Simon Coope Karate School Loughborough

About Loughborough

Loughborough ( LUF-bə-rə) is a market town in the Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and the location of Loughborough University. At the 2021 Census, the town's built-up area had a population of 64,884, the second largest in the county after Leicester. Loughborough is close to the Nottinghamshire border and is a short distance from Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and East Midlands Airport. It has the world's largest bell foundry, John Taylor Bellfounders, which produced Great Paul at St Paul's Cathedral; it has also made bells for the Carillon War Memorial, a landmark in the Queens Park in the town, and for York Minster. == History == === Medieval === The earliest reference to Loughborough occurs in the Domesday Book of 1086, which calls it Lucteburne. It appears as Lucteburga in a charter from the reign of Henry II, and as Luchteburc in the Pipe Rolls of 1186. The name is of Old English origin and means "Luhhede's burh or fortified place".Loughborough Grammar School was established in 1495, by money left in the will of Thomas Burton, a wealthy local wool merchant. === Industrialisation === The first sign of industrialisation in the district came in the early 19th century, when John Heathcoat, an inventor from Derbyshire, patented in 1809 an improvement to the warp loom, known as the twisted lace machine, which allowed mitts with a lace-like appearance to be made. Heathcoat, in partnership with the Nottingham manufacturer Charles Lacy, moved his business from there to the village of Hathern, outside Loughborough. The product of this "Loughborough machine" came to be known as English net or bobbinet.