The Mountsorrel Railway Project has secured conditional promises
of two significant grants from Lafarge Tarmac’s Landfill Communities’ Fund to
develop its plans to complete and enhance the project that began back in 2007.
Mountsorrel Halt
Station
Currently, the reinstated track runs to the end of the
line at Bond Lane, Mountsorrel, where it is intended to construct a station and
car park. A conditional grant of £66,008 from the Lafarge Tarmac fund , which
represents 90% of the capital cost, means that finance is now fully in place
for work to commence. The remaining 10% has already been promised or secured by
the combination of an award from the Bradgate, Rothley, Mountsorrel and
Birstall Community Forum and an award from the David Clarke Railway Trust.
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| Artist's impression of Mountsorrel Halt. |
Planning permission for the platform and associated works
was granted at the end of January. It is hoped to start work in a few weeks
time with completion hopefully by the end of this year.
Mountsorrel and
Rothley Community Heritage Centre
This grant is, however, accompanied by another conditional
grant from the same source towards the proposed Mountsorrel and Rothley
Community Heritage Centre at Swithland Lane, Rothley. Here the contribution
from Lafarge Tarmac’s Landfill Communities Fund is a very substantial £540,000!
Again representing almost 90% of the proposed total project cost. The
Mountsorrel Railway Project will need to raise an additional £56,000 of match
funding to release the Lafarge Tarmac grant.
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| Proposed new community heritage centre viewed from the south. |
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| Proposed new community heritage centre viewed from the north. |
This particular project aims to create and develop a new recreational
and educational resource on the eastern side of the proposed Charnwood Forest
Regional Park. The Community Heritage Centre will be alongside the restored
Mountsorrel Railway, which itself functions as a heritage corridor between the
Loughborough-based Great Central Railway and Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor
Museum. The existing “Nunckley Trail”, which is a community created nature and
history trail, will also form part of the overall attraction.
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| Historic Time Office |
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| Kinchley Lane Barn |
The scheme intends to save, relocate and restore three
historic buildings which are at risk of being lost. These are a 200 year old granite
barn from Kinchley Lane, Rothley, once used as a mess room for German prisoners
of war during World War 1; the only remaining original building within the old
Mountsorrel quarry site, the ‘Time Office’; together with remnants of a granite
built explosives store at the disused Nunckley Hill quarry, will be carefully dismantled
and rebuilt to form the basis of the Heritage Centre and a tea room.
The heritage centre has been designed to tell the story
of both Mountsorrel’s and Rothley’s village history. In addition, to the
heritage centre and tea room there will be a car park with access to the
adjoining road and a quarry museum area telling the story of granite quarrying
in the area. This will include demonstration stone masons’ huts, recreating a quarrying
scene that would have been common in the late 19
th century. A small railway
platform will allow passengers to join and leave the trains to visit the new
attraction. At a later stage, there will also be a small museum building linked
by rail to the Mountsorrel Railway. The museum will exhibit historical railway
vehicles that once worked at Mountsorrel.
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| Proposed site plan |
Subject to detailed planning permission, the various
components of the project will all be constructed in and around the disused
Nunckley Hill quarry on the Rothley/Mountsorrel parish boundary. The quarry is
designated as a Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Site
(RIGS) and will help visitors gain an understanding of both granite quarrying
in Leicestershire and the general geological importance of the area.
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| Mountsorrel Quarry Time Office pictured in front of the chimney in the 1870's. |
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| Stone Mason's huts at Mountsorrel Quarry circa 1890's. These would be recreated at the new heritage centre. |
Project Leader, Steve Cramp, commented
“The reinstated railway is now viewed as a
unifying force for the parishes of Rothley and Mountsorrel and the construction
of Bond Lane Halt and the Community Heritage Centre are vital further steps
towards realising the potential benefit that the project can bring. We will be
working with the Rothley History Society, the Mountsorrel Heritage Group and the
Rothley Heritage Group to ensure that the heritage centre tells the story of
our past in as thorough and accurate way as possible. We are enormously
grateful for the support we have received from the local communities and, of
course, our tireless volunteers who have worked to bring the project to its
current stage. This is a community project built by the community for the
community. If you would like to volunteer and help make this a reality then
please get in touch by email to steve@mountsorrelrailway.org.uk”
He added
“The level
of support from Lafarge Tarmac for this project through their Landfill Tax Communities Fund grant scheme is hugely appreciated. We have an opportunity to create an
outstanding recreational and educational resource for our local communities to
enjoy. We are grateful to Lafarge for sharing this vision
and providing such a generous grant. We now need to justify the level of
Lafarge’s confidence in us by raising the remaining £56,000. Work cannot
progress further until the match funding is in place. If you want to help make
this a reality then, please, consider making a donation. Maybe you are a local
business who would like to make a donation towards our match funding?
Everything helps, but one thing is certain, we need to raise the money quickly
as the grant offer is only available for a short time and will be lost if we
don’t reach our target.”
To make a donation please send a cheque made payable to "DCRT" (David Clarke Railway Trust) and write "Mountsorrel Railway" on the back and send to 112 Balmoral Road, Mountsorrel, Loughborough, LE12 7EW. If you are a UK tax payer please print and fill in our
Gift Aid Form. Send this with your cheque and we can reclaim an additional 20% from the Tax Office at no additional cost to you.
