About
The Old Rectory Museum in Loughborough, Leicestershire, occupies a handsome Georgian rectory building and serves as the principal repository of local history, archaeology, and social heritage for one of the East Midlands' most industrially significant towns. Loughborough's story is one of remarkable transformation: from a modest medieval market town on the banks of the River Soar, through its emergence as the world capital of bell founding, to its role as a centre of hosiery, knitwear, and engineering in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The museum brings together artefacts, documents, and personal testimonies that illuminate this rich and varied history.
The museum's most distinctive connection is to the bell founding industry that has made Loughborough's name synonymous with the most resonant of crafts. John Taylor and Co., established in 1784, remains the world's largest bell foundry still in continuous production, and Loughborough has supplied bells to cathedrals, churches, and monuments across the globe. The foundry cast Great Paul — at the time of its installation in 1881 the largest bell in the United Kingdom, hung in the south-west tower of St Paul's Cathedral in London — and has continued to produce bells of international significance to the present day. The museum documents the foundry's extraordinary heritage and the skills of the bell founders whose craft has been practised in Loughborough for well over two centuries.
Loughborough is also home to the Carillon — a memorial tower built after the First World War and housing a playing instrument of forty-seven bells, one of the finest carillons in Britain. The museum explores this instrument and its role in the town's civic and commemorative life. The broader story of Loughborough — its medieval market, its Nonconformist traditions, its Great Central Railway connections, and its emergence as a major university town — is woven into the museum's permanent displays.
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Plan Your Visit
💡 Visitor Tips
- Combine with the Loughborough Carillon War Memorial (5 minutes' walk) — the tower can be climbed at scheduled times for panoramic views and the bells can sometimes be heard being played.
- The Great Central Railway heritage steam line at Loughborough Central station is 10 minutes' walk — steam trains run most weekends.
- John Taylor bell foundry occasionally opens to the public for special events and open days — check their website and plan ahead if you want to see bells being cast.
- Loughborough station (East Midlands Railway, direct trains from London St Pancras in under 90 minutes) is 10 minutes' walk from the museum.
- The museum is free and well worth combining with a full day in Loughborough exploring the Carillon, market, and heritage railway.
- Cafés and restaurants are available in Loughborough town centre within 5 minutes of the museum.
- School groups should book in advance — the museum offers curriculum-linked sessions covering industrial history, archaeology, and local heritage.
- Ask at the museum desk about current arrangements for visiting the John Taylor foundry — guided foundry tours have been available in the past.
Highlights
John Taylor and Co. — World's Largest Bell Foundry
The centrepiece of the museum's story is Loughborough's extraordinary association with bell founding. John Taylor and Co. , established in 1784, is the world's largest bell foundry still in continuous production and has cast bells for Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, the Cologne Cathedral, Washington National Cathedral, and thousands of churches across the globe.
The museum documents the foundry's methods — from the pattern-making and mould construction through the bronze pouring and cooling to the tuning and hanging of finished bells — and celebrates the skilled craftspeople who have maintained this ancient tradition in Loughborough for over two centuries.
Great Paul — The UK's Largest Bell
In 1881, the John Taylor foundry cast Great Paul — a bell weighing 16. 5 tonnes and measuring 9 feet 6 inches in diameter, which was installed in the south-west tower of St Paul's Cathedral in London and remained for decades the largest bell in the United Kingdom. The logistical challenge of transporting this enormous bell from Loughborough to London by railway and the technical achievement of its casting represent one of the great industrial feats of Victorian England.
The museum documents this remarkable episode with photographs, technical drawings, and the story of the bell's journey and installation.
The Loughborough Carillon
Loughborough's War Memorial Carillon, completed in 1923 and housing forty-seven tuned bells, is one of the finest carillons in Britain and a monument unique in the East Midlands. Built to commemorate the dead of the First World War, the tower and its instrument were gifts from the citizens of Loughborough, and the carillon is played regularly to this day.
The museum explores the history of the carillon as an instrument, the memorial significance of the tower, and the musical tradition it represents — Loughborough being one of very few British towns where the carillon plays a regular part in public life.
Hosiery and Knitwear — The Textile Heritage
Long before bells made Loughborough famous, the town was a significant centre of the hosiery and knitwear industry that has been a defining feature of Leicestershire's economy since the seventeenth century. Framework knitting — the domestic and later factory production of stockings, hosiery, and knitwear — transformed the social landscape of the East Midlands, and Loughborough's textile workers were among the most organised and politically active in England.
The museum documents the industry's history and the experience of those who worked in it, from the early framework knitters through the Victorian factory system to the mid-twentieth century.
Collections
The Old Rectory Museum holds collections covering archaeology, local history, industrial heritage, and social history relating to Loughborough and the surrounding area of north Leicestershire and Charnwood. The bell founding collection includes tools, patterns, cast samples, photographs, and documentary material relating to John Taylor and Co.
and the history of the bell founding craft in Loughborough.
The textile collection documents the hosiery and knitwear industry with machine parts, tools, fabric samples, trade catalogues, and personal effects from workers. The archaeology collection includes prehistoric and Roman finds from the River Soar valley and Charnwood. The social history collection encompasses domestic objects, clothing, photographs, and personal documents donated by local families across the twentieth century.
Loughborough Through Time
Main permanent exhibition tracing the history of Loughborough from medieval market town through the textile and bell founding industries to the present-day university town.
The Art of Bell Founding
Dedicated display on the bell founding heritage of Loughborough, John Taylor and Co., and the technical and artistic craft of producing tuned bronze bells.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.