Did You Know?

Loughborough is located within Leicestershire. Loughborough University is located in Loughborough. The Charnwood Borough Council is also placed here. In 2004, it was a home for 57,600 people. In Leicestershire, it is the second most populous settlement.

Loughborough began as a Saxon village. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) Loughborough probably had a population of about 180-200. By the standards of the time it was a fairly large village. In the 13th century it became a busy little town. From the early 13th century Loughborough had weekly markets and annual fairs.

In Medieval Loughborough traders or craftsmen of one type tended to live in the same street. Bakers lived in Baxtergate. Baxter meant baker and gate is derived from an old Scandinavian word for street 'gata'. So it was baker street. Many of the people of the town kept livestock. Any animals found wandering were put in a pound called the pinfold until the owner paid a fine to get it back. Pinfold gata was the street leading to the pinfold.

Loughborough also suffered a severe fire in 1622, which destroyed many buildings. However the town was soon rebuilt and through the centuries it continued to be a busy little market town.

From the late 17th century there were framework knitters in Loughborough. They worked in their own homes making woolen stockings, although the industry became mechanised in the 19th century.

In 1801 Loughborough had a population of over 4,500. By the standards of the time it was a fair sized market town. Moreover it grew rapidly. By 1841 the population of Lthe town was over 10,000.

The first sign of industrialisation in the Loughborough district came in the early years of the 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.

The town is a home of five museums. Charnwood Museum is considered as the largest one, which displays the history, industry, geology, and natural history of Loughborough. If you want to know the memorabilia from the world war one and two, you have to visit the Carillon and War Memorial located nearby Queens Park