That house “half as old as time” ….. and heaps of stories ...Kibworth Harcourt

This is the Old House in Kibworth Harcourt. 

The Old House, 2024

It dates from 1678 and along with its garden walls is a Grade 1 Listed Building.

I can think of only a few houses which have so caught my interest that I have to confess to being a tad envious of its residents.

"Half as old as time" and with great style, 2024

It stands on the corner of Albert Street and Main Street and consist of sixteen rooms with a large garden to the rear and side.

I went looking for its story and tracked some of its owners and occupants back to 1841 and on through the centuries to 1962.

They were a mix of the well to do, with a sprinkling of high-ranking soldiers including Brigadier – General James Lockhead Jack, DSO who lived there from 1924 till 1962. He is remembered by a green plaque on the side of the property along with Anna Letitia Barbauld “essayist poet and innovative children’s author”. 

She was born in the house in June 1743 and rightly has her own blue plaque located on the garden wall close to the front entrance.

And having trawled the historic records I also came across a fine description of  the Old House on a Kibworth site which describes both the house and some of its history through the centuries  from 1678 down to 2011.*

"The essayist, poet and innovative children's author"

It would be tempting just to “lift” the information but that would not be right, and instead if you want to read about the Parker family who purchased the land in 1609, and built two houses on the site, along with heaps of other residents I suggest you follow the link.

Afterall I could never better the research of Mr. Adams and it would be churlish to try.

So, instead I will fall back on a brief reflection of Kibworth Harcourt, which I first came across last year while looking for old picture postcards of Leicester.

There were only two, dated from the 1920s, but offered up one of those challenges to locate them in the village and tell some stories.

And as you do I found out lots.

Kibworth Harcourt was and still is a small village just 10 miles south of Leicester, with a population of 990, which has only doubled in a century.

"Elegance in the sunlight", 2024

Back in 1916 there were just 446 people with the usual list of tradesmen, and those linked to the land, but also a number who were engaged in the hosiery trade.  

To these can be added the 15 “posh people” who got their own listing in Kelly’s directory for 1916 including Col. Worthy Chaplain C.B., V.C., at Kibworth hall, and Major George Travers in the Old house.

It boasted three pubs and a beer seller and those hosiery frame knitters one of whom also ran the Admiral Nelson.

And without realizing it when we booked a small cottage on Main Street we would be in the heart of part of the village.

Added to which from the cottage we had fine views up the road to the Old House and the rest as they say is the story.

That wall, 2024

All of which leaves me to admit that each night we parked up beside that long garden wall and while we never got to see inside either the house or the garden our location let rip my historical imagination.

The long garden wall was an addition built in 1862 along with an extension at the rear of the house.

And while that wall maybe the baby of the property, its old enough for me marvel at its 2 meter height and its construction.

Location Kibworth Harcourt

Pictures; the Old House and its plaques, 2024, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*THE OLD HOUSE KIBWORTH HARCOURT - part 1, David Adams, 2019, Kibworth Village, https://www.kibworthvillage.co.uk/museum/item/51-oldhouse.html

Thank you Leicester ……..

So, it was one day in January, and it was the end of a visit to the kids and grandchildren.

And with just a morning to cram in so much we did our best, and what a pleasure it was.

There are heaps more pictures of lots more places we visited and ones that we didn’t.

But that is it.

Other than to say .... the photo mistake was not deliberate.

Location; Leicester

Pictures; Thank you Leicester, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and Betty, courtesy of Polly and Josh

That old railway station …. heaps of memories ..... and a revamp

Now as a tourist and occasional visitor to Leicester I don’t always keep up with the news, but I spotted the announcement back in March that “The city's historic railway station is set for a major revamp”*

Undated

At the time I  clocked it and moved on, but having dug up my picture of the railway station from the collection of Tuck and Son I thought it was a timely moment to post it.

My Wikipedia tells me that your railway station "was opened in 1840 by the Midland Counties Railway, and rebuilt in 1894 and 1978. 

It is on the Midland Main Line, which runs from London St Pancras to Sheffield and Nottingham. And “Leicester was one of the first cities (though then a town) to be served by a railway”.**

2020

The new plans which are “backed by the Government's levelling up fund, will completely transform the inside and outside of the station - including demolishing the buildings next door to make way for pedestrianised area and drop-off point. 

Further new images have now been released by Leicester City Council, the area outside the entrance will be remodelled with a ramp and steps leading to the main entrance.

