Fearon Street

Fearon Street, with Fearon Cottage

In the 1880s the area behind the genteel properties on Ashby Road was beginning to be developed for housing, particularly when the Messenger factory moved to the end of Cumberland Road in 1884, the new housing providing homes for both the workers and managers of the company, and was known as the Messenger Village. Land had been provided by the Paget family and by the Storer trust. According to the date stones on the houses in this area, the first homes on this land were on Paget Street, when in 1884 a pair of cottages, named Paget Cottages (now numbered 2 and 3), and a row of seven cottages, named Albany Terrace (now numbered 144-150)  were built. These were followed in 1885 by houses on Leopold Street and Station Street, and another pair of cottages on Paget Street. 1886 saw the beginnings of housing on Oxford Street, which continued into 1887, along with more dwellings on Paget and Station Streets. Further houses were developed on Leopold, Oxford and Paget Streets in 1888, but it wasn’t until 1889 that another group of new streets appeared. Amongst these new streets were Cumberland Road, Storer Road and Fearon Street. 

The first houses to be built along Fearon Street were, what are now numbers 1 and 3, known as Grace Dieu Cottages[1], built in 1889[2]. 

The following year, two pairs of villas were constructed, Cliff Villas and Primrose Villas, now numbered 7, 9, 11 and 13[3]. 

Although they have names, no dates appear on the house name plaques on properties numbered 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 and 49. These houses do appear on the census returns for 1891 and are inhabited, so clearly date from 1890-1891.  

The building of the individual house known as Quebec House then followed in 1894 and today is numbered 29. 

In 1898, Florian Villas, a pair of houses now numbered 23 and 25, and bearing the newest date stones, were built. 

By the time of the 1901 street directory, properties are listed as odd-numbers, 1-17[4], and 23-51, and even-numbers 2-18. Today, Fearon Street comprises odd-numbered houses from 1-17 and 23-53, although the entrance to the latter is from Cumberland Road. The even-numbered houses on Fearon Street, none of which have date or name stones, remain as reported in the 1901 street directory. 

Given that the land on which Fearon Street is situated was purchased in 1888, that the property number 43 is called Fearon Cottage and that the earliest houses appear to date from 1889, it is clear that this street is named after Henry Fearon, who died in 1885.

Henry Fearon had been born in Cuckfield in 1802, to the Reverend Joseph Francis Fearon and his wife Jane (neé Clutton). He attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and later trained to be a clergyman. After a spell as curate of Cuckfield, and a school teacher in the same village, he took up a position as Rector of Loughborough in 1849, a post he held until his death. He advanced to become Archdeacon of Leicester in 1863, a role which he surrendered only a year before he died. Henry Fearon didn’t marry, and he was supported in his work in Loughborough by his sister. He is remembered for being a champion of education and for providing Loughborough with its first clean water supply. [5]

House names of Fearon Street 

Plaque Name	Plaque Date	House Numbers	Plaque Style	Plaque Shape
Grace Dieu Cottages	1889	1 & 3	Sandstone	Proud rectangle
Cliff Villas	1890	7 & 9	Terracotta	Lozenge with proud rectangular terracotta roof
Primrose Villas	1890	11 & 13	Terracotta	Lozenge with proud triangular terracotta roof
Quebec House	1894	29	Sandstone	Rectangle with proud border
Florian Villas	1898	23 & 25	Sandstone and terracotta	Lozenge with proud triangular terracotta roof
Fearon Cottage	No date	43	Sandstone	Proud rectangle
Oak Cottages	No date	31 & 33	Sandstone	Proud rectangle
Garendon Cottages	No date	47 & 49	Sandstone	Recessed rectangle
Beacon View House	No date	45	Sandstone	Recessed rectangle
Fern Villas	No date	39 & 41	Sandstone	Proud rectangle
Ivy Villas	No date	35 & 37	Sandstone	Proud rectangle

 Notes

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[1] The naming of the houses along Fearon Street may reflect the convention of the time to give properties feel-good factor names, pertaining mostly to natural things, like flowers etc.. In the case of this street, some names are clearly related to nearby natural features, like Beacon View (presumably referring to Beacon Hill, often known simply as The Beacon), or natural botanical features like oaks, ferns, and ivy, as represented in Oak Cottages, and Fern and Ivy Villas. Other house names on Fearon Street reflect local-ish buildings, for example, the Garendon estate was a large deer park and formerly the site of an abbey, and Grace Dieu was the site of what is now a ruined abbey, as presented in Garendon and Grace Dieu Cottages. It is surmised that the name Florian Villas comes from the Latin word, ‘florus’, meaning ‘flowering’, but the reasoning behind Quebec House is unclear.

[2] Although the datestone on Grace Dieu Cottages states 1889, the ‘cottages’ were not built in time to be included in the local street directory for that year. The 1890 street directory does not indicate house names or numbers, but simply lists the inhabitants of each property, which in that year numbered 8 properties.

[3] On the 1891 census, it is clearly indicated that there are 4 properties being built, and they appear on the returns after number 3, and before number 31. It is thus likely that these are what became Cliff and Primrose Villas.

[4] Numbers 19 and 21 have never been assigned to any property on Fearon Street.

[5] Further information about the life and times of Henry Fearon can be found on the following blogpost articles: So Who Was Henry Fearon? (2015), Death and Funeral of Henry Fearon (2020) and Spotlight on the Fearon Fountain (2020)

This post is published to coincide with the release of a new book entitled: 'Paget Street, Loughborough 1891: a glimpse into history', by Sharon Gray, and edited by Kathy Phillips, which is available from the Loughborough Local and Family History Centre in Loughborough Public Library, cost £5.99 

Streets: Ashby Road, Cumberland Road, Fearon Street, Leopold Street, Paget Street, Oxford Street, Station Street

Category: J Name of Personal Origin (local)

Map co-ordinates: F6

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough 22 July 2021

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Dyer, Lynne (2021). Fearon Street. Available from: https://lynneaboutthestreetsofloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/07/fearon-street.html [Accessed July 2021]

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