Loughborough

Loughborough, a municipal borough of Leicestershire, near the Soar, with which it is connected by two canals, 11 miles N.W. of Leicester. It is the centre of a rich agricultural district, and was formerly noted for its malt. Among the public buildings are a 14th-century Decorated church with Perpendicular tower, grammar school, girls' school, free library, town hall, corn exchange, and infirmary. The chief industries are hosiery, bell-founding, iron-founding, dyeing, machine-, brick-, and glass-making, and coal-trading. The 17i-ton bell of St. Paul's was cast here in 1881.