The ticket hall will be reconfigured and opened up to provide more space and skylights will be installed to let more natural light into the building. 

The new images also show the first glimpse of the porte-cochere, which is currently used as a taxi rank and as a drop-off point for the station, being turned into a new plaza for cafes, bars, and shops”.*

2019

It all looks very exciting, but I wonder about the old parcel office which looks to be from the middle decades of the last century, and I do like that central bit.

But maybe it just isn’t distinguished enough to survive.

I hope someone can help me out on the date and offer some nice “modern” views of the station, mine range from the pedestrian to the very boring and some only feature its back, on a very indifferent Saturday in 2019.

Location; Leicester

Pictures; Leicester Railway Station,undated from Tuck and Sons, courtesy of Tuck DB, https://tuckdbpostcards.org/  in 202, courtesy of Google Maps, and in 2019 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

 *New images of Leicester railway station published in £17.6 million revamp plan, Corey Bedford,Leicester Live, March 14th, 2023, https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/new-images-leicester-railway-station-8247990

** Leicester railway station, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicester_railway_station 

As others see Leicester …… part two

We are now regular visitors to Leicester.

Guild Hall Lane, 2023

And despite Leicester being home to our Polly, Joshua and two of our grandchildren we are visitors.

Savings Bank, Grey Friars, 2023

But in January we became tourists, having booked into an airbnb on Charles Street, and spent two days exploring the city.

This was a revelation because until then we had only known the cosmopolitan area around Harrow Road and the very pleasant Knighton.

The weather wasn’t good, but we walked the centre, discovered the clock tower, a delightful set of cafés, restaurants and bars and ended up at the museum.

And throughout I snapped away producing a collection of touristy pictures.

And that is it

Westcote Drive, 2019

Location, Leicester

Harrow Road, 2019

Pictures; what I liked about Leicester, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

Narrow streets ……. surprising discoveries …… and an embarrassing confession

Leicester is a place we keep going back to.

Guild Hall Lane, 2023

It is where our Polly and Josh live.

And here is the confession which is that until this weekend we had rather dismissed it as a city of little architectural interest.

In our defence all our earlier trips had been to the suburbs which were pleasant and very cosmopolitan but during the brief forays into the city centre we were stuck by a mish mash of early and mid-20th century properties with some older 19th century buildings.  Most looked very tired, and some bore witness to multiple different uses over the decades, which had done little to enhance them.

The Clock Tower, 2023

But this time because we were staying in in the centre in what is the “Old City” we did our research, and of course found not only the rich history of the place, but heaps of things to go and see.

So many things to see that we just ran out of time.  

According to my Wikipedia “The historic city of Leicester was founded by the Romans as Ratae Corieltauvorum - after the Corieltauvi, the local tribe of Britons whose tribal lands these were - at the crossing of the River Soar by the Fosse Way, between the current path of the river and the modern Gallowtree Gate.

It is thought that the later medieval walls and gates were in approximately the same positions as the Roman ones, with the forum being where the modern inner ring road meets St Nicholas Circle. The Roman baths are nearby and are preserved at Jewry Wall.”*

And as you would expect of a medieval city many of the streets were narrow, and twisty turney with plenty of surprises including the Guild Hall which dates from the 1390s and buildings which stand on earlier ones retaining the footprint of what went before.

Narrow twisty streets, Guild Hall Lane, 2023

Added to these there is the market, the clock tower and the New Walk a pedestrian way laid out in the late 18th century and flanked by some delightful houses.

Guild Hall, 2023

So we shall return, with more things to see and the time to see them.

Location; Leicester

Pictures; Leicester, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

*Leicester City Centre, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leicester_City_Centre

Sneaking up on Richard III ……………..

So, given his dark reputation who wouldn’t chose to sneak up on that personification of evil who dispatched his brother, his nephews and heaps of other political rivals?

After all Richard described himself as that man “Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before my time, Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them.”*

But of course that is to believe William Shakespeare, the man who was writing for Queen Elizabeth I whose granddad had defeated Richard at the battle of Bosworth and then let his soldiers mutilate the King's dead body.

I suspect that even if Shakespeare had not considered the prevailing politics, portraying Richard as a monster and a villain made for good drama.

For me almost as long as I can remember I was on Richard’s side, having picked up on all those historians who argued that he was the victim of Tudor propaganda fuelled by Thomas More and a plethora of Victorian writers.

