Painting The Town Red

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April 7th 2021

Published: April 16th 2021

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John Miranda

Church Street, Melton Mowbray

There are a number of towns and locations throughout England, that are synonymous with a specific sport or activity. Wembley = Football. Silverstone = Formula 1. Twickenham = Rugby Union. Wimbledon = Tennis. We are stood in a small, rural market town in Leicestershire, but how many would have figured it to be the epicentre of European fox hunting until just a few years ago? I appreciate that the very idea is alien to most of us urban dwelling types and is now but a distant memory after the 2005 ban. I am more in tune with the urban fox, plodding the streets of our locality in search of a tasty morsel to keep the family. He was more likely to be seen cursing the introduction of the plastic wheelie bin, than looking over his shoulder for oncoming horse and hounds. We will come back to the fox hunting influence on Melton in due course.

We start our Melton journey at the end of what is now Nottingham Street. The area once thrived on another four legged animal - the sheep. Daniel Defoe no less - writer of Robinson Crusoe - was said to have written about the wool and

St John the Baptist RC Church, Melton Mowbray

high quality meat. Melton, it seems, was once highly rated for the local fleeces and meat. However, another foodstuff has become more associated with the town. The roads on entry to the district proclaim, " Melton Mowbray. Regional Food Capital". We pass the 1854 Corn Exchange and head to the shop of Dickinson & Morris. The timber framed building is adorned with the words, "Ye Old Pork Pie Shoppe". In these socially distanced times, numbers gaining entry to the shop were strictly controlled. A steady queue snaked outside. A lady waiting for an acquaintance, caused some confusion about whether she was seeking to purchase. A pork pie is described as a traditional English meat pie and Dickinson & Morris are described as the "home of the pork pie - since 1851". The company are the oldest in existence still making the authentic pork pie. The pies themselves consist of roughly chopped pork and pork stock, surrounded with a layer pork jelly and encased in a hot water pastry. The delicacy is served cold or at room temperature and there is a suggestion it serves as a mere snack. I would argue - snack or meal - depends on the size

Dickinson & Morris, Melton Mowbray

Nottingham Street

of the pie. In these strange times, even the humble Scotch egg has been given credit as a "substantial" meal, when consumed with a side dish of alcohol! The company website explains the history of product at great length - it seems Joseph Morris knew a good thing when he saw it and joined the Dickinson clan in 1886. Production of pork pies is now on a much larger scale to satisfy demand and it transpires some of the Dickinson & Morris output is made in a factory near Leicester. However, the traditional "hand raised" pork pie is still made in and available from this shop. We had plans to eat our pie as part of our lunch, but had foolishly forgotten to stash a cutting implement in my day pack. The friendly Dickinson & Morris server came to the rescue and cut our purchase into 6 portions. The pie was secured into the day pack for later consumption.

The Corn Exchange nearby had been converted into a small covered shopping centre, but was pretty much closed due to the continued rules on non-essential retail activity. Pork pies (and other foodstuffs) were fortunately essential fayre. The Corn Exchange was

Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray

originally opened in 1854. It used to be a focal point for meetings in the town and was given listed status in 1976. The nearby Corn Cross at the junction with High Street transpired to be a 1996 replica added in recent years. I noted a plaque on the building opposite. It turns out that it was one of the buildings of the former King Edward VII School. This former Grammar School was the place that educated Graham Chapman, founder of the Monty Python comedy sketches. He was a former Head Boy and went on to take lead roles in The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian. A passing couple advised that a similar blue commemorative plaque adorned his old house on Burton Street. We walked on into the Market Place, the traditional meeting place for the 3 hunts in the area - the Quorn, the Belvoir and the Cottesmore.

We turned into King Street, described on one history board as a "despicable, nasty place". There was no sign of any such unruly behaviour today and all bar the pork pie purveyors were closed as per Government instructions. An artwork of Melton history covered the walls of the

Dickinson & Morris Pork Pie, Melton Mowbray

first building. The 1935 art deco Regal Cinema was at the turn of the street. It originally held nearly 900, but apparently the stalls area was converted into a bingo club at some point in the late 1970s. I read that the bingo has now gone, but that the lower area has changed use into a bar area. The cinema seats are restricted to the circle. Whatever the interior layout, the exterior is another art deco masterpiece to behold.

The Thorpe End area towards Morrisons supermarket contains another fine art deco establishment on Sherrard Street, but to appreciate the building required looking beyond the retail units on the ground floor. Boris Johnson watched on from the opposite side of street - or at least a life size cardboard cutout did from the front window of the old White Hart pub. He held tightly on to his can of Carling Black Label. At the far end of the street, the Tuxford & Tebbutt factory was busy turning out another of the town's food products. Stilton cheese. The so called "King of Cheeses". Tuxford & Tebbutt date back to the 1780s. They had all the bases covered and up to the

Earl Cardigan's Hunting "Box", Melton Mowbray

..... leader of the Charge of the Light Brigade

mid 1960s, the site made both blue stilton and pork pies. Mr Tuxford was apparently the stilton man - Mr Tebbutt was in charge of pork pies. Today, the company is part of the Arla empire. A life size model of a cow watches on from the roof near the entrance to the factory. The cheese is only made within a defined geographic area in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and this Melton factory is one of only 6 licensed locations. The quality of the cheese has been long known and the rose in popularity with the influential hunting crew spreading the word. The railways allowed the product to be easily transported to lucrative markets.

