Friday 27 October 2023

LAHS Research Grant Funding for Loughborough Project

This grant will help fund a project led by the Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust to document the town's history since 1750

Carillon Tower & War Memorial - Queen's Park, Loughborough © Copyright Betty Longbottom license for re-use under Creative Commons Licence CC-BY-SA 2.0. Image sourced from https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2938151

The funding will go towards a wider project, researching and eventually publishing a social, cultural and religious history of Loughborough from 1750. It is planned for much of the research to be completed with the help of a volunteer group, assisted by a professional historian.

Why is this project important?

Loughborough is the county’s largest and most important town after Leicester, and has a diverse multi-cultural population. Keen local historians have self-published many short booklets about their own particular interests, and there are a small number of more detailed studies by capable authors who have made good use of historical sources, but there is no single reference source for the modern history of the town, or any book that pulls together different strands of a single theme, e.g. education, or religious worship. The influence of migration on the town is also largely overlooked.

What are the project's aims?

The funding will go towards a paperback, that will be the first step towards a VCH history of Loughborough, and should be invaluable to local and family historians, archivists and heritage professionals. The draft text of which is expected to be complete by late 2025.

Further information about the Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust and its aims can be found here.

If you feel your project could benefit from the LAHS Research Fund, please get in touch!