Journey to Pluntree, Notts

First Stop Loughborough.

The Signaler (2003), a sculptue by John Atkin, stands in the centre of the Rushes Retail Park.

A plaque notes ‘The overall form of the sculpture is of the figure and the materials used reflect the past industries of the region and the future. The sculpture is made from a combination of cor ten steel and stainless steel. The base is made from concrete in addition to stainless steel details. Cor ten steel has distinct weathering characteristics that allow the surface skin of the metal to weather to a particular colour.’


All Saints with Holy Trinity Church, Loughborough. The current church was first built in the fourteenth century, round about 1330 which was during the decorated gothic period. The height of the tower was increased and a clerestory was added in the perpendicular period, about 1450. http://www.aswht.org/history.htm





The base of the tower is dedicated to the memory of the Taylor family of bellfounders.









Bunny is a village between Loughborough and Nottingham. The most significant building in the village is Bunny Hall, probably built in the 1570s and occupied by the Parkyns family for three hundred years. Sir Thomas Parkyns (1662-1741), known as the Wrestling Baronet. Unfortunatly this is now in private hands and we could not get close to it.

Sir Thomas Parkyns was responsible for several buildings, in particular the old school house and almhouses close to the church. They were designed and built in 1700.The almshouse was for four poor widows of Bunny and Bradmore.




Sir Thomas Parkyns’ coat of arms can be seen on the end elevation.















The church of St Mary’s has a 13th Century nave and aisles were built of loosely-coursed rubble, quite different from the hewn, squared stone of the later 14th Century chancel and tower. Inside there is an oak screen, also dated as 14th Century and the Vestry has a medieval aumbry - a cupboard where the sacred vessels were kept. The south porch, with its stone seats, was added in the 15th Century.



Bradmore is a small village just north of Bunny. Bradmore is famous for a fire in 1705 when a great part of the village was destroyed. The square tower of the Church was built in the thirteenth century and an octagonal spire added in the fourteenth century. Building was halted until the Black Death had abated. The church then suffered badly in the fire and remained unused for a considerable time. A small hall was erected next to the tower in 1881, where services are now held once a month.

















The long and undulating road from the A60 to Plumtree.