RIVER TRENT
In its passage north through Burton the river Trent
contains several islands, small ones in the Burton Extra
stretch and larger ones near the abbey, the latter
including Horse holme (on the Stapenhill side), Ox
hay, Andresey, and Broad holme; the largest island,
Burton meadow, was formed by a major division of
the river. The main course ran some distance east of
the abbey precinct, which lay alongside a stream
separating it from Andresey. By the late 12th century
the stream had been connected to the river by a manmade channel, known as the Fleet, a name also applied
to the enlarged stream where it flowed past the
precinct. (fn. 1) The brook converged with the main course
of the river at the north end of Broad holme, where a
western arm of the river created an expanse of water
which necessitated a long bridge. (fn. 2) The west arm,
known as Wetmore brook in the late 16th century
and as Back water or Wetmore water in the later
18th century, (fn. 3) rejoined the main course at the north
end of Burton meadow. In the earlier 1780s Robert
Peel dug a cut from the west bank of the river near the
Branston boundary to power a cotton mill he had
opened at Bond End. (fn. 1) Known as Peel's Cut, it survived
until the late 1960s when it was filled in, along with
most of the channels which had created the islands in
the river. (fn. 2)
Figure 13:
19th-century extensions to Burton borough
Weirs
Weirs regulated the flow of water, especially where
there were mills. There was a weir directing water
towards the corn mills at Winshill by 1326 (fn. 3) and
another serving the corn mill upstream in Burton
Extra by 1414. (fn. 4) They were respectively the two weirs
recorded as being 120 feet and 240 feet long in 1698,
when they cost £13 a year to maintain and were the
responsibility of the lord of the manor. (fn. 5) The latter was
removed when the river was dredged there in the late
1960s, but the former still existed in 2000. A weir
across the opening of the west arm of the river between
Burton meadow and the bridge is first recorded in
1704 but was probably much older, and may have been
the 'Burton weir' recorded in 1407. (fn. 6) Rebuilt in 1858, it
still existed in 2000. (fn. 7) What was known in 1598 as the
'little weir' was probably that recorded in the mid 15th
century across the west arm near the site of the 19thcentury gas works. (fn. 8)
Flood Control
Floods were recorded in 1254 and 1255, and in 1284 a
flood badly damaged the bridge. (fn. 9) Floods also occured
in 1380, 1402, (fn. 10) 1574, (fn. 11) 1771, at least three times in the
1790s, (fn. 12) 1830, (fn. 13) 1852, and 1875. (fn. 14) The stone work
(opus lapideum) begun by Abbot William Mathew in
the later 1420s between Andresey and Horse holme
may have been a flood embankment, (fn. 15) and in 1614 the
lessee of the Hay convenanted to make a wooden
embankment to save the meadow from encroachment. (fn. 16) It was not until after municipal incorporation
in 1878, however, that major preventative work was
undertaken: an embankment running south from a
point near the east end of the former Bond End canal
as far as the railway line was completed in 1880. (fn. 17)
RIVER CROSSINGS
Fords
The river Trent was forded at several points. Burton
meadow was known as 'barley ford holme' in 1012, (fn. 18)
and in the late 16th century the main ford was evidently that giving access to the meadow across the west
arm of the river near the bridge. (fn. 19) It was presumably
part of a route across the meadow, and the 'Conygrie'
ford also recorded in the 16th century is possibly that
which existed in 1823 on the east side of the island
down-river from the corn mill at Winshill. (fn. 20) The ford
across the west arm, still usable in the mid 19th
century, was the only means of access to the meadow
from the town before an approach from the north side
of the bridge was built in the late 18th century. (fn. 21) In the
early 13th century there was a ford near the upper
mills, probably associated with the settlement called
Waterside on the Stapenhill side of the river. (fn. 22) There
were also fords in Branston: Salters ford was mentioned
in the earlier 13th century and in 1544 (fn. 23) and Robin
Hood's ford in 1546. (fn. 24)
Ferry
William 'le schipmon' of Stapenhill (d. 1286) may have
been a ferryman, (fn. 25) and a bridge recorded in 1387 over
the Fleet channel at Bond End was most probably used
in conjunction with a ferry across the river to Stapenhill. (fn. 26) There was certainly a ferry by 1467, operating
from the Stapenhill side of the river and controlled by
the abbey. (fn. 27) The ferry boat in 1585 was in poor
condition but William Paget had provided a new one
by 1596, when the ferryman was licensed to build a
cottage near the landing place in Stapenhill. (fn. 28) In the
later 18th and early 19th century the ferry lessees had
to provide a new boat at the end of their lease, a
practice that probably continued until the ferry was
replaced by a foot bridge in 1889. (fn. 29)
Burton Bridge
There was a bridge over the Trent at the north end of
town by the early 12th century when a bridge keeper
(pontarius) was recorded holding land in Winshill. (fn. 1)
The bridge presumably had its east end in Winshill,
but it is not certain whether it crossed both the main
course of the river and the west arm. It had certainly
reached its full extent about 1200 when burgage plots
were laid out in Horninglow Street westwards from
'the great bridge'. (fn. 2) It was probably built of stone, or at
least had stone footings, although the first surviving