So when we were in Leicester this weekend it was inevitable that we should go to the Richard III visitor's centre to see the story of how he was found in a disused car park and the investigation into proving he was the last Plantagenet King.

Added to which I was interested in how Leicester managed to hold onto him when I rather thought his final resting place should be York.

All of which seems a double whammy, first the Tudors steal his reputation and then Leicester his body.

But then I am biased, and such an outburst will get me in the naughty corner when we return to Leicester.

And that might be why the Richard III visitors centre was closed when we were in the city.

Location; Leicester

Pictures; Sneaking up on Richard III, and Standing up to Richard, Leicester, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

* "Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York;" Richard III, Act 1 Scene 1, William Shakespeare

As others see Leicester …… part one

Now I have always been fascinated by the way that tourists look at places that I take for granted.

A Leicester murial, 2023

I grew up in southeast London with the River as a backdrop, exchanged that for Manchester over half a century ago and now regularly spend time in Varese just north of Milan.

Rutland Street, 2023

But Leicester is new to us.

We have only been visiting since 2019, and this January was the first time we ventured into the city centre rather than the cosmopolitan area around Harrow Road, or the very pleasant Knighton.

And as you do, I snapped away at what was historic, interesting, or just downright quirky.

I don’t pretend they are great pictures, but I like them, and because I spend my time writing about the past, I followed up with digging into their back stories.

A Leicester doorway, 2023

But not today.  

A Leicester sky line, 2023

Today I just wanted to offer up a selection which caught the fancy of a visiting tourist.

Some were taken from the window of an airbnb we were in on Charles Street, and others were snapped during a wet Saturday morning as we explored the city's streets, before ending up at the museum.

Of course, any one from Leicester will automatically recognise each one, provide its history, location and fondly reminiscence about past moments when the building or the street was special to them.

Well, we shall see.

Location, Leicester

Looking out on Harrow Road, 2019

Pictures; what I liked about Leicester, 2019-2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Polly and Joshua  

It’s the detail ……... always the detail

Now I have no problem with modern buildings.  

The beauty is often in the clear simple design, matching glass and steel to create open and light seeking buildings.

But the Victorians and the Edwardian's were past masters of offering up a style of architecture which embellished even the most mundane buildings with interesting features.

And so, it is with this one, which stands on the corner of Rutland Street and Colton Street in Leicester.

I guess many people will pass it each day and not even notice the two stone figures on either side of the front door or the smaller creatures just above the pillars.

I have no idea what the building once was, but I rather think the clue might be in the figure which looks like the God Mercury, and his companion who has the appearance of Medusa, who was one of the Gorgons.

But I am baffled at the inclusion of a ship and a locomotive.

That said some one will know.

We were in Leicester for the weekend, taking a rented factory conversion round the corner on Charles Street, so as tourists the building on Rutland Street caught my fancy, but as yet the origins of the building completed in 1875 eludes me.

The cynics will point out that many such figures could be bought as a job lot, but I still like them.

Location; Leicester

Picture; It’s the detail ……... always the detail, Rutland Street, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson

Mr. Foister …. some socks …… and a heap of history

So, this weekend we got our own bit of Leicester’s history, which started with a swish apartment in a former factory.

As a conversion the place worked well, and apart from a little tender care and attention the apartment was all that was promised.

Added to which just outside the door was a central atrium laid out with a variety of large plants and an equally impressive glass roof.

Now as a curious historian I wondered about the origins of the building, and the clue was in a large sign in the entrance which offered up the name Arthur Foister & Sons Ltd Hosiery Manufacturers.

The firm specialised in children’s clothing and traded under the name of “Cherub for Children”.

According to one source the business spanned the last century, starting up in 1903 and only closing at the beginning of this century.*

The firm may have moved into our building in the 1930s, and after its closure the property was converted into apartments in 2001.

And as you do, I went looking for more information and came up with two pictures of the building from 1953.**

So that is pretty much it.

Location; Charles Street

Pictures; the apartment, and the sign, 2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson, and the factory in 1953, from Britain From Above, https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW052684

* Cherub Ltd Knitting Together,  The Heritage of East Midlands Knitting Industry, https://www.knittingtogether.org.uk/behind-the-scenes/the-companies/cherub-ltd/

** EAW052684 ENGLAND (1953). Arthur Foister & Sons Ltd (Cherub Ltd) Factory on Charles Street, Leicester, 1953. This image was marked by Aerofilms Ltd for photo editing. Britain From Above, https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EAW052684