Loughborough

The earliest reference to Loughborough occurs in the Domesday Book of 1086, which calls it Lucteburne.[3] It appears as Lucteburga in a charter from the reign of Henry II, and as Luchteburc in the Pipe Rolls of 1186. The name is of Old English origin and means "Luhhede's burh or fortified place".[4][5]

The first sign of industrialisation in the district came in the early 19th century, when John Heathcoat, an inventor from Derbyshire, patented in 1809 an improvement to the warp loom, known as the twisted lace machine, which allowed mitts with a lace-like appearance to be made.

Heathcoat, in partnership with the Nottingham manufacturer Charles Lacy, moved his business from there to the village of Hathern, outside Loughborough. The product of this "Loughborough machine" came to be known as English net or bobbinet. However, the factory was attacked in 1816 by Luddites thought to be in the pay of Nottingham competitors and 55 frames were destroyed. This prompted Heathcoat to move his business to a disused woollen mill in Tiverton, Devon.[6]

In 1888 a charter of incorporation was obtained, allowing a mayor and corporation to be elected. The population increased from 11,000 to 25,000 in the following ten years.

Among the factories established were Robert Taylor's bell foundry John Taylor & Co and the Falcon works, which produced steam locomotives, then motor cars, before it was taken over by Brush Electrical Machines. In 1897, Herbert Morris set up a factory in the Empress Works in Moor Lane which become one of the foremost crane manufacturers by the mid-20th century.[7]

There was also strong municipal investment: a new sewage works in 1895, then a waterworks in Blackbrook and a power station in Bridge Street in 1899. The corporation took over the Loughborough Gas Company in 1900.

In 1841, Loughborough was the destination for the first package tour, organised by Thomas Cook for a temperance group from Leicester.

As Loughborough grew in the 20th century, it gained new suburbs. Thorpe Acre in the north-west of Loughborough was a hamlet of about twenty dwellings until the mid-20th century. Several earlier survivors include a 19th-century church – All Saints Church, Thorpe Acre with Dishley, built in 1845 and extended in 1968 – and a hostelry, The Plough Inn. The population is counted into the Loughborough–Garendon Ward of Charnwood Council. Many roads there are named after poets. After World War II, some of Thorpe Acre developed further, mainly in the 1950s for employees of Brush Engineering Works, with 100 dwellings built of no-fines concrete.[8] In the 1960s and early 1970s, Thorpe Acre gained a new estate that subsumed the old village. Two of Loughborough's secondary schools, Charnwood College and De Lisle College, lie on its bounds, as does Garendon Park, a large deer park from the 18th century. The original Dishley, off Derby Road, was heavily developed along with Thorpe Acre in the 1970s. Dishley Church in Derby Road is now in ruins. The agriculturalist Robert Bakewell (1726–1795) is buried there.

Shelthorpe and surrounding area are new suburbs in the south of Loughborough. Work on the original Shelthorpe started in 1929, but was halted by World War II and resumed in 1946. The centre of Shelthorpe has a wide variety of shops, including a Tesco Extra, which is probably the largest supermarket in Loughborough.

The Hazel Road and Fairmeadows Way estates to the west of Shelthorpe and the south of the university date from the 1970s. They stretch from Holywell Drive to Hazel Road. Rainbows Hospice, a children's hospice,[9] and the secondary Woodbrook Vale School are on the edge of the suburb. They were followed by the Haddon Way estates to the south of the estates, and then by Grange Park, just south of Shelthorpe and north-west of the hamlet of Woodthorpe, whose construction began in 2006 after completion of Terry Yardley Way to One Ash Roundabout, the last phase of Loughborough's A6004 ring road.

A planning application to build 30 new homes by William Davis Homes came under criticism in 2018 from residents saying that they had been promised public amenities like shops and a place of worship, but were living on "a construction site"; the site was originally intended to have shops, a church, community centre and health centre built on it.[10] Despite the criticism, Charnwood Borough Council approved the plans. Most of the housing schemes in the area have been completed; however, one further development of 33 homes, called Willowbrook, has commenced, and plans for another of 120 homes to the east of Woodthorpe have been registered.

