 1948, following The Transport Act of 1947, and Q 541 was re-numbered to Q 30541.

In 1953 the loco moved briefly to Stewarts Lane in Battersea, before spending the next 10 years in Bournemouth. In 1963 it moved back to Guildford, after a few months in Basingstoke, but its life in it the place of its original home was short-lived as the engine was withdrawn in late 1964, and found itself at the scrapyard in Barry.

I don’t know what happened to it for 8 years, but in 1973 it was bought by a group of enthusiasts, and restoration took place at an engineering factory in Gloucestershire. Once some of the work was completed, the loco moved to the Bluebell line in Sussex, where restoration was continued, and finally completed in 1983. It was re-numbered with its original 541 number, and painted in Southern Railways black as it had been originally.

Sorry if I’m preaching to the converted, but railway locomotives have a kind of MOT test for engines, which once issued last for 10 years, after which the engine has to be fully overhauled, a process which can take some time, and indeed this is what happened next to Q 541. Withdrawn for its 10-year overhaul in 1992, it actually took 22 years until the engine was ready to run again, and in 2015, painted in BR black and numbered 30541, it returned to service on the Blubell Line.

So, what exactly does this have to do with Loughborough, other than the fact that we have the wonderful Great Central Railway in our town? Well, Q 30541 has paid many visits to other railways across the country, like Nene Valley, Severn Valley, and Mid-Hants, and on 4th and 5th February 2017 the engine visited Loughborough! As far as I know it was returned safely, but is now again subject to an overhaul.

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This post is one in a series of posts for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

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 (2024). Q is for Q 30541. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/q-is-for-q-30541.html [Accessed 19 April 2024]

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.

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By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

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If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

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Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

P is for Pubs

Pubs! Well, a very small selection, and it would be remiss of me not to write about pubs for letter ‘P’, given the latest book!!

First of all, is our Phantom under threat? I have a feeling the Phantom, which was once the Cross Keys, is still owned by the Stonegate Group, which has in the past couple of days announced that it is re-financing.

Pubs we have lost since ‘Loughborough Pubs’ was written include the Moon and Bell, which closed in October 2023. It has since been re-roofed, but the windows – some of which are definitely 1930s Crittall windows – have been boarded up. For a while, the internal lights were left on, which afforded an interesting view of the deserted pub. However, Wetherspoons other pub in Loughborough, the Amber Rooms on The Rushes, is still trading.

The Windmill on Sparrow Hill, its frontage emblazoned with the words ‘Loughborough’s Oldest Pub’, has also closed, and the building sold. As far as I am aware it is to become (if it hasn’t already) a residential property.

The Plough over at Thorpe Acre has closed very recently, I believe. This is an interesting establishment, which has its back facing onto the road: you need to go round the back – to the front! – to really appreciate the building.

Champs was surrounded by scaffolding a few months ago. The Bellfoundry had another re-furb, and the Blacksmiths is currently being renovated. 

Blacksmiths before latest renovation

There are numerous other posts about Loughborough's pubs on this blog: use the web view rather than the mobile view to see an alphabetical list of topics covered, where pubs will be listed under their name.

I don't know if it still contains up-to-date information, but years ago I did a pub quiz with a difference for the blog!

____________________________________

This post is one in a series of posts for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

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 (2024). Pubs. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/p-is-for-pubs.html  [Accessed 18 April 2024]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

O is for Odeon

Well, I thought long and hard about whether or not to write about Occupations, Ostlers, and Osier Peelers, but in the end decided on an all-time favourite, Loughborough’s Odeon!! But which one?!

If you’ve arrived in Loughborough around 2009 or later, you’ll know that our Odeon is on Cattle Market, sandwiched between a NatWest Bank and a nail bar. But, as I suggested, it only became on Odeon around 2009.

Loughborough’s original Odeon, on Baxter Gate, opened in November 1936, despite there already being two cinemas in the town. Oscar Deutsch for whom the cinema was built, had opened his first cinema at Brierley Hill near Dudley, in 1928, before starting the Odeon chain. There was much building of new cinemas across the country, and by 1937 there were probably about 250 Odeons.

Deutsch had a preferred partnership with the architectural practice of Harry Weedon (partly because they had been born near each other around the same time, and so probably knew each other) and it was Arthur J. Price from Weedon’s firm who actually designed our Odeon. In 1936, the Art Deco style had reached its streamline modèrne phase, and it is this that gives our Odeon its beautiful lines; that and the local Hathernware faience tiles with which it is clad, in a basket weave pattern, with highlights of black and green.

