If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Monument Types

• ENGINEERING WORKS (Late Post-medieval to Modern - 1865 AD to 2050 AD)

Summary

The first buildings, 1865, were for the manufacture of steam locomotives and tram cars. The site was taken over by the Falcon Works, then in 1889 it became the Brush Electric Light Corporation. Subsequently Hawker Siddely have taken over the site. The factory produced aircraft in both the First and Second World Wars.

Additional Information

Local list description:
Engineering Workshops. Originally a Locomotive works for Henry Hughes & Co. Later The Falcon Engineering and Car Works (1883), acquired in 1889 by Anglo-American Brush. Development commenced 1865. Much altered and extended and many original buildings demolished. Mainly utility structures with exception of Falcon Building (originally built as Turbine Hall) and adjoining workshops with upstanding pediment gables, fronting railway line. Turbine Hall built c1920. Neoclassical styling. Generally, soot blackened red brick above plinth of alternate stone and brick bands. Expressed terra-cotta string courses above windows and under gables. Pitched roofs with stone dressings to upstanding gables and distinctive shaped parapets. Diocletion window to lineside frontage masked by distinctive neon ‘Brush’ sign. Adjacent workshops with flat topped circular brick tower and shaped gables surmounting parapet, built c1900. Storey height metal framed fenestration.
All buildings somewhat disfigured by crude C20 interventions.

1st edition OS map (1880's): 'Falcon Works, Engine & Car', small site in south-west corner.
Epoch 2 OS map: 'Falcon Works', includes 'electric tramway'.
Epoch 3 OS map: 'Falcon Works', engineering', tramway has gone, site has expanded significantly.
Epoch 4 OS map: 'Falcon Works', isolated building to west is now shown, described as 'engineering works'.

<1> M Chorlton, 2003, Leicestershire & Rutland Airfields in the Second World War, p155-160 (Bibliographic reference). SLE197.

Brush Works made and tested planes at Loughborough Meadows from 1915-19, and during WW2 they worked with Airworks to repair and construct aircraft (Loughborough Airfield was to the west).

<2> Palmer, M and Neaverson, P, 1992, Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands, p190-1 (Bibliographic reference). SLE86.

The site is in 'Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands': "Development on this greenfield site, adjacent to the Midland Railway, began when Henry Hughes purchased seven acres for the manufacture of steam locomotives and tramcars in 1865. Later known as the Falcon Engineering and Car Works, it was taken over by the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation in 1889, who were seeking premises outside London. The business continues as part of the Hawker Siddeley Group and some of the original buildings remain on the now vast site."

<3> Cartwright, T C, 2002, Birds Eye Wartime: Leicestershire 1939-1945, p7 (Bibliographic reference). SLE383.

The isolated western building of Brush Works is shown camouflaged on an aerial photograph in 'Birds Eye Wartime'.

<4> Sites and Monuments Record, Parish File, Loughborough General File (Unpublished document). SLE320.

The site was visited in 2004 as part of a work placement. "The site is difficult to access from public land, so photographs were only possible from the railway station and adjoining roads and footpaths. Much of the site has been heavily altered during the long history of construction there but however does contain many of the earlier buildings."

<5> Palmer, M (ed), 1983, Leicestershire Archaeology - The Present State of Knowledge - Industrial Archaeology, p29 (Bibliographic reference). SLE412.

In 'Present State', "The site, now some 60 acres, is known as Falcon Works, the Falcon Engineering and Car Works having taken over from Hughes; they in turn were bought by the Anglo-American Brush Electric Light Corporation in 1889. Brush began the construction of electricity generating plant, turned to electric tramcars and coachbuilding becoming part of Hawker Siddeley. Within the complex are some of the original late 19th century buildings."

<6> Bonser, Roy, 2001, Aviation in Leicestershire and Rutland, p231-240 (Bibliographic reference). SLE1484.

The book contains much information about aircraft construction at the Brush Works, including a list of all the planes built here.

<7> Barrymore Halpenny, Bruce, 1981, Action Stations Vol 2 - Military airfields of Lincolnshire and the East Midlands, p128-130 (Bibliographic reference). SLE4079.

During the First World War Brush built 87 Farman Longhorns, 350 Avro 504As, Js and Ks, one experimental Henri Farman Astral twin-engined bomber, 20 Short 827 seaplanes and 142 Short 184 seaplanes. All these aircraft (except for the seaplanes!) were tested at Loughborough Meadows. In the Second World War again turned to aircraft manufacture, producing 335 (DH 89 Dominie).

Sources

Associated Finds

None recorded

Designations

• Locally Listed Building or Structure: FALCON BUILDING, BRUSH WORKS, NOTTINGHAM ROAD, LOUGHBOROUGH

Associated Images

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.