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Category: Now and Then

In this section we will be posting images enabling you to directly compare the past and present.

This is an ongoing project that will, we hope, give you the ability to see how the landscape and views have changed around the village over time.

To do this, we are trying to discover the EXACT location that the original archive images were taken from and to replicate that same shot today. If you see us out and about, come and say hello!

Celebrations at the Loughborough Road quarry railway bridge

Posted on by craig boon

May Day/Festival (EDIT: any ideas which?) celebrations in the early 20th century

Early Photo: Approx 1910?
Recent Photo : January 2025

A scene that apparently has seen very few physical changes in the last century or so; although the bridge in the background no longer carries a steam railway from the quarry out to the Sileby sidings as the track was taken up in the 1970s and replaced with the conveyor belt system that is still running today. A little more foliage and lower steel walls on the bridge make it a little less obtrusive than before.

The photo was taken outside of the ever popular Rustic Kitchen and Deli with the quarry entrance just out of shot to the left.

The Poplars from The Hills

Posted on by craig boon

The Poplars was originally the purpose home of the local Quarry Manager, built by the Mountsorrel Granite Company. The view below is from the junction of Watling Street, The Navins, Crown Lane and Cuflins Pit Lane. The gate in the foreground was probably put in place to control the movement of cattle between their grazing ground and their farm.

Early Photo: Early 20th Century
Recent Photo : January 2025

The first quarry manager was Martin Diggle who stayed in the property until his retirement. The quarry owners (the Martin family), then moved in. After the First World War, the widow of William Francis Martin moved out and sold the property to a Mr.Henderson… It eventually became a care home in 1999 and now known since 2016 as Quarry Hill Grange.

A lot of trees, bushes and undergrowth have grown up in recent years around the village, dramatically changing the views we see now compared to those of the past. The gate into The Poplars is still there, just hidden behind the trees in the foreground.

Chappel Yard School/Hospital – Now and Then

Posted on by craig boon

Originally set up as a school for the “Poor boys of Mountsorrel and Swithland” by Joseph Danvers in 1742 on the site (reusing the same building?) of a previous school run by James Freeman.

Closing down after the Christchurch and St.Peter’s Schools were opened in 1871, the building was later leased to the Mountsorrel Granite Company as a hospital for their employees in 1879.

The property is now spilt into 2 private dwellings.

Early Photo: c1911
Recent Photo : January 2025

More information on this building can be found on the Heritage Group Website at the link below

https://mountsorrelarchive.org/free-school-chappel-yard/

King George V jubilee celebrations at the Butter Market

Posted on by craig boon

The Silver Jubilee of King George V on 6th May 1935 was cause for huge national celebrations. His reign saw many major historical events affecting the nation, not least being World War 1 but also Irish Independence and the Equal Franchise Act that finally extended voting rights to women.

Early Photo: June 1935
Recent Photo : January 2025

As well as the decorations, flags and bunting seen, it is interesting see how much the pavement area has been expanded over the last 93 years, back in 1935 barely a footpath width was given around the Butter Market, this probably reflects that one of the the main routes for lorries from the quarry would be coming down Watling Street at this time!

School Boy Boot & Shoe Co workers leaving the factory – Now and Then

Posted on by craig boon

An atmospheric image of workers both young and old leaving the “School Boy Boot and Shoe Co.” on Marsh Road after shift.

Early Photo: Post 1905 (factory opened at this date) but early 20th Century
Recent Photo : January 2025

The factory (that is still remaining on site today – Jan.2025) is soon due to be demolished to make way for new housing. This will signify the end of the last tangible link to the industrial Boot and Shoe trade in the village. The trade employed many around the village from the late 1800s to late 1900s with the Marsh Road site starting as an offshoot of Durston & Garner’s Leicester factory around 1905 eventually becoming Vincent’s shoes, but known almost universally as the School Boy Boot & Shoe Co.

The house chimneys in the background are on Danvers road.

St.Peter’s Church and Market Place

Posted on by craig boon

The 17th and 18th century houses (#8, #10 and #12) on Market Place just to the south of St.Peter’s church (the old “Post Office Yard”) were demolished in 1958, but some effort was made to preserve at least a semblance of the style of the original buildings in those that were built in their place.

Early Photo: Early 20th Century
Recent Photo : January 2025

The original part half-timbered building bore a plaque on the front bearing the date 1617. It can be seen that although the style of the buildings bears a resemblance to their predecessors, the footprint and height is very much different now.

Watling Street

Posted on by Keith Foster

Number 31. Probably built in the early 19th Century (possibly earlier) for workers in the quarry, this house was sold by the Lanesborough Estate into private ownership in June 1922. The house itself now extends over the footprint of #29 with #27’s land now under the garden.

Early Photo: Pre-August 1914 (earliest known postmark found on this postcard)
Recent Photo : January 2025

As well as the garage extension, (which now extends over the property’s old pathway up to their old rear gate), the main chimney has been shortened over the years; the chimney seen at the far end of the building likely belonged to the long-demolished #27.

At the end of the Lanesborough era in the 1920s, the Street family were in residence, as they had been since the 1890s. The lady of house, Martha Street, was a well know local midwife. Sadly one of their sons, George Edward, was killed in action at Ypres in World War 1; his name is inscribed on the memorial that now overlooks the house from the top of Castle Hill.

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