What We Do

We love history. More than that, we love sharing history with others.

The Charnwood Roots project ran from 2013 to 2017. It was part of Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust, which aims to research and publish a history of every Leicestershire parish.

Charnwood Roots was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It involved over 600 volunteers helping to research the history and archaeology of 35 towns and villages across the Charnwood Forest area. The information they collected is stored in the Charnwood Roots Databank.

The Charnwood Roots project concluded in 2017, with a heritage festival at Beaumanor Hall.

Leicestershire Victoria County History Trust is now raising funds to analyse and write up the data which has been collected by our volunteers. This will be published as a series of books. The first of these will be a history of the market town of Loughborough

The Fearon Fountain
The Fearon Fountain

Work commenced in September 2019 with a project on public health improvements in the town between 1840 and 1920. This will conclude with an exhibition in Loughborough Library Local Studies Rooms in July and August 2020 to mark the 150th anniversary of the provision of piped water to the town, and the opening of Nanpantan reservoir.

The next phase of the project will start after Easter 2020 and will build on the research collected as part of the Working Lives strand of the Charnwood Roots project. The focus will be the history of Loughborough’s industries. A small group of volunteers will be helping with this research, and please contact us if you would like to be involved.