This article was published in the Leicester Advertiser on Friday February 4th 1966
Donated by Margaret Manning
Buttermarket is a Familiar Landmark to the Traveller
MOUNTSORREL is a village which cannot be described as pretty, but it is a village with historic legacies that still stand today. Essentially so is the old Buttermarket, which stands as a well-known landmark for travellers using this main A6 Leicester to Derby and Nottingham road.
Also still standing—though no longer in Mountsorrel, is a 12th century cross which since 1790 has been in a field in Swithland, where it was moved by the present Earl of Lanesborough’s ancestor, Sir John Danvers, for safe keeping when the Buttermarket was built at Mountsorrel. The present Earl of Lanes borough is anxious that the cross be returned to the village, and at one stage in the controversy of “for and against” the re-siting of the cross, it was decided to re-site it alongside the new £12,000 Memorial Hall.
The new Memorial Hall, which was opened in June last year, is now used for many functions, meetings, recreational and educational purposes. As well as being made available for the local inhabitants of Mountsorrel, neighbouring villages also hire it various activities.
Solid Strength
With granite so much in evidence in the area, it is not surprising that many of the village buildings are made of this substance.
St. Peter’s Junior School at Mountsorrel was built in 1871 of Markfield granite and Swithland slate and shows no signs of wear or outward change after its 93 years as a school.
Perhaps it is the building and structure of this school that creates about it an atmosphere of quiet, yet solid strength. Once inside, however, a visitor quickly realises that the old building in no way restricts modern methods of teaching or new ideas and experimentation.
The headmaster, Mr H. W. Fox, told the Advertiser: “We pride ourselves that the top two years are fitted out not as classrooms as such, but as educational workshops.”
By concentrating on individual tuition as far as possible St. Peter’s Junior School try to prepare their pupils for the next stage—secondary school. The aim of the school, the head master states, is to make the child self reliant.
In addition to usual class tuition the children are given projects to tackle on their own. They also have a television, tape recorder and mechanical teaching devices to help the child to find out information and certain items of general knowledge for himself.
“With the recent housing development in Mountsorrel we can expect a far greater intake of pupils in the future,” said Mr Fox.
At present the school caters for 212 pupils, but will start to feel the effect when the infants’ school passes on more pupils than it does at present. One of the greatest difficulties facing the school is that they have no building development or expansion programme which would be suitable to meet the demand.The problem of more pupils from the new housing estate will soon affect the other school in the village—Christ Church Village Infants’ School, situated on the Rothley Road.
New Hall
Mrs M. E. Adkins, who has been headmistress here for the last seven years, says: “We think we will be able to cope with the larger classes because we had a new hall built on to the school two years ago. “This has already given us facilities for increased activities. We have also had a new £2000 toilet block built.”
The infants’ school headmistress employs a modern teaching method called “family grouping.” This method keeps children of various age groups in a small circle within the normal class. “Some parents are worried in case the older children are being held back by the younger ones in their group but we have found that fear is groundless,” said Mrs Adkins. “The older children help younger ones sometimes and we find that they are much more self reliant when they move into the junior school. The children are also allowed to experiment with various types of apparatus. To the outsider this looks like play but they are in fact learning. “This method is much more valuable than learning off blackboards,” Mrs Adkins added.
Meals for the 143 pupils whose ages range from three to five years are cooked on the premises.
Mountsorrel has a thriving Townswomen’s Guild and is lucky enough to have the chairman of the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds as a member.
Mrs H. M. Wykes, Cross Lane, Mountsorrel, has retained her membership of the Mountsorrel Guild even now that she is National chairman.
The person with the longest memories of Mountsorrel, must be Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Dickens, of 173, Loughborough Road, Mountsorrel, who at 92 years of age is Mountsorrel’s oldest inhabitant. Although born in Barrow-on-Soar, Mrs Dickens has lived most of her life in Mountsorrel.
As a child she attended the Christ Church School until she was 12. “In those days all ages were taught in the one school. The little ones were taught by the governess, and the older children by the headmaster,” she recalls.
In Mrs Dickens’ schooldays education was not free. Fees were twopence a week for small children and fourpence a week for the older ones. Children were not allowed to leave until they had passed through the fourth grade as Mrs Dickens did at 12.
In her younger days Mountsorrei’s oldest inhabitant led a very active life. She was a member of the Co-operative Guild, The Women’s Unionist Party and the Mothers’ Union. Although living in Mountsorrel, she had jobs in both Quorn and Rothley. “There were no cars in those days, you had to walk everywhere, no matter what the weather was like. I walked to a hosiery firm in Rothley every day,” she told the Advertiser.