Persimmon Homes and William Davis Homes unveiled plans in 2013 for 3,200 new houses on Garendon Park as the West of Loughborough Sustainable Urban Extension. These were approved in 2018. A new roundabout has been constructed on the A512;[11] this will connect the new development to the north with a new Science and Enterprise Park to the south.[12] The A512 has been widened between junction 23 of the M1 and Snells Nook Lane. After hosting two successful vegan markets in 2022, Charnwood Borough Council initiated three vegan markets to be held in Market Place in March, May, and October 2023.[13]

Loughborough Central railway station

Loughborough station is a mainline station serving the town. In 2012, Network Rail redeveloped the station increasing the length of the platforms and improving access; concurrently, the local council made improvements to the surrounding area. East Midlands Railway is the primary operator providing services on the Midland Main Line south to Leicester, Market Harborough, Kettering and London St Pancras stations and north to Nottingham, Lincoln, Derby and Sheffield stations. The link to London is twice-hourly and provides a link to Europe via Eurostar. Leicester and Derby stations allow transfers to CrossCountry trains running between the north-east of Scotland and the south-west of England.

There were at one time three railway routes to the town: the still-operating Midland Main Line, the Great Central Railway that closed as a result of the Beeching cuts and a branch line from Nuneaton that was part of the London & North Western Railway. Loughborough Central railway station served the Great Central Railway. It was opened on 15 March 1899 and closed in 1969 but re-opened in March 1974 as part of the Great Central heritage railway.[14] The railway is split into two sections north and south of Loughborough. Loughborough Central station is the northern terminus of the southern section of the railway and services run daily. As of 2017, there were plans to fill the gap and link the two halves of the railway again.[15] Thus, a new bridge was installed over the Midland Main Line, the A60 and the Grand Union Canal. Work is now progressing on restoring another bridge over parking lot of an industrial estate.

Brush Traction, a manufacturer of railway locomotives, is also located in the town, adjacent to the Midland railway station.

Loughborough sits at the crossroads of three main roads, two of which begin in Loughborough itself. The A6 main road begins at Luton before running north through places such as Bedford, Leicester, Loughborough, Derby and Manchester, and ending at Carlisle.

The A60 begins in Loughborough and goes north to Nottingham, Mansfield and Worksop. The A512 begins in Loughborough and runs west towards the M1, Shepshed and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, while the A6004, which was originally proposed as a bypass for Loughborough, runs from just south of the town around the western and northern suburbs of Loughborough, ending near the railway station at the A60.

Other signed routes are the B589, running between the A6 and the A60, and the B5350, running between the A6 and the A6004.

The M1's Junction 23 lies just to the west of Loughborough. The north of the town can be accessed from Junction 24, travelling through Kegworth and Hathern on the A6 road and the south-west of the town from Junction 22, via Copt Oak and the small hamlet of Nanpantan.

Buses in and around Loughborough are operated by Arriva Midlands East, Kinchbus,[16] Diamond East Midlands, Centrebus, Nottingham City Transport and Vectare

Buses around Loughborough town centre depart from on-street stops on various streets around the town centre. Until around 2001 some bus services were operated from a bus station near Fennel Street, but this was demolished as part of a town centre regeneration with The Rushes Shopping Centre being built on the site.

The River Soar passes by to the east of the town. Navigation from Loughborough north towards the Trent was achieved in 1778 by the Loughborough Navigation, which terminates at Loughborough Wharf between Derby Road and Bridge Street. Subsequently, the Leicester Navigation was constructed, connecting to the Loughborough Navigation at Chain Bridge and to the River Soar south of the town. Both form part of the Grand Union Canal.

The now derelict Charnwood Forest Canal once linked Nanpantan (on the west side of Loughborough) with Thringstone, with goods being carried into Loughborough by a horse-drawn wagonway.

Hazlerigg Front Lawn

British Aerospace EAP at the Aeronautical Engineering Department at Loughborough University

In 2004, Loughborough University was ranked 9th among British universities by The Times' Good University Guide. In 2006 Loughborough was ranked 6th. In 2007 The Guardian rated the university 8th, and 10th of 117 institutions by The Guardian League Tables 2009 (published online 1 June 2008 for the 2009–2010 academic year. The university stands fifth in some rankings, behind Oxbridge and the London universities. It has the largest sports scholarship in the UK. More than 250 international athletes study and train there. In 2008 it was named Sunday Times University of the Year.[24]

Loughborough College is the second biggest education establishment in Loughborough, after the University. It offers further education and vocational courses. It was established in 1909, and has over 12,000 full and part-time students.

RNIB College, Loughborough, caters for those over 16 with a wide range of disabilities, seeking access to education, employment and independent living.

Loughborough has a variety of uniformed youth organisations, with several Scout and Girl Guide units, Girls' and Boys' Brigades, units from the cadet forces (Air Training Corps, Army Cadet Force, Sea Cadet Corps, and Combined Cadet Force at Loughborough Grammar School), a St John Ambulance Cadet unit, and a cadet programme run by the local Fire and Rescue Service. Since November 2015, Loughborough has also had a Volunteer Police Cadet unit based at Loughborough College.[25]