Time Walk 1
Transport - Railway to Water

This walk takes you to the canal basin on the north side of Market Harborough and on to Foxton, but you can do it in easy stages.

Harborough is a small town that was, during the 18th and 19th Centuries, a major transport junction in the region, being one of only a few places where you could cross the River Welland. Originally the principal dwelling places were the villages of Great and Little Bowden on either side of the river, and Harborough was at first constructed as a new market town for the profit of the local land owners. It had only 1,617 inhabitants in 1801, but by 1871 they had increased to 2,362 and by 2001 the population had increased to 16,690 and it is still growing. (Due to boundary changes in the various settlements, at different times, exact figures are difficult to confirm, so census population returns should only be considered as an illustration.)

Part 1 From Railway to Canal.

Recently restored - Harborough Railway Station

Start at the Railway station.

The railway came to Harborough in the 1850’s and at one time the lines of, The Rugby and Stamford Railway, The Leicester and Hitchin Railway, The Northampton and Harborough Railway, and The Newark and Market Harborough Railway all intersected in the town. Now only one line is left whisking people off south to the capital or north to Leicester and beyond. The station building dates from 1885 and for many years the railway yards had a pipeline connection to the Canal. This was fed with water taken from the canal at the top of Logan Street, to quench the thirst of the steam engines.

Leave the Railway Station and follow St Mary's Road (the main road) towards the town centre. Crossing over Bowden Road.

Harborough Rubber Co. 'Danite Mills' - going soon to make room for a multi-million pound regeneration project

The big factory building opposite is the premises of the Harborough Rubber Co. Called 'Danite Mills' the factory, established in 1894, was one of the town's biggest employers, making anything out of rubber, including soles and heels for boots and shoes and more recently waterproof coverings for computer key pads together with components for the electronics industry, aerospace and general industry. Many of the town's early industries thrived because of its good transport links. These buildings will soon be redeveloped.

Decorative stone work proudly presents the town gas office

On your right, the gas works filled most of this block with gasometers and coke ovens but only the original 'office block' remains with the earlier occupant’s name still visible in the stonework of the facade. This industry could only prosper once the canal brought a supply of cheap coal to the town. The works were established as a private company in 1833, and were later taken over by the Urban District Council before becoming part of a nationalised network. These buildings are for sale with planning permission to convert to flats.

Continue over the traffic lights. Stay on St Marys Road

On the opposite corner, where a block of flats named ‘Hampton Court’ now stands, were the premises of Ellis and Everard, who as West and Ellis owned a small fleet of canal boats, bringing Coal, Lime, Salt and Granite, etc to the town. For a time they also leased the canal wharf at Welford and had a depot in Leicester, next to the canal. St Marys Road is a ‘new’ road; a causeway built along the marshy bank of the river on raised ground, the river Welland running behind the buildings on the left. The river has changed somewhat over the years and several flood prevention schemes have lowered the bed of the river.

The original decorative façade of the bank

Continue toward the town centre

The lane between a recently completed block of apartments and a plumber’s merchant was the entrance to Thomas Slater’s brickyard which today is Symington’s Recreation Ground. Go past Mill Hill Road, (there was once a wind mill at the top) and on your right you will see the National Westminster Bank building. This was the premises of the Northamptonshire Union Banking Company who opened their branch in Market Harborough in 1838 making this one of the last Georgian buildings to be erected in the town.

To find this sign - look at ground level.


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Symington's corset factory, now the library and council offices

Along the next road ‘Mill Hill’ (because it once had a wind mill at the top) was a steel fabrication yard, the home of ‘Springer Boats’ hundreds of boats were built here, Proprietor Sam Springer claimed that; “If I can build tanks to keep liquid in, I can build them to keep it out”. The bigger boats cause havoc, when they got stuck at the junction with the main road, sometimes needing two cranes to inch them round the corner. They were a bit basic but they got lots of people afloat and hundreds are still in use.

Question 1, The photograph (left) depicts a famous Harborough landmark, can you name it?

Question 2, How many pubs can you count on this walk?

With the town centre in front of you, take the turning on the right into ‘Adam and Eve’ street, named after a long defunct pub.
Harborough was once famous for the number of pubs and other drinking establishments in the town.
Near the end of the street, on the right, is a building bearing a white plaque above ‘Quakers Yard’. This was the home of Thomas Cook. As a member of the Temperance Society and former Baptist Minister, at the age of 33, he invented the idea of Travel Excursions while walking through Kibworth Harcourt, on his way from Market Harborough to Leicester to attend a Society meeting. – (A thirty-mile round trip there and back, so if this walk seems a bit long just think of Thomas!) It occurred to him that he could organise a train to carry people from Leicester to Loughborough to attend a religious festival. So, on July 5th, 1841, the very first excursion took almost 600 people by train, in nine open carriages on the ten-mile journey. By the 1870's, his excursions had reached worldwide proportions.

