Measham

In the heart of the old coalfield, this large village had many inhabitants dependent upon the mine and its good coal. The church of St Laurence dates from the 14th century; its tower was rebuilt in the 1730s.
An extract from from"Leicestershire & Rutland Living Memories".

In the mid to late 1950s, this pattern of school building was springing up everywhere. The standard plan puts the main entrance up two steps, with the assembly hall on the left under a low pitched roof, the boiler chimney in the middle, and classrooms to the right. Most of the building is under a flat roof, which doubtless very soon began to leak! Dustbins arranged along the front of the building might today be considered a health hazard. The Singer saloon and its counterpart, the Hillman Hunter, were two of the popular family saloons of the decade.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Villages Photographic Memories".

Basically a colliery village, Measham owes a small debt to businessman John Wilkes (1732-1805), who built warehouses by the canal as a distribution outlet and manufactured his own oversized bricks, known as ‘Wilkes Gobs’, in his local brickworks. His bricks were his reply to Government proposals to tax bricks after the costly War of American Independence in 1782. His warehouses survive, and so does part of his brickworks, and a single building from his cotton mill also survives in the car auction complex. Interestingly, the building was an outpost of cotton mills at Burton and Fazeley in Staffordshire, owned by the family of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The car auctions were a magnet to young drivers from miles around looking for a good bargain.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Villages Photographic Memories".

This is not a beautiful scene, but some effort has been put into designing the brick boundary wall, flagpoles and railings. Behind is the car park for the cars to come under the hammer, and the fully mechanised tuning, repairing, and testing service of Magna Motors.
An extract from from"Leicestershire Villages Photographic Memories".

MANY MORE people know the name of Loughborough than know the town itself, or even where it is. That name is read, said and rings out across the world. Loughborough is unique. It is a small market town in the East Midlands of England, yet it has a university with an international reputation for excellence in sciences and sports. It is home to the largest bell foundry in the world. For generations, children in every corner of the globe have seen the words ‘Ladybird Books, Loughborough, England’ on the brightly coloured books which helped to shape their lives. Cranes and hoists, some of giant size, designed and built in Loughborough have been employed from the docks of New Jersey to the shipyards of Korea. Turbines, trams and transporters have all been made at the Falcon Works of the strangely named ‘Brush’ Electrical Company. If you visit Loughborough, the evidence for this wealth of industry and knowledge is not easily seen. Far less apparent still is the long and often turbulent past of the town. I approached the writing of this book with some trepidation. There are, already, many books about Loughborough from the seriously academic to the purely anecdotal. The difficulty in the end was not what to include, but what to leave out. The choices, and the faults, are the writer’s, but, if your favourite place or story is missing, there will hopefully still be much to enjoy. Many famous and noble families were involved in Loughborough’s past - De Spensers and Beaumonts, Herricks and Hastingses and, most poignant of all, Lady Jane Grey, litter the past of Loughborough. Many of them came to a sad and savage end. The town lies next to the wild landscape of Charnwood Forest, is surrounded by ancient hunting parks and was, for centuries, ‘owned’ by one family. It may appear a quiet place to the casual observer, but Loughborough hides a fascinating story just under that placid surface.
An extract from from"Loughborough - A History & Celebration".