The Odeon opened showing the film ‘Mr Deeds Goes to Town’ starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, and directed by Frank Capra. The first manager of the Odeon was Clarence George Starkey, who had come straight from being the manager at the Rialto Cinema in Briggate, Leeds. This opening was a month too late to play host to the Jarrow Marchers, who were given free seats at one of Loughborough’s other cinemas, when they arrived in Loughborough from Nottingham, on their way to London.

That other cinema was the New Empire on Cattle Market. It had originally opened in 1914, advertised as The Empire, and had had a bit of a refurb in 1929. However, perhaps sensing that the competition was hotting up, the owner, Charles Knight Deeming (who also owned Loughborough’s other cinema, The Victory, the Regent Theatre, and cinemas in nearby Coalville), the Empire had a major extension and refurb, which led to the wonderful Art Deco façade we see today. Its local Hathernware tiles complemented by a striking angular tower, and green and yellow repeated motif. Deeming must have been very proud to host the Jarrow Marchers in his New Empire Cinema!

Later, around 1954, the New Empire was sold to the Essoldo Chain, before being sold to the Tigon Group who named it the Classic for a while, before becoming the Curzon! Meanwhile, over on Baxter Gate, the Odeon became the Classic around 1964, before closing as a cinema in 1974, and firstly became a Mecca Bingo, then a Beacon Bingo, before closing its doors permanently. And so, our Odeon might have been our only remaining cinema, until the General Hospital was demolished and the Cineworld Cinema opened in 2016.      

____________________________________

This post is one in a series of posts for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

 

____________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

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 (2024). O is for Odeon. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/o-is-for-odeon.html [Accessed 17 April 2024]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne

N is for Nanpantan

Heading out of Loughborough along Forest Road, in the direction of Charnwood Forest, you will see the road name changes to Nanpantan Road, and you will pass through Nanpantan itself. Like Loughborough, it’s an unusual name, and also like Loughborough, the origins of the name are subject to some interesting suggestions – and spellings!

Possibilities for the derivation of the name are that it might have been named after a woman called Nan Pantain, or after the Anglo-Saxon word for an enclosure – a plantain. There is certainly an area of Charnwood Forest called Nan Pantain’s, which appears on the 1754 map of the area. It also seems that the spelling of the name was only relatively recently formalised – well in the 1920s, which is not that long ago really – to Nanpantan, rather than Nanpanton!

So, what’s there to know about the area? Be warned, I’m keeping it brief!

On the lefthand side as you go out of Loughborough, you will pass the Nanpantan Scout hut, and if you happen to be passing in December, you’ll see the bright display of Christmas lights in the front garden of the house next door! Someone once told me that the house the other side of the Scout hut was once an isolation hospital, but I haven’t as yet verified that. I do know that a little further up on the same side, there used to be a Temperance Hotel, which was often a venue for annual church, workers, or schools outings. 

Then, still on the lefthand side, there are some cottages which were part of the Nanpantan Hall estate, and then what is now a care home, but was once known as Jackie Bennett’s Longcliffe Hotel. Now that you’ve reached the crossroads, you’ll see a lovely pub called The Priory, opened in 1936. You can’t miss it, as it looks like a fairytale French chateau, its towers not unlike that on a house you’ve just passed on the right, called Foxhills!!

If you were to turn left at this point you'd soon come to the Nanpantan Reservoir, Home Farm on the right, and eventually the Outwoods on the left, but instead, continue past the crossroads, up the hill, you’ll pass the little church of St Mary, which was once a mission hall, but is now a church for the parish. Although it is a tiny building, there is a war memorial outside, graves and memorials, and a nature trail. 

A little further on the left are the lodge houses at the entrance driveway to Nanpantan Hall, built for the Warner family of hosiers in 1870, although they never lived there, preferring to lease it out, before selling it on to the Paget family, in whose ownership it remained until the death of the last of the direct family line in the late 1980s. It’s now a venue for courses, for weddings, and the occasional public event.

 

____________________________________

This post is one in a series of posts for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

___________________________________

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

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 (2024). N is for Nanpantan. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2024/04/n-is-for-nanpantan.html [Accessed 16 April 2024]

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.

External Links:

By including links to external sources I am not endorsing the websites, the authors, nor the information contained therein, and will not check back to update out-of-date links. Using these links to access external information is entirely the responsibility of the reader of the blog.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.

Searching the blog:

You can search the blog using the dedicated search box that appears near the top of the blog when viewed in the web version. Alternatively, you can search using your usual search engine (e.g. Bing, Google, DuckDuckGo etc.) by following this example:

site: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/ “Radmoor House”

NOTE – the words you’re actually looking for must be in “” and the first of these must be preceded by a space

Thank you for reading this blog.

Lynne