Two Major Funding Successes Totalling £606,000 for the Mountsorrel Railway!!

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.  

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.

Proposed new community heritage centre viewed from the south.

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.

Historic Time Office

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.

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.

Mountsorrel Quarry Time Office pictured in front of the chimney in the 1870's.

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.