About the Streets of Loughborough Project
The streets
of Loughborough project
Throughout
the past 7 years, I have dabbled in this research, recording snippets of information
collected from a variety of sources, but it wasn’t until 2019, when the second of
my books about Loughborough, ‘Secret Loughborough’, was
published, that I delved deeply into the history and meaning of some of
Loughborough’s streets. I was able to include a selection of that research in the
opening chapter, which also included extracts from my research into local pubs
and inns.
Since then I
have continued with this research, some of which is contained in my third book
about Loughborough, ‘A-Z of Loughborough’, the publication of which has
been delayed, and which is now due out in June 2021. Had this not been the case, I would
by now have been well on the way to publishing a book about Loughborough streets,
but as some publishers have put their work on hold, and as I am not confident
about self-publishing, I have decided to share my work on Loughborough streets via
this blog.
In most cases
I am certain about the origins and/or meanings of the street names, but in a
few cases, either I am not sure, or there is the definite possibility that
there could be a number of different origins, and I will clearly indicate this
in the entry on the blog.
The street
names covered by this work are taken from the 2015 street map of Loughborough. The reason for this choice of map is because in late 2019 I went to a local stationer to buy an updated map, having discovered that mine was getting old, and there had been quite rapid recent growth in housing developments in Loughborough. However, having bought the map and on opening it up at home, I discovered that this latest edition was from 2015! There are a few further points to note here:
*I
have chosen to include as extra to this a number of former streets, which have
either been eradicated, or have changed name
*I
have chosen to add a few newer street names, where these form a unique or
otherwise interesting group, or individual name
*This
map contains some street names within the university campus, so I will cover
these as best I can
In some ways,
this is a companion blog to lynneaboutloughborough, and there will be occasions
when I reference my own work on that blog, especially if I feel articles there
might provide supplementary information about a particular street, which the
reader might find of interest.
The streets
of Loughborough blog
The streets
of Loughborough blog is organised in a way which should be relatively easy to
follow. Main articles about a street will be published as a blogpost, and will
be tagged with the street name and any other names pertinent to the entry (e.g.
Edward Chatterton Middleton, and Edward William Craddock Middleton would be
tagged in any blogpost about Middleton Place).
Where possible,
I will include such information as the map co-ordinates; the type, or theme or
cateogry of the street name; the history and development of the street; the
origins of the street name, and contemporary photographs.
There are also a number of pages, which include this page which you are reading; an About Me, page; a page listing general resources that I have consulted during my research, and a number of pages that are an index to each street name. In the index pages, any highlighted street name will link back to the appropriate blogpost, and any street name not highlighted will not yet have a blogpost entry.
A word on
Room
In his book, ‘The
street names of England’, Room discusses a number of different categories
or themes into which he suggests that all road names in England can be
categorised. Room’s categories include Roman roads and ancient ways;
self-descriptive names; field and water names (animal, bird and plant-related
names may have originated as field names); directional names; religious names;
trading, occupational and national names; names of buildings and structures;
bridge names; names from inns; names of personal origin; commemorative and
propitious names, and more general thematic names.
What is most interesting is that Room does actually include some Loughborough street names in his examples within his book. Although there isn’t a local example falling into each category, it is heartening to find Loughborough mentioned at all. Here are Room’s examples:
*Bakewell
Road – a personal name
*Beacon
Road – a directional name
*Burleigh
Road – a building or structure name
*Burton
Street – a personal name
*Charnwood
Road – a field name that is actually a directional name
*Coneries
– a field or water name
*Dead
Lane – a directional name
*Epinal
Way – a commemorative name
*Fearon
Street – a personal name
*Fennel
Street – possibly a field name, but more likely symbolic of suburban gentility
*Garendon
Street – a building or structure name
*Hickling
Court – a personal name
*Meadow
Lane – a field name
*Packhorse
Lane – a self-descriptive name
*Priory
Road – a religious name
*Steeple
Row – a religious name
*Storer
Road – a personal name
*Swan Street – a field or water name
Of course, the 2015 map I have based my research around lists considerably more Loughborough street names than Room was able to cover in his book – about 703 more in fact – given that Room's coverage was national! I am aiming to discuss all 731 street names in future blogposts.
Enjoy your
visit!
