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Shrewsbury And Birmingham Railway
The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway was authorised in 1846. It agreed to joint construction with others of the costly Wolverhampton to Birmingham section, the so-called Stour Valley Line. This work was dominated by the hostile London and North Western Railway, which used underhand and coercive tactics. The section between Shrewsbury and Wellington was also built jointly, in this case with the Shropshire Union Railway. The S&BR opened from Shrewsbury to its own Wolverhampton terminus in 1849. The Stour Valley Line was still delayed by the LNWR, but the S&BR eventually got access to it in 1852. By this time it was obvious that the LNWR was an impossible partner, and the S&BR allied itself to the Great Western Railway, which reached Wolverhampton in 1854. The S&BR merged with the GWR in 1854. With the S&BR and other absorbed railways, the GWR obtained a through route between London and the River Mersey at Birkenhead, and to Manchester and Liverpool by the use of running powers. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of Walsall to the east and Dudley to the south. The population in 2021 was 263,700, making it the third largest city in the West Midlands after Birmingham and Coventry. Historic counties of England, Historically in Staffordshire, Wolverhampton grew as a market town specialising in the wool trade. During the Industrial Revolution, it became a major centre for coal mining, steel production, lock making, and automotive manufacturing; the economy of the city is still based on engineering, including a large aerospace industry, as well as the Tertiary sector of the economy, service sector. The city is also home to the University of Wolverhampton. A town for most of its history, it gained city status in the United Kingdom, city status in 2000. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester And Birmingham Railway
The Manchester and Birmingham Railway (M&BR) was built between Manchester and Crewe and opened in stages from 1840. Between Crewe and Birmingham, trains were worked by the Grand Junction Railway. The M&BR was merged into the London and North Western Railway in 1846. History Plans After the building of the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, investors began to look for other routes south of Manchester. From 1835, the GJR was considering a branch to the Staffordshire Potteries, while the Manchester and Cheshire Junction Railway was planning a line from Manchester to Crewe with branches outwards. Meanwhile, George Stephenson was investigating a line from Manchester and Stockport to the Potteries, which developed into a proposal for a "Manchester South Union Railway". Also involved were proposals for competing lines through the Trent valley to Rugby. After two years of proposals and counter-proposals, what emerged was a scheme to run from a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oakengates
Oakengates is a historic market town and civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. The town's parish population was recorded as 8,517 in the 2001 census. Etymology The name is not derived from "oak" or "gates" but is derived from the Ancient Brythonic name for the valley which was Usc-con, meaning The Lake (''Usc'' (water)) and the confluence (''Cond'') of two streams (see Cartlidge), and from the Old Norse ''gata'', path; see gh- in Indo-European roots. meaning boundary or Road. So Usc-con gait is at the Road at the vale of Usc-con. ''The Vales and Gates of Usc-Con: A history of Oakengates'' was written by local historian Reverend J.E.G. Cartlidge whose name is commemorated in the name of the retirement home Cartlidge House. History Roman Period In 48 A.D, Watling Street, a pretty important road for transportation and travel, was built by the romans. The road passed directly through what is nowadays known as Oakengates and was sorrounded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ironbridge
Ironbridge is a riverside village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, and takes its name from, the Iron Bridge, a cast iron bridge that was built in 1779. History The area around Ironbridge is described by those promoting it as a tourist destination as the "birthplace of the Industrial Revolution". This description is based on the idea that Abraham Darby perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, in Coalbrookdale, allowing much cheaper production of iron. However, the industrial revolution did not begin in any one place. Darby's iron smelting was but one small part of this generalised revolution and was soon superseded by the great iron-smelting areas. However, the bridge – being the first of its kind fabricated from cast iron, and one of the few which have survived to the present day&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called The Gorge, Shropshire, the Gorge. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby I, Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides of the valley. As it contained far fewer impurities than normal coal, the iron it produced was of a superior quality. Along with many other industrial developments that were going on in other parts of the country, this discovery was a major factor in the growing industrialisation of Britain, which was to become known as the Industrial Revolution. Today, Coalbrookdale is home to the Ironbridge Institute, a partnership between the University of Birmingham and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust offering postgraduate and professional development courses in Industrial her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madeley, Shropshire
