Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LOUGHBOROUGH

LOUGHBOROUGH, a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Leicester. The town stands on the Loughborough canal and on a branch of the river Soar, adjacent to the Midland railway, 1½ mile S of the boundary with Notts, 11 NNW of Leicester, and 16¾ SE of Derby. It was visited by Henry VIII.; was desolated by the "sweating sickness,' in 1557, and by the plague in 1564; numbers among its natives the naturalist Pulteny, born in 1730; and gave the title of Baron to Sir Edward Hastings in 1557, to Henry, the second son of the Earl of Huntingdon, in 1643,-and to Alexander Wedderburn, in 1780. The title, in the first and second instances, became extinct; and in the third instance, has descended to the Earl of Rosslyn. The town, in point of size and importance, ranks as the second in the county; it received much stimulus to its trade and general consequence from the enclosing and cultivating of Charnwood forest, lying to the SW; and it has long been a seat of considerable manufacture; but it latterly has somewhat declined. It is situated in the midst of a beautiful tract of country; it comprises one principal street, on the line of communication between Leicester and Derby, and a number of smaller streets at right angles with the principal one; it includes a large oblong market-place, surrounded by good houses and elegant shops; and it has, for a considerable series of years, been undergoing material improvement. The town hall and corn exchange, in the market-place, is a handsome stone edifice, erected in 1856, at a cost of about £8,000. The townhall contains an apartment, called the Victoria-room, used for public assemblies, and capable of seating 600 persons; and contains also a lecture-room, a public library, and a news-room. The corn exchange is at the rear; and is a well-lighted apartment, 80 feet long. The police station is a neat brick edifice of 1860; and contains a court room. The dispensary, in Baxter-gate, was built in 1862, at a cost of about £5,000; and is ornamental and convenient. The permanent library contains upwards of 3,500 volumes. The theatre was built in 1822; and was sold to the Odd Fellows, to be used as a meeting-hall. All Saints church is later English; comprises nave, aisle, transept, and chancel, with a very fine W tower; and was restored in 1862, under the direction of G. G. Scott, at a cost of about £9,000. Emmanuel church was built in 1837; is in the decorated English style; and comprises nave, aisles, and chancel, with a handsome tower. An Independent chapel is in Brook-side; a Particular Baptist chapel, in Sparrowhill; two General Baptist chapels, in Baxter-gate and Wood-gate; a Wesleyan chapel, in Leicester-road; a Unitarian chapel, in Victoria-street; and the last was built in 1865, is in the pointed style, and has a slated spire 72 feet high. The new cemetery lies on the road. to Leicester; and was formed in 1857, at a cost of about £7,500. A convent is in Park-lane. The grammar school stands on the Leicester road; dates from 1498; was rebuilt in 1853, at a cost of £7,800; is a handsome edifice, in the Tudor style, with an embattled tower; is surrounded by beautiful grounds, which are open to the inhabitants of the town; has £411 a year from endowment, and two exhibitions at Jesus college, Cambridge; and had, for a pupil, Bishop Davys of Peterborough. Four free schools, in different situations, are connected with the grammar school, or draw from its endowments; and there are two national schools. The workhouse has capacity for 350 persons. The endowed charities amount to £1,879; and they include £1,413, left in 1495 by Burton to endow a chantry, and now entirely appropriated to education. The town has a board of health; is a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; has a head post office,‡ a railway station with telegraph, four banking offices, and several good inns; and publishes two weekly newspapers. A weekly market is held on Thursday; fairs for cheese, on 24 March and 30 Sept.; and fairs for horses, cows, and sheep, on 28 March, 25 April, Holy Thursday, 12 Aug., and 13 Nov. Manufactures of hosiery, woollen thread and bobbin-net lace are largely carried on; and a considerable trade exists in the transport of coal by the canal. Real property of the town in 1860, £40,900; of which £5,853 were in the canal, £17 in iron-works, and £800 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851,11,210; in 1861,10,830. Houses, 2,438.

The township is conterminate with the town. The parish contains also the hamlets of Woodthorpe and Knight-Thorpe. Acres, 5,460. Real property, £43,669. Pop., 10,955. Houses, 2,466. The manor belonged to Hugh le Despenser; was given to Henry Lord Beaumont; passed to the Hastingses; and was recently sold by them. The ecclesiastical arrangement cuts the parish into two sections, All Saints and Emmanuel. The Emmanuel section was constituted an ecclesiastical parish in 1838, and had a pop. of 4,554 in 1861. Both livings are rectories in the diocese of Peterborough. Value of All Saints, £1,000;* of Emmanuel, £760 * Patron of both, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Charley, Dishley-cum-Thorpacre, Sheepshed, Belton, Long Whatton, and Hathern, and the extra-parochial tracts of Bardon and Garendon. Acres, 20,400. Pop., 17,583. Houses, 3,965. -The district comprehends also the sub-district of Leake, containing the parishes of East Leake, West Leake, Costock, Rempstone, Wysall, Thorpe-Bochart, Stanfordupon-Soar, Normanton-upon-Soar, Sutton-BonningtonSt. Michael, Sutton-Bonnington-St. Ann, Willoughbyon-the-Wolds, Wimeswold, and Prestwold,-all, except the last two, electorally in Notts. Acres of the district, 45,550. Poor rates in 1863, £11,910. Pop. in 1851, 25,368; in 1861,24,210. Houses, 5,494. Marriages in 1863,133; births, 814,-of which 75 were illegitimate; deaths, 539,-of which 225 were at ages under 5 years, and 13 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60,2,032; births, 8,357; deaths, 5,643. The places of worship, in 1851, were 20 of the Church of England, with 6,453 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 632 s.; 14 of Baptists, with 4,847 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 55 s.; 1 of Unitarians, with 100 s.; 20 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 3,834 s.; 5 of Primitive Methodists, with 924 s.: 1 of the New Church, with 35 s.; 2 undefined. with 300 s.; 3 of Latter Day Saints, with 290 s.; and 3 of Roman Catholics, with 998 s. The schools were 35 public day schools, with 2,597 scholars; 39 private day schools, with 831 s.; 35 Sunday schools, with 4,312 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 74 s.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a township, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Loughborough AP/CP       Loughborough SubD       Loughborough RegD/PLU       Leicestershire AncC
Place: Loughborough

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