A-Z of Loughborough

Explore the Leicestershire town of Loughborough in this fully illustrated A-Z guide to its history, people and places.

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So, what is the significance of the seventeenth-century Sir Thomas Abney to Loughborough, and what is the connection between the young Princess Alexandrina, later to become Queen Victoria, and Loughborough? What is the history of the Bat House, and what is the mysterious Building N on the university campus? Which industry has its last remaining factory in Loughborough? What is the meaning of local words like ‘jitty’ and ‘Ingle Pingle’, and why is Bottleacre Lane so named?

Being on the edge of the Charnwood Forest, Loughborough has woods and spinneys in abundance, but there is still plenty of space for allotments and meadows. Watercourses criss-cross the town like arteries, running from the heart of the Charnwood Forest, into the River Soar or the Grand Union Canal, and artificial bodies of water have been created on former industrial sites.

In this alphabetical tour around the university market town of Loughborough, the second largest town in Leicestershire after the county town of Leicester, the author invites you to learn about the town’s history through its buildings, structures, streets and thoroughfares; through its firms and local people; and through its features like waterways, woods and
fields.

With tales of fairs, follies and families, this book dips into some of the most interesting and intriguing parts of Loughborough’s history. But do you agree with Daniel Defoe that Loughborough is a ‘market town ... but of no great note?’ The author sets out to gently persuade you that there is much more to Loughborough than at first might meet the eye.