Madeley is a historic market town and civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. The parish had a population of 18,774 at the 2021 census. Madeley is recorded in the Domesday Book, having been founded before the 8th century. Historically, Madeley's industrial activity has largely been in mining, and later, manufacturing, which is still a large employer in the town, along with service industries. Parts of the parish fall within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ironbridge Gorge, the site of The Iron Bridge, and a key area in the development of Industry. History The settlement of Madeley is recorded as far back as the Domesday Book. The town was founded prior to the 8th century, and subsequently became a market town in the 13th century. Sigward, a local ruler in the time of King Æthelbald of Mercia, is said to have held 3 hides of land at Madeley. Between 727 and 736 he sold his holdings to Mildburh, daughter of Merewalh, sub-king of the Magonsæ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shifnal
Shifnal () is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, about east of Telford, 17 miles (27 km) east of Shrewsbury and 13 miles (20 km) west-northwest of Wolverhampton. It is near the M54 motorway and A5 (road), A5 road aka Watling Street. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 6,391, increasing to 6,776 at the 2011 census. Etymology Shifnal is thought to be the place named "Scuffanhalch" in a 9th-century charter, as a possession of the monastery at Medeshamstede (later Peterborough Abbey). Though this seems a dubious claim, and the ancient charter is in fact a 12th-century forgery, the full picture is more complex. Sir Frank Stenton considered that "Scuffanhalch", along with "Costesford" (Cosford, Shropshire, Cosford) and "Stretford", formed part of a list of places which had once been connected with Medeshamstede; and the charter purports to have been issued by King Æthelred of Mercia, during much of whose reign the bishop of Bishop of Lichfield, M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Baker (engineer)
William Baker (19 May 1817 – 20 December 1878) was an English railway engineer. Between 1834 and 1839 Baker was articled to George W. Buck and then worked on the London and Birmingham Railway between London and Tring. From 1837 he worked with Buck on the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. He later became engineer of the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway while also working on the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway, Shrewsbury and Birmingham and Shropshire Union Railways. He became engineer of the Stour Valley Line, Stour Valley Railway and was then appointed as engineer of the Southern Division of the London and North Western Railway. He was a consulting engineer in the construction of the 1862 International Exhibition building. Following the death of Robert Stephenson he was appointed chief engineer of the London and North Western Railway Company. He wholly constructed, or remodelled and extended, the stations of the company in London, Liverpool and Manc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrewsbury And Hereford Railway
The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an English railway company that built a standard gauge line between those places. It opened its main line in . Its natural ally seemed to be the Great Western Railway. With other lines it formed a route between the mineral resources of South Wales and the industries of the north-west of England, and this attracted the interest of the London and North Western Railway, which sought access to South Wales. The GWR and the LNWR jointly leased the S&HR line in 1862, later jointly acquiring ownership of it, in 1871. LNWR mineral traffic developed, and after the opening of the Severn Tunnel in 1886, the line became an important main line for traffic from the south-west of England to the north-west. With the decline in local passenger and goods traffic in the 1950s many intermediate stations closed, but the main line continues in important use at the present day. Origins On 3 August 1846, 16 railway bills were passed in Parliament; one of these wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrewsbury And Chester Railway
The North Wales Mineral Railway was formed to carry coal and ironstone from the mineral-bearing area around Wrexham to the River Dee, Wales, River Dee wharves. It was extended to run from Shrewsbury and formed part of a main line trunk route, under the title the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway. It opened in 1846 from Chester to Ruabon, and in 1848 from Ruabon to Shrewsbury. It later merged with the Great Western Railway. Much of its main line ran through rural areas, but the important mineral area west of Wrexham, and also near Ruabon, led to considerable development of mineral business. A dense network of branches to access pits and ironworks built up, although the hilly terrain made railway construction difficult. At the end of the nineteenth century passenger services were put on for the mining communities. The main line business developed too, enabling the GWR to access the River Mersey, Mersey, from London and from South Wales, and a heavy long-distance mineral flow built ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham, Wolverhampton And Dudley Railway Act 1846
The Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway was an English railway company promoted to connect those places by rail. It was authorised by Parliament in 1846. It became apparent that it would be advantageous to merge with the Great Western Railway. The rival London and North Western Railway went to great lengths to frustrate the amalgamation, but ultimately failed, and the merger took place in 1847. The line was constructed by the GWR and opened in 1854; the Birmingham station was Snow Hill and the Wolverhampton station was later named Low Level. A branch towards Dudley was not ready until 1866. In combination with other lines the BW&DR main line gave the GWR an important through route between London and Birkenhead. The BW&DR section was constructed on the mixed gauge system, but connecting lines further north were only narrow (standard) gauge, and this contributed to the ultimate demise of the broad gauge. In the railway modernisation of the later 1960s, preference was given ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
