Footpath Walks Round Loughborough – 70 Years later

Footpath Walks Round Loughborough – 70 Years later

Recently a book came in to my possession entitled “Footpath Walks Round Loughborough”. It is not clear from the book who the original author was, but the routes evidently first appeared in the Loughborough Echo and were reprinted in book form in 1950. I thought it might be fun and interesting to try to recreate some of these walks and see how much our town has changed in the last 70 years.

The first walk I attempted was one called “Woodhouse, Beaumanor and Quorn”. I will post extracts from the book in italics with my own comments in regular font.

“We will call this the “Inner Circle” walk (of about 2 ½ hours) as compared with the wider circle described in walk no 9 – Woodhouse Eaves, Rushey Fields and Quorn.

A start is made from the Burton Walks, past the Grammar School of ancient foundation, whose buildings and grounds are delightfully situated, encircled by an avenue of elms. We leave the Walks by the bridge in the far corner which spans the stream – a short cut to the modern housing estate of Shelthorpe, of which Loughborough is justifiably proud.

On reaching the main road through the estate, a few yards to the right brings us to the Woodthorpe Road.

I start my walk at the same place. I doubt Burton Walks has changed over much in the last 70 years.

I am interested that the writer appears to have gone down the poorly graffitied jitty to Shelthorpe (see penultimate picture above), when a more pleasant route, in my opinion, is to turn right at the bridge and follow the path beside the stream till it comes out on Humphrey Close (see last picture above) and then turn left onto Castledine Street Extn and you are then immediately opposite Woodthorpe Road. Perhaps this alternative route was not available to him.

Halfway down this road we turn along Shelthorpe Avenue by the side of the fine modern primary school, and turning right where two paths meet, skirt the “ 10 acre playing field” into Ling Road. Then left again into Manor Road, which we follow throughout its entire length.

These few words do not really convey the route, the modern walker must take to follow the writer’s footsteps! I find the little path at the side of “Beacon Academy” and obediently skirt the playing field until the path ends abruptly at the Epinal Way. On exiting the path I have to turn left and walk up Epinal Way to a crossing. On arriving at the other side I can cross into what is left of Ling Road. This almost immediately turns into Manor Road and I walk along its length following the book.

The footpath starts at the end of Manor Road and three fields on crosses the private drive connecting Beaumanor to the hamlet of Woodthorpe to our left. Continuing across the drive, it follows the hedgerow and skirts a large arable field. Another pasture or two and we cross a stream before entering the highway near the main gates of Beaumanor.

At this point, these few lines are laughably sketchy 70 years on. Manor Drive now ends at a line of bollards and beyond that is a newer estate beginning with Highland Drive. From the end of Manor Drive there is no sign of the missing footpath but I continue forward hopefully, spotting a large field to my left though no footpath sign.

I continue along Highland Drive and then there are some bollards to the right which are marked as a cycle way and footpath so I join that footpath which is hopefully the descendent of the footpath from 70 years ago.

The footpath continues to Allendale Road where it crosses the green there and continues on beyond this. After this part the footpath separates into three routes in front of me. One way turns left and would take me back to the large meadow near the new Aldi. The original path meanders round the edge of this new estate and is broadly going in the right direction. The third option takes me through a break in the hedge onto a gravel track which is again broadly going in the right direction. As this is the oldest of the routes available to me, I choose this route.

A few metres along this track is a yellow flagged, signposted stile to the left. A helpful lady runner tells me that this will take me towards Beaumanor or Woodthorpe. She does mention that there is a circular route here but I confess I do not spot this.

I follow the yellow posts very easily and they do indeed cross a stream and skirt some farmers’ fields just like the vague directions from 70 years ago state. I’m not entirely convinced I am following the correct route however, but I do eventually emerge onto the main road at Woodhouse.

I do consult my erstwhile time travelling companion but at this point he starts rambling :

Throughout the walk thus far we have had fine views of the Beacon and the range of Forest hills with Buddon Wood to our front and after crossing the private road the path has skirted Beaumanor Park

At no point did I cross a private road before I hit the main road, which has me wondering if I am indeed on the right route. Though I did see some fine views as my photos can attest!

The estate (of Beamanor) which was recently dispersed, comprised 6,500 acres and included the Beacon, the Hanging Stone Rocks, the village of Woodhouse and the mansion of Beaumanor.

One of the more stately homes of England, Beaumanor is rich in it associations of its illustrious occupants, many of whom figure prominently in the history of years gone by. The manor itself dates from the time of the Conqueror, though there was no mansion until the middle of the 14th century. Here Lord Beaumont, the third of this line, twice entertained Richard II and his queen. The Park was once one of the largest in England, its circumference being fully thirty miles.

I have paused at the gate to the main road through Woodhouse and am scan reading through my rambling friend’s ramblings to try to establish if I am still on the right route. Instead he burbles on about the history of the Herrick Family. I enclose it below, as you might be interested, but I must stress, when trying to find your bearings this is not helpful!

Since the time of Queen Elizabeth until within recent years the estate remained in the hands of the Herrick Family – it passed from Sir William Heyricke (or Herrick) in succession to seven of his descendants, each of the same name. The family throughout this long tenure was well known for its kindness to the tenantry and generosity to the poor.

The present mansion is the third on the site and was built a century ago by William Railton, the designer of the Nelson Column. It housed the family archives and a number of interesting momentoes of the past – the bridal coach built for William Herrick in 1740, a bedstead alleged to have been slept on by Richard III before the Battle of Bosworth (This is now at Donington Le Heath Manor House) and a remarkable chair dated 1690 cut from a single tree (I think this may now be in Charnwood Museum).

During the Second World War the mansion was used as a communications headquarters and is retained for this purpose by the War Office. The tall wireless masts have become a feature of the neighbourhood.

He does at last return to some semblance of directions!

For a few hundred yards we must now take to the road through “Old” Woodhouse in the days of the Herricks rustic idyll, redolent of old-world beauty and thoroughly English, but now assuming a more utilitarian aspect. The Army has not had a little to do with this transformation, for the once park –like surroundings of Garat’s Hay have been converted into a small township of Army huts. Where the road divides stands the ancient church with its 600 years of history.

I confess at this point I was thoroughly confused and it was becoming an extremely hot day so I decided to head home on a route that I did know. I crossed over from the gate to the footpath on the other side of the main road and followed the road along to the right until it reached Beaumanor Hall. At this point I turned down Beaumanor’s drive and took the footpath which curls off to the right. I then followed this same path through Mucklin Wood until it eventually emerged back on to the footpath which curls round the edge of the newer estate and which I had left to walk to Beaumanor and Woodhouse. You can at this point, either follow the footpath back down the hill towards the Shelthorpe estate and your starting point, or head towards Fairmeadows Way, then Atherstone Road and Park Road and make your way back down the hill that way. Either way this walk took me over 2 hours and was approximately 4-5 mile according to my stepometer. It is over 10,000 steps so if you would like to get your daily goal over in one fell swoop this will do it! I don’t consider myself a slow walker, though I did have to pause frequently for the dog to catch me up and given that my rambling friend has taken a completely different route back which incorporates Woodthorpe and Quorn I can only conclude that he is either an extremely fast walker or his route may have been faster than mine! I will endeavour to pick up the missing part of the route and incorporate it into this one. I have done part of the route which is through Quorn and the footpath from Quorn to Woodthorpe before but I’m not convinced that this would not add at least another hour onto the route!

I will try some more of his routes at another date!