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Bygone Loughborough - Chapters of Local History from Earliest Days to the Incorporation of the Borough

Book details

front cover

by Herbert W. Cook (reprint)

Price: £8.00

The value of local history lies deeper than the mere recording of outstanding events or notable personages. These have their place, but is from the doings of the ordinary townsfolk in days gone by that we gain a real knowledge of the kind of people our forefathers were and of the conditions in which they lived. It is therefore a matter of more than antiquarian interest that records of olden times should be preserved and made easily accessible.

Loughborough, unfortunately, possesses no town archives or official records and no complete history, in a conveniently handy form, has been published in modern times.

The earliest published references occur in the "Itinerary" of travels by John Leland, written about 1551. Fuller historical details are found in William Burton's "Description of Leicestershire" (1622), and John Throsby, in his "Excursions of Leicestershire" (1790), acknowledges that much of his account of Loughborough is taken from a MS by Thomas Pochin, MD, written in 1770.

Then came John Nichols' great work on the "History and Antiquities of the Town and County of Leicester", the third volume of which, published in 1803, contains much valuable information relating to mediaeval Loughborough. Few copies of this work are extant and our Public Library is fortunate to possess one presented by the late Mr Joseph Deakin.