A Charnwood Forest village will have its history written for the first time, thanks to a grant from the Geopark. Nanpantan, near Loughborough, has a rich history of industry, transport, and tourism, which will now be told after a successful application by the Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust (LVCHT) to the Geopark’s Community Heritage Grant scheme.
The village had its origins in the 1790s at the termination point of the Charnwood Forest canal, where coal and lime from north-west Leicestershire were transferred from barges to a horse-drawn wagon-way that led to the basin of the Loughborough canal. This important industrial site is largely forgotten, as the canal was abandoned in the early 1800s following severe damage caused when the Blackbrook reservoir burst its banks in 1799. Part of the canal and its towpath survive as a public footpath that deserves to be better-known. A new community later grew around the crossroads, where a large hotel was established to serve visitors to Charnwood Forest. In 1897 it advertised that it could accommodate parties of 500 and had stabling for 80 horses. There has been very little research on the parties that visited the Forest and valued this refreshment stop, or on the business and community that served them. There is an important social history here: Nanpantan Hill, near the crossroads, was described in 1858 as ‘the holiday playground of Loughborough’, and others travelled much longer distances to see the woods, landscape and geology. It is this fascinating but little known history that LVCHT wish to illuminate.
As part of LVCHT’s larger project researching the history of Loughborough, they have already researched the history of Nanpantan church, school and reservoir. The grant from the Geopark will enable them to work with volunteers to research from documents and interpret physical evidence for:
- the early village where the canal became a wagon-way;
- the later community who used the church and school, including those who lived in the houses and farms and those who worked in the hotel and Nanpantan Hall, and;
- the establishment of the hotel, the natural attractions of the area and the nature of tourism in this part of Charnwood Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The information collected will be combined with their already completed research on Nanpantan’s school, church and the reservoir to produce the first written history of Nanpantan which they propose to make available as a free digital download. This will include two suggested self-guided walks. In addition, the project will start and end with presentations to local people that will include information about the heritage craft courses offered by Home Farm (where volunteers will meet) and a chance to see aspects of the farm as part of the closing event.
LVCHT aims to encourage local residents to engage with the history of Nanpantan and provide volunteers taking part free high-quality training from a professional historian in historical research, heritage interpretation and map analysis, including the use of digital resources, including the census, digital newspapers, digitised maps and digitised historic books. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer on this project, you can join the group and discover more at Home Farm (Nanpantan, LE11 3YG) on Tuesday 3rd December, from 1.30pm for a 2pm start. If you are able to attend please book your place by emailing Dr Pam Fisher at pjf7@leicester.ac.uk.
Charnwood Forest’s Community Heritage Grants are supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.