Welcome back to the Rothwell Preservation Trust’s weekly Post – keeping you up-to-date about the Trust and its buildings!

We’re pleased to present our NEW weekly series of images that began in June 2025.

See the published collection so far HERE.

Alistair Mackay served as a Trustee for the Rothwell Preservation Trust from 2013 until his passing in May of this year. He was a well-loved figure around Rothwell and we will all miss his expertise in coins & timepieces, plus his extensive knowledge of the history of Rothwell.

Recently, Alistair donated a series of Postcards to us from his vast collection of Rothwell memorabilia. They all feature images of the Market House. Some are black and white, whilst others are in colour. 👍😀

In memory of our fellow Trustee and friend, we are presenting each Postcard from his collection over the next few months and we hope they bring back memories of our famous building.👏👏

22 September 2025 – This week’s, the 12th, is the PENULTIMATE Postcard in this series! – it’s in colour too! Alistair also owned an identical black and white version, so again this week, just like last week’s, it’s ‘two-for-the-price-of-one’! 😀

See the published collection so far HERE. Just ONE MORE next week to complete the series

The Front
On the front of the Postcard, it is simply labelled: ‘Market House and Bridge Street, Rothwell’. The Red Lion Public House is also clearly in view.

Panning to right reveals a sign for the ‘Chequers Hotel’ that after closing (we’re not sure when, but there are photos online of the Hotel still operating in the 1950s) saw a change in its function. It became a residential property and in more recent times, a retail unit – first, a ‘OneStop Supermarket’ and now a ‘Tesco Express’ 👍.

Further investigation online reveals the original Hotel’s date stone was inscribed ‘T.D. 1734’ so it was already well-established by the time this photograph was taken 👏. To the right of that sign, we can just make out the sign for ‘T Manning & Co’ – a brewery established in 1878 and you can read more about the Brewery HERE.

The Reverse
On the colour version, the Postcard message in unreadable as the the pencilled message has faded over the years and it looks like it might have been over-written with a second batch of text – strange! 🤔. However, we CAN see who the recipient was:-
Mrs J Freeman
Paradise Row
Loddington
Near Kettering
Northants

Loddington village is about 2 miles south of Rothwell, but sadly, on studying a range of online mapping, there’s no evidence of a ‘Paradise Row’ any longer in Northamptonshire. If you know differently, we’d love to hear from you 🖊️🖱️📃📧

Also on the colour version is the postmark clearly showing ‘7.45pm SP 13 09’ – is that September 13th, 1909? 🤔.

On the black and white version (unused), pencilled-in on the reverse is ‘c1904’. Could that be an indication of the year? (it would tie-in with the date on the above postmark). Additionally, the monochrome version displays ‘Edward Chamberlain, Printer, Rothwell, Norths’. We’ve found out that Edward’s business was based at 3 Market Hill (now Thai Gardens Restaurant).

Over to you, our Postcard Detectives! If you have any more information about this week’s image, especially about The Chequers or Edward Chamberlain, drop us a line.

Thank-you! Contact us at info@RothwellPreservationTrust.org or leave a message in the comments.

See the published collection so far HERE. Just ONE MORE next week to complete the series

Want to see more images of the Market House? See all of the collection so far HERE.

As many of you know, the Market House needs a major makeover. The roof is leaking and must be replaced soon – and the stonework needs a thorough clean! So why not help us to to conserve Rothwell’s most recognisable building for future generations by making a donation – Thank you! – Our Fundraising Page is HERE.

#RothwellPreservationTrust #TheRPT #SaveOurMarketHouse