Explored with 2 non-members
History
Loughborough is a town founded in the Soar Valley, located on a river terrace slightly above the Nanpantan flood plains. Over time, Loughborough expanded and the waterways got in the way but came in handy when the Loughborough Navigation was built in 1778. This used water from Woodbrook and the River Soar to maintain the required water levels for the Navigation to run. With the expansion of Loughborough in the 19th century and the need of a fresh water source for the Town’s population, something had to be done about Woodbrook getting in the way. The town’s planners made the decision to run Woodbrook through the centre of Loughborough, in a culvert in 1870. This was done to provide a fresh flowing water supply following a Cholera outbreak in 1848, prompted by the board of health demanding a solution to the problem. This was intended to be a cheaper, simplified version of Bazalgette’s sewers built 10/20 years previous, but Loughborough’s had no pumps and relied entirely on the brook’s natural flow. There are sections where the brook is open, mainly outside of the town centre, with the occasional culvert under a road or estate. In the town centre itself, the majority of the brook is below ground, just how I like it, with the occasional opening to provide access for maintenance. In the 1990’s parts of the culverts under the town centre were repaired or rebuilt with concrete.
Loughborough Town Hall, 1902
Working downstream, the brook goes past Queens Park and Carillon and Charnwood Museum then under the Town Hall (built in 1855). It then snakes under the busy streets and shops in the centre eventully opening up next to the Rushes Shopping centre. This part was extended when the shopping centre was built in 2003.
Explore
We headed upstream, starting at The Rushes. From the outside it looked like a quick concrete structure, but once we entered on I turned on a more powerful torch we quickly realised that the culvert was much older and more beautiful than we first perceived. When in there we found a handbag and I looked fabulous.
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Cheers for Looking
History
Loughborough is a town founded in the Soar Valley, located on a river terrace slightly above the Nanpantan flood plains. Over time, Loughborough expanded and the waterways got in the way but came in handy when the Loughborough Navigation was built in 1778. This used water from Woodbrook and the River Soar to maintain the required water levels for the Navigation to run. With the expansion of Loughborough in the 19th century and the need of a fresh water source for the Town’s population, something had to be done about Woodbrook getting in the way. The town’s planners made the decision to run Woodbrook through the centre of Loughborough, in a culvert in 1870. This was done to provide a fresh flowing water supply following a Cholera outbreak in 1848, prompted by the board of health demanding a solution to the problem. This was intended to be a cheaper, simplified version of Bazalgette’s sewers built 10/20 years previous, but Loughborough’s had no pumps and relied entirely on the brook’s natural flow. There are sections where the brook is open, mainly outside of the town centre, with the occasional culvert under a road or estate. In the town centre itself, the majority of the brook is below ground, just how I like it, with the occasional opening to provide access for maintenance. In the 1990’s parts of the culverts under the town centre were repaired or rebuilt with concrete.
Loughborough Town Hall, 1902
Working downstream, the brook goes past Queens Park and Carillon and Charnwood Museum then under the Town Hall (built in 1855). It then snakes under the busy streets and shops in the centre eventully opening up next to the Rushes Shopping centre. This part was extended when the shopping centre was built in 2003.
Explore
We headed upstream, starting at The Rushes. From the outside it looked like a quick concrete structure, but once we entered on I turned on a more powerful torch we quickly realised that the culvert was much older and more beautiful than we first perceived. When in there we found a handbag and I looked fabulous.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
(21)
(22)
(23)
Cheers for Looking
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