The market and university town of Loughborough has a long, varied and often unexpected history. In the medieval period many people worked the land or provided services necessary for everyday life, such as blacksmithing, millwrighting and stonemasonry. The town’s prosperity was due to its sustained involvement in the woollen industry, while later locals were hugely influential in the Agricultural Revolution. However, the Industrial Revolution changed the landscape, providing new and different employment through the canals and railways as well as large hosiery factories. New industries came to Loughborough, such as bell founding, locomotive manufacturing and electrical generators, and the town’s female munitions workers played an important role during the First World War. In recent decades the town has moved away from manufacturing to retail and education, though the Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult to predict how work will look here in the future.

Loughborough at Work explores the working life of this town in Leicestershire and its people and the trades, businesses and industries that have characterised it through the ages. The book will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of Leicestershire.