University Business School. Walk on to the Holywell Park bus stop and the end of this walk. It will take about 15 minute
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Walk down the hill through the young plantation. Continue until you reach the bottom fence with its kissing gate in the corner on your right. This opens into the Holywell Park car park.
Continue along the road past the mini-roundabout and security gate. Please note this vehicular entrance is closed Monday to Friday 21.00 hrs to 5.30 hrs and from Saturday 13.00 hrs to Monday 5.30 hrs.
Walk down through the car park and into the coach park. Continue diagonally across and follow the sign to the Holywell Building.
Through the trees on your right is the Henry Ford College.
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HOLYWELL BUILDING This building houses Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, the Energy Technologies Institute and the Mechatronics Research Centre. At the end of the next car park turn left signed Holywell Building. Walk towards the sculpture. On your left is the Holywell Building and ahead the Garendon Wing. Over to the right is the Charnwood Wing.
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Walk on to the Holywell Park bus stop and the end of this walk. It will take about 15 minutes to walk back to the library if there is no bus available.
GARENDON AND CHARNWOOD WINGS Named after the Garendon area of Loughborough which in turn was named after Garendon Abbey (founded 1133, dissolved in 1536), and Charnwood after Charnwood Forest to the west of the campus. They contain a number of University departments and research centres.
Optional 25 minute Burleigh Wood Walk
BURLEIGH WOOD WALK At the kissing gate turn left through the hedge, then turn right. With the rear of the houses on your left, in about 60 metres you arrive at the stile entrance to Burleigh Wood. Climb the stile, and you will see an information board with details of all the paths and features. This walk can be difficult in wet conditions and the full circuit will take approximately 25 minutes.
On passing the sculpture, turn sharp right keeping the Sir Denis Rooke Building on your left. Once at the main entrance, turn right onto the bridge. SIR DENIS ROOKE BUILDING Named after Sir Denis Rooke, OM (1924-2008), University Chancellor 1989-2003. Became Chairman of British Gas in 1976. In 1986 he oversaw the privatisation of the company, retiring in 1989. The Sir Denis Rooke Building is located in the magnificent setting of Holywell Park, which was acquired by the University in April 2003 from Advantica, and expands the campus to more than 400 acres. This building is managed by imago as a conference centre. At the end of the bridge turn left, keeping to the footpath. On your right are the main car parks for the site. The screening of the car parks by trees and shrubs makes this area worth visiting several times as the seasons change.
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Walk past the lake on your left. At its end there is a viewing platform.
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The buildings on your left are used by diverse high tech companies.
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BURLEIGH WOOD This is ancient woodland and part of the old Burleigh Estate. First mentioned in a document in 1470 and known to be woodland by 1540. The University joined the nearby Holywell Wood (not open to the public) to Burleigh with a plantation. Holywell is first recorded in 1240 and as woodland in 1330. The western edge of Burleigh Wood has a very well preserved section of bank and ditch which enclosed the ancient Park. The Park was disparked in the mid-1600s and the estate of over 330 acres was sold. Burleigh Hall was finally demolished in 1961 to make way for the expansion of the University. We recommend a visit when the bluebells are in full bloom.
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Image: Ernie Miller
38909/D&P/July09
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HENRY FORD COLLEGE The College was opened on 9 February 2001 by Gordon Brown MP when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. The College, built on the University campus, but separate from the University, is owned and run by the Ford Motor Company. It provides training for Ford employees, from ‘Welcome to Ford’ up to a Masters programme run in conjunction with the University Business School.
Walks devised and written by Ernie and Sheila Miller, 2009.
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WALK SIX: The Holywell Walk Approximately 40 minutes PLUS optional 25 minute Burleigh Wood Walk
This walk starts at the Library bus shelter and finishes at the Holywell bus stop. The walk goes across some unpaved areas and is more suitable for a dry day. Some paths are unlit and the walk should be done in daylight.
Start
LOUGHBOROUGH PARK
With the library behind you, turn right. As you approach the corner cross to the opposite footpath. On your left is a footpath leading to the Coniston Crescent entrance to the campus. Walk through the gate. For a short portion of the walk we leave the campus.
SPORTSPARK UNDER DEVELOPMENT
SCIENCE & ENTERPRISE PARK
This part of Loughborough was constructed in the early 1960s. Many of the roads were named after areas of the Lake District.
UNDER DEVELOPMENT
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Finish
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HOLYWELL PARK
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On reaching the road (Coniston Crescent) turn right. Walk down the hill past the junction with Holywell Drive, until you reach the T-junction with Kirkstone Drive. Turn right. At the end of the road turn left and join the footpath. On your right is a children’s play area. Continue along the path. On your left a gap in the fence leads to Patterdale Drive. Walk down the concrete steps, keeping the metal fence on your right. After a while there is a metal fence on both sides of the path. Where the left-hand fence ends, there is a gap in the trees leading to a pleasant grassed area adjacent to Nicolson Road. Follow the path keeping the metal fence on your right. Beyond the fence on your right are some of the University sports fields, laid out in 2009. This section of the walk is well wooded and contains many mature trees including oak, ash, cherry, hawthorn, sycamore, holly, hazel and elder.
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Carry on to the end of the metal fence where it joins a metal access gate. At this point there is a good view of this part of the campus with Burleigh Court in the distance.
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Turn right through the kissing gate. The buildings in the distance were originally built as the British Gas Research Centre. To the left of these, behind the trees, is Holywell Hall, also owned by the University.
Image: Ernie Miller
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Turn left, walk up the rising ground keeping the wire fence on your right. At the kissing gate you can extend your walk to include Burleigh Wood (see section 10/11 of this walk).
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HOLYWELL HALL Founded as a hermitage sometime before 1180, it belonged to Garendon Abbey. It had ceased to be a hermitage well before 1536. The Hall, as it was once called, could today be described as a farmhouse. The name is a corruption of Holy Well Haw and takes its name from the Holy Well, a spring close to the farm buildings. It is said never to have failed even in the dry year of 1976. In the medieval period it was believed it had healing properties and survives to the present day.
