Eight miles north of Leicester. In the centre of historic hunting country, near Charnwood Forest. There is a very fine carillon of bells, cast at the local foundry, erected as a memorial to the men of Loughborough who fell in the Great War. Great Paul," the largest bell of St. Paul's Cathedral, was cast here in 1881. Museum on bell foundry. Local and archaeological displays in Old Rectory Museum. Town was where modern tourism was born when Thomas Cook organised outings by train from Leicester in 1841. Grand Central Steam Railway runs to Leicester.