Anglican church of All Saints, Loughborough.
"Loughborough Parish Church is one of the major churches in Leicestershire. Its handsome 14th century proportions are crowned by its elaborate and pinnacled west tower and nave clerestory which date from the late15th/early 16th century. All this reflects the wealth and patronage of the local manorial lords and the merchants and wool traders of later medieval times. Many of their heraldic symbols still embellish the external insets of the great west window and above the tower door. But the history goes back further than this; the church almost certainly sits on both Norman and Saxon predecessors though as far as is known, no archaeological evidence has come to light.
Medieval Loughborough
The church's location is significant. It is situated on the highest part of the ancient settlement, reflected in the names Sparrow (meaning 'little') Hill and Toothill (from the Saxon 'tot' meaning lookout, or watching post). Even today the tower commands extensive views over the town of Loughborough and out towards Charnwood Forest, the Soar Valley and the Leicestershire Wolds.
The principal streets of medieval Loughborough formed a grid pattern to the south of the church and are revealed in the names Church Gate, Pinfold Gate, High Gate (now High Street) and Wood Gate. The word 'gate' derives from the Danish (the East Midlands was part of the Danish-controlled Danelaw) word 'gata' meaning a way' or route. They may refer to entrances into what was once probably a fortified (stockaded) Saxon settlement or 'berh'. It was once widely believed that the town's name derived from being near or on a stream or burn [in Domesday Book it is named as ‘Lucteburne’, but this was almost certainly a scribe’s error in using burn instead of burh. The Oxford Dictionary of Place Names suggests that the first part of the town's name derives from a person's name, 'Lehedes'. Thus Lehede's fortified settlement or 'Lehede's burh' and thence 'Loughborough'.
Surrounding the church in those days lay the medieval manor house (now a restaurant) a guildhall (now an antiques shop; we know that the medieval church contained several guild altars) on the south side, and on the east an inn now called The Windmill, reputedly Loughborough’s oldest public house.. On the west side was the Rectory, a grand home for the parish priest from the thirteenth century until 1958. Its ruined remains serve as a small museum. The town’s grammar school was a two-storey building in the churchyard from Elizabethan times till the early 19th century
There was only one parish in Loughborough right up till the 1830s and All Saints (the original dedication was to St Peter and St Paul) is still regarded as the civic church.
Major points of interest for visitors
⟐ In the churchyard a very fine and extensive collection of gravestones made from the local Swithland slate.
⟐ Externally, the fine, west tower, atypical for Leicestershire. Clues to its donors are in the heraldry above the west door and surrounding the west window. The tower holds a peal of ten bells.
⟐ The entrance space beneath the tower is a memorial chapel to the Taylor family, bell founders in Loughborough since 1840 and specifically to four sons who lost their lives in World War I. The floor memorial is made of bell metal.
⟐ The framed list of incumbents and patrons of the parish from 1193 onwards.
⟐ The aisle roof with its fine display of medieval gilded bosses and angels holding contemporary musical instruments.
⟐ Charity boards fixed to the north wall of the nave. Some well-known charities in the town such as those of Burton, Storer and Hickling.
⟐ The parish war memorials on the north wall. Note particularly the First World War scenes at the base: a gun, a battleship and a tank.
⟐ The Burton Memorial chapel in the south aisle including an original chantry certificate dating from 1545.
⟐ An interesting set of stained-glass windows dating from the restoration of the church in 1862 to the 1930s.
⟐ The memorials in the chancel, recently cleaned [as of 2021] showing changing styles between the 17th and 19th centuries. Among them, several to rectors of the parish."
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