Own Clubhouse
Sport plays a particularly important role in the life of Mountsorrel. The village boasts three football teams which regularly compete in the Loughborough and District League. Their home pitch is the Memorial ground and the club has recently purchased an old church hall on the main Leicester road which it is converting into a clubhouse.
The same liking for sport in Mountsorrel also extends to cricket. The club is at present having a new pavilion built which has cost £3,500. Nearly all of this has been raised by the members of the cricket club, and they hope to have the pavilion ready for use by June this year. The three cricket teams regularly compete in the North Leicestershire League.
Mountsorrel has several other sporting activities which include badminton and fishing.For those not so keen on the outdoor or more energetic ways of spending their leisure hours there are about a dozen public houses and two clubs in the village.
950 Members
The Mountsorrel Working Men’s Club was formed in 1828 with headquarters in a small hut on The Green.
In 1939 the club moved to its present premises on the main Leicester road and recently had some extensive bar improvements. The concert room has been redecorated and plans for extending the car park to cope with increasing popularity of the club are now under way. The club has a membership of 700 men and 250 women.
The president is Mr C Haines and the secretary Mr A. Keightley, who has held this office for four years. The present steward and his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Pat Cassidy, have been with the club for 10 years after a considerable period of service in club circles.
The club has an extensive sports programme—darts and skittles are played by both men and women.
Well Appointed
The other club in the village is the Mountsorrel Constitutional Club and one of the remaining strongholds for men. This club was formed in 1914 and, therefore, celebrated its half century two years ago. Its present chairman is Mr Frank Smith. Two of the founder members are Mr Hubert Ward (treasurer) and Mr Alan Morrison (vice-president). The well-known Mountsorrel figure, Dr Gibson, is president of the club.Although membership is restricted to the male sex, women are welcome guests, and possibilities of a mixed club are under constant consideration.
An extensive phase of alterations and redecorating has recently been completed and now only re-wiring remains to be done. A well-appointed club, it is a Conservative island in the middle of a powerful Labour camp. “The modern trend is towards attracting the younger members between 22 and 25 years,” said Mr. Smith.
The man always in the run of things and the pivot of the whole club is Mr Bill Gates, who was treasurer for 20 years.
Own Bedsitters
Previously, one of the most popular public houses in Mountsorrel, the Anchor, is at present undergoing a complete change of character.
It will in future offer comfort, refuge and solace to its visitors, but with a different commodity.
No longer will beer and spirits be used to mellow and relax the mind after a hard day’s work, but friendship and help will be offered to unmarried mothers and their babies— for The Anchor is under alteration to turn it into a home for mothers after they have had their babies.
Mrs. B. Heydecker, Park Road, Loughborough, is secretary of the steering committee of the Loughborough Meeting of Friends, who first came up with the idea of buying this public house in Mountsorrel and turning it into such a home.
“We feel that it is a great pity that many mothers who are very keen to keep their babies often after a struggle, have to give them up through outside social pressures,” says Mrs. Heydecker. “For instance not many flats and bedsitters want a family with children, and the thought of an unmarried mother and her baby is completely off-putting to most landladies.”
The idea at the Anchor (which will retain its name) will be to have a housemother resident with her husband, who will follow his own occupation during the day. The house mother’s flat is to be made out of the huge bar in the front of the building and planning permission has just been received by the Quakers for these alterations and this home to be set up.
A day nursery will be in operation at the Anchor and the mothers follow their own occupation during the day. In the evening they will return to the Anchor and take their babies to their own bedsitters to look after them each night and weekend.
The oldest public house in the village is the Nag’s Head, and it is believed that the inn was first built in 1688; Roman lettering of this date can be seen over the window at the back of the pub. History says that part of the thick granite walls are covering bags of gold sovereigns which a former licensee stowed away to prevent his wife getting her hands on his money. Extensive alterations have been carried out on the pub through the years, but no sign of the treasure trove has come to light.
Mr and Mrs Geoff Williamson are mine hosts.
The present clerk of the Mountsorrel Parish Council is Mr A, M. Smith, and he has held this position for six years.
His father, Mr A. Smith, was parish clerk for 22 years, and his grandfather, Mr M. Smith, was in the same office for two years before that.
Mr A. M. Smith told the Advertiser “Although we are expecting our population to go up by leaps and bounds over the next few years—we have already built many new houses and flats for this purpose—we have no drainage and sewerage problems.”