At the end of the street, the large building ahead is the former factory of one time corset manufacturers R.W. & H. Symington, creators of the "Liberty Bodice". Once the biggest employer in Harborough, during the Second World War, they turned their hand to parachute making. The former factory is now the home of the District Council, Tourist Information Centre, Library and the Local Museum, which is well worth a visit if you want to take a rest. (Public Toilets are available in the building). Close by in Factory Lane the town’s first factory was built by John Clarke and Sons of London and used as a mill for spinning and later a carpet manufactory was added.

Bear Left in Front of the Council Offices and join the main road at the side of the ‘Old Grammar School’ which you can’t miss as it is the timber framed building on stilts next to the church.

Question. When was the grammar school built, and what was the space underneath used for?

The Old Grammar School

Turn right.

This was the main Turnpike Road, from London to Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. The town prospered in the 18th century with the advent of turnpike roads and the increase in traffic they brought about. Coaching Inns were established at the various stopping places along the turnpikes where horses could be changed and refreshments obtained and many remain in the High Street. Look out for pubs with an archway at the side, which led to stabling. Turnpikes were greatly improved with the coming of the canals as they could deliver cheap stone from distant quarries to surface the roads.

Cross the road at the pedestrian crossing.

The Three Swans Hotel. The 3 parts of the name come from the three swans on the wrought-iron sign.

On your left you will arrive at the ‘Three Swans Inn’, originally ‘The Swan’. This was an important coaching inn and had a succession of famous landlords, but in 1792 it hosted a meeting of local businessmen to consider the construction of a canal from Leicester to Northampton. The idea for such a canal proved to be popular, and notices of a further meeting to sign up prospective shareholders were soon published. This was to have been held in the town hall, (the building opposite the Three Swans) but this wasn’t big enough to hold the crowd who wished to attend so a table was set up under a tree in a field where Abbey Street and an office block are now. Just up the road from ‘The Swan’.

Take a stroll under the arch of the ‘Three Swans” and walk to the next road, perhaps pausing for refreshment.

When you reach the road, the building opposite was the former premises of Henry Church and Sons, Grain and Animal Feed Merchants. They had canal boats for their business.

Turn right and right again into Abbey Street; choose a safe place to cross.

On the left is the town’s old Fire Station. Another interesting building you will pass is the black tiled St. John’s Ambulance Station on the other side of the road.

At the end of the street, turn left.

Question. What is the date of the Fire Station?

Continue along the High Street going north towards Leicester.

The Angel Hotel Would have been well known by coach travellers

This road was also used as the towns’ cattle market in former times; metal posts with chains separated the animals from the pavement, and cattle pens filled the larger spaces. On the other side of the road are the premises of Wartnabys, Solicitors, who acted for the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Canal Company. As you continue the houses become grander, with many of them now business premises. The ‘Angel Hotel’ was probably the grandest of the town’s Coaching Inns. As you leave the centre, you pass a collection of commercial premises, which were once ‘Regent Autocar’, one of the town’s first garages, which used to have petrol pumps at the roadside.

A few yards further on The pond next to the road is the ‘Folly Pond’ which was constructed as part of the town’s fire defences, the water being held back by a paddle and piped down the centre of the High Street. At various points, manholes could be lifted and a pipe inserted, the paddle at the pond was then lifted to provide a head of water close to the fire. It is also said to have been used to top up the water tanks of traction engines.

Continue past the road junction.

You can now see the ‘Union Inn Hotel’, the ‘Union’ referred to is the ‘Leicestershire & Northamptonshire Union Canal’. The Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal opened from Leicester to Market Harborough on October 13, 1809 and in the nineteenth century Harborough became the distribution centre for canal-borne coal for Kettering and the countryside south east into Huntingdonshire. The price of coal in Harborough was halved, which probably led to the establishment of the Gas Works as a private company in 1833.

The Canal Basin is covered in detail in Part 2, If you wish to continue your walk along the canal, move to Part 2. If not then you may explore the basin and retrace your steps to the main road. Monday to Saturday you can catch a bus back to the Railway Station. Cross the road and walk towards Leicester, away from the town until you come to a lay-by outside the St. Luke’s Hospital at the top of the hill. You need Bus Number 44. Call Travel Line on 0870 608 2608 for time table details. Currently buses run hourly at 48 minutes past each hour.

The former ‘Union Workhouse’ occupied the ground in front of St. Luke’s. The work house board comprised of 42 civil parishes and was set up under new ‘Poor Law’ legislation passed in the 1830’s in an attempt to reduce the ever increasing ‘Parish Poor Rates’. The Union Workhouse, built in 1836/1837, was capable of housing 200 inmates; however it rarely housed half that number. The 1871 census shows only 53 paupers in residence. The Overseers of the Poor had plenty to do, especially during the Napoleonic Wars which had resulted in an economic depression and then once again in the ‘Hungry 40’s when a further depression occurred. Early in the century, more than £600 a year was paid out in poor relief and £300 a year to run the workhouse. Harborough had prospered, but look behind many of the town’s shops and you will find ‘Yards’ full of houses, this is where the poor people of the town lived and it didn’t take much to push you out to the charity of the parish, a grim life, compared to the comparative luxury of the canal boat cabin.