The history of the pork pie and blue stilton industries is documented in the nearby Melton Carnegie Museum. The former 1905 library building was re-opened at a Museum in 1977 by the County Council. The history of fox hunting is also covered in the exhibitions. It is currently closed to the public. The tower of St Mary's Church looms over Burton Street. It contains 10 bells. The church - described as the largest and stateliest Parish Church in all of Leicestershire - had £2 million

Egerton Lodge, Melton Mowbray

pounds worth of refurbishment as recently as 2017. The Anne of Cleeves House adjoining the St Mary's Church graveyard was once owned by Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell was best known as a fixer in affairs of the heart for King Henry VIII and led the break with the Roman Catholic church, when it refused to sanction the divorce of Henry from Catherine of Aragon. However he came a cropper by advising Henry to take on Anne of Cleeves as his 4th bride. Henry found her unattractive and had Cromwell executed for treason, which seemed a rather extreme reaction. The house in Burton Street was therefore part of the properties given to Anne of Cleeves on her divorce, although she never visited. The Leicestershire brewery, Everards, now have the key to the door.

Burton Street was the place to be in fox hunting times. The Old Club sits directly across from the graveyard. It was here that Midnight Steeplechase was dreamt up in honour of Lady Augusta Fane's birthday, leading to members of the Household Cavalry racing through the area dressed in their hunting gear with nightwear on top on 10 March 1890. Wild nights and mad cap ideas were no

Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray

stranger to Melton. The phrase to "paint the town red" owes its origin to a big night out in the town in 1837. The Marquis of Waterford and his friends overindulged themselves, leading to a spate of vandalism who broke flowerpots, broke windows and ripped off door knockers. They capped it all by liberally chucking red paint over a toll bar, various properties and a statue of a swan! The actions became associated with having a drunken night out - hence the phrase. The Old Club also played host to "Beau" Brummell, whilst he was engaged in the fox hunting season. A society figure and snappy dresser, Brummell, was a close friend of the then Prince of Wales (and later George IV). He was very much what we would now call an "influencer", before the world of social media took over the wording. He advised on fashion and good tailoring to the Georgian elite and was known as King of the Dandies. "This Charming Man" finally fell out with his royal patron and burdened with debt, legged it to France to stay out prison. He died penniless in Caen, northern France.

The Who Is Who of the 1800s carries

St Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray

on down Burton Street. Manor House on the corner of Mill Street gave hospitality to Prime Ministers. Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston. Lord Carrington entertainment the Prince of Wales there in 1873. As we have seen, Boris is more at home in Thorpe End. The Harborough Hotel was the favourite of the Earl of Lonsdale, who found time between the boxing for a spot of hunting. The hotel was also favoured Maharajah of Cooch Behar - a home away from home and a long way from now modern day Bhutan. Whilst such as the Old Club were communal properties for the hunt season, some nobility kept private homes known as "hunting boxes". A rather grand looking property with ornate pillars near the railway bridge is one described as a "box" . This property was retained by the 7th Earl of Cardigan, who when he wasn't riding with the hounds was leading the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava.

It was time to enjoy the pork pie from Dickinson & Morris. We crossed by the former pork pie factory of Collins & Co, listed as the oldest establishment in Melton dating from 1831. The Daily Telegraph

The Old Club, Melton Mowbray

..... frequented by Beau Brummell "King of the Dandies"

suggest tin 1877 heir pies were celebrated from the Pole to the Indies, but not celebrated enough for them to survive. The fabulously named Mucky Lane led to vast areas of parkland in the centre of town, part of the Melton Mowbray Town Estate. The combined parks have been expanded over the years, but have essentially been preserved for the recreation of the townsfolk since the Middle Ages. We dined on our rather expensive pork pie with a side serving of crisps, although the icy wind forced us not to linger. Spring it seemed had been temporary. A plaque of Leicester Street indicated that this was point that a certain Edward Adcock started wholesaling his Melton Mowbray pork pie as far a field as London. Old Edward simply made use of the stagecoach to get his goods down to the capital to satisfy the palette of the elite. The River Eye was tranquil at the end of the street and the commanding Egerton Lodge on the far bank reflected in the water. The Lodge was somewhat more than a "box" and built as a hunting base for the Earl of Wilton in 1829. We sheltered from the gusty wind in

Tuxford & Tebbut Creamery, Melton Mowbray

Memorial Park. The War Memorial detailed the fate of Melton's fallen in the shadow of a stainless steel sculpture first shown at the World Trade Fair in Osaka, Japan.

There would be no painting the town red tonight. In the aftermath of COVID 19, the pub doors remained firmly closed. What would the King of the Dandies made of it all? At least the local foxes are having a quieter life these days!

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