Jitties

In March 1888, the year of the Incorporation of the Borough of Loughborough, the Leicester Chronicle, Saturday 31 st March, carried the following article on page 5:

“VESTRY MEETING

A vestry meeting was held in the parish church [now All Saints with Holy Trinity] on Thursday [29 March 1888] for the purpose of taking into consideration the proposed application for a faculty to authorise the construction of a public footpath around the north and east sides of the churchyard, so as to form a through communication between Toothill Lane and North Street, via the proposed new Rectory Road.

The proceedings were purely formal, only the rector, church wardens and the Rev. T. Vaughan Evans, and clerk being present. According to the present arrangements, the footpaths will have an entrance on Sparrow Hill near the Windmill Inn, and passing round the churchyard, proceed along the new road, leading into Toothill Lane directly opposite Cambridge Street.”

Faded Toothill Road sign 

A few words of explanation are perhaps needed here!

Toothill Lane, is clearly now called Toothill Road. The houses along here that are on either side of the entrance to Rectory Road have date stones that indicate they were built in 1888, although there are a number of earlier houses along this road.

Rectory Road is a short cul-de-sac, opposite the entrance to Cambridge Street, and leads off Toothill Road. At its end sits the Fearon Hall, originally built as a Sunday School venue in honour of former rector, Henry Fearon. Rectory Road has a row of Victorian villas on one side, and 1960s houses on the other, which form part of the estate built on the grounds belonging to the former rectory, when the major part of that building was demolished in the mid-1960s.

Fearon Hall to the left, looking down Rectory Road to the right

Fearon Hall at the top of Rectory Road

North Street, however, is not the North Road of today, which is at the far end of Meadow Lane, towards Stanford, opposite the turning for Station Boulevard. The 1883 map shows North Road as the one-way section of Nottingham Road that begins at its junction with Sparrow Hill and Meadow Lane, and at its other end, after the Royal Mail sorting office, leads into the main two-way Nottingham Road. It is possible that at one time what is now the two-way Nottingham Road may have once been also known as North Street.

North Street to the middle of the map

The parish church, was once dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, then to All Saints, possibly when the mission church of St Peter’s on Storer Road was opened.  Then, the parish church became now known as All Saints with Holy Trinity, as the church of the Holy Trinity, which was opened in 1877, closed in 1996.

The rector at the time was Thomas Pitts, who had taken up the role when the previous incumbent, Henry Fearon – who gave his name to Fearon Street - died, and Pitts remained as rector until 1917.

The Windmill Inn, adjacent to the churchyard, is reputed to be the oldest pub in Loughborough. Whether or not this is true, it certainly has an interesting history, and has survived the pandemic of 2020-21.

The little pathway to which the article refers is today known as Fearon Jitty, and runs alongside the Windmill Inn, around the perimeter of the churchyard (although it is believed that the was slightly changed at the time of construction) and out onto Rectory Place. 

Fearon Jitty, running alongside the wall - Windmill pub to the right

Close-up of Fearon Jitty with gravestones to the right and the outdoor area of the Windmill ahead

A jitty is the local name for a passageway or alleyway which runs between buildings or houses, or a footpath enclosed by trees or hedges. In Broseley there are jitties a-plenty, but in other parts of the country, these would be known as ginnels, in Yorkshire and Lancashire; gennels, in Sheffield; snickets, in South Yorkshire; or perhaps twittens or wynds. In Much Wenlock a jitty would be called a shut, while in Shrewsbury it would a lode, a byway or a footstreet.

Carters Jitty in Broseley, Shropshire

Loughborough has many jitties – some specifically named as jitties, others ways, lanes or walks – which will appear in future posts on this blog.

Streets: Cambridge Street, Fearon Jitty, Fearon Street, Meadow Walk, North Road, Nottingham Road, Radmoor Jitty, Rectory Road, Sparrow Hill, Toothill Road. 

Category: J Names of personal origin (local)

Map co-ordinates: G5

Posted by lynneaboutloughborough,  3 December 2021

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Dyer, Lynne (2021). Jitties. Available from: https://lynneaboutthestreetsofloughborough.blogspot.com/2021/12/jitties.html [Accessed 3 December 2021]

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