mention of a stone bridge is from 1322. (fn. 3) The exact
form of the structure is unknown but providing that it
was not later substantially altered it would have been as
described in the 18th century: running north from
Winshill before turning west across the river and the
west arm, the bridge was then 515 yards long and 15
feet wide and had 36 arches. (fn. 4) By the 1590s water no
longer passed through two of the arches where land
had silted up at the south end of Burton meadow,
creating Umpler green. (fn. 5) The east end of the bridge was
widened in 1831, and in 1839 the first two arches on
that side were filled in. (fn. 6)
The west end of the bridge originally terminated
with a causeway on the south side of which cottages
had been built by 1550. In 1835 there were three
houses there and four on the north side. (fn. 7) The causeway
was raised in the later 1750s, after the road had been
turnpiked, and two low arches were inserted as culverts. (fn. 8)
Grants of land and bequests of money for the upkeep
of the bridge are recorded occasionally in the Middle
Ages, (fn. 9) and in 1546 the endowment comprised three
houses and a small amount of land and meadow, worth
21s. 4d. a year. (fn. 10) The abbey seems to have taken no
formal responsibility for maintaining the bridge and
much of the money needed for repairs came from alms,
presumably collected by a chaplain who maintained a
bridge chapel. (fn. 11) When part of the bridge was swept
away by flood in 1284 John of Norfolk, who was acting
as keeper of the works of the bridge, was given royal
protection to beg for alms to repair it, as was the keeper
in 1324. A grant of pontage made in 1383 was to a
body of trustees, including a chaplain who may have
been the bridge keeper. (fn. 12) John of Norfolk, described as
a 'monk' in the royal grant of 1284, and a 'bridge
monk' recorded in 1396 are unlikely to have been
monks of Burton abbey, and were almost certainly lay
hermits, possibly following the rule of St. Paul: (fn. 13) a
house called the Hermitage in 1546 stood at the west
end of the bridge on its north side, opposite the
chapel. (fn. 14)
In 1441 the abbot and leading townsmen appointed
a layman as keeper and proctor of the bridge for a 30year term, and a layman was appointed for life in
1493. (fn. 15) In 1527 an appeal for funds was launched by
the abbot, the prior of Tutbury, George, Lord Hastings,
and local gentry. (fn. 16)
Some of the £20 a year that Burton college was
obliged, probably from its establishment in 1541, to
spend on making and repairing roads may have been
applied to the upkeep of the bridge. (fn. 17) At its dissolution
in 1545 the college was paying 33s. 4d. a year to a
bridge master named William Mason (or Edge), who
seems to have been a stone mason retained originally
by the abbey; he was still paid a fee by the Paget family
in the later 1560s. (fn. 18) The annual cost to the manor of
maintaining the bridge was estimated at £16 13s. 4d. in
1585. (fn. 19) The Pagets evidently assumed responsibility for
the bridge, and the obligation was specifically included
in the Crown's grant to William Paget of his father's
forfeited estates in 1597. (fn. 20) The cost of repairs was a
constant drain on the manor in the 17th and 18th
centuries, (fn. 21) and when the road over the bridge was
turnpiked in 1753 the earl of Uxbridge was awarded
£20 a year from the tolls for bridge repair. (fn. 22) It
remained the lord's responsibility until 1864.
Medieval Chapel There was a bridge chapel by the
1260s, and its dedication to St. James was recorded in
1332. (fn. 1) On the eve of the Reformation services were
being celebrated there by the town's guild priests. (fn. 2) The
chapel stood at the south-west end of the bridge and
had a south door onto Burton hay. (fn. 3) It was demolished
in 1777. (fn. 4)
Figure 14:
West end of Burton bridge from south, 1760, with medieval chapel
There was a cross at the east end of the bridge in
1598. (fn. 5)
1864 Bridge The medieval bridge, described by
Robert Plot in the 1680s as 'the most notorious [i.e.
noteworthy] piece of work of a civil public building in
this country [i.e. Staffordshire] or anywhere (of the
kind) perhaps in England', was considered by a
traveller in 1790 to have 'not a very stately appearance'. (fn. 6) A new bridge was apparently under consideration in 1840, (fn. 7) and in 1853 plans for one were
submitted by the county surveyor, James Trubshaw,
who described the existing bridge as enjoying 'the
threefold distinction of being the longest, the most
ancient, and the most inconvenient structure of its
kind in the United Kingdom'. (fn. 8) Nothing was done until
1859 when the Midland Railway Co., which wanted to
lay tracks across the west end of the bridge, promoted
an Act which authorised its demolition and the construction of a new bridge, forming a straight line
between the existing ends and straddling Broad
holme. The medieval bridge was dismantled piecemeal
after the new bridge was opened in 1864. (fn. 9)
Designed by the Midland Railway Co.'s engineer, J. S.
Crossely, the 1864 bridge was paid for by the marquess of
Anglesey, as lord of Burton manor, and the Midland and
other railway companies. (fn. 10) Under the 1859 Act responsibility for its maintenance passed from the marquess to
the counties of Staffordshire and Derbyshire, and it
remained their joint responsibility until the Derbyshire
side of the river was transferred to Staffordshire in 1894.
The burden later passed to Burton corporation under an
Act of 1896. (fn. 11) Originally 40 feet wide (including footways of 5 feet on either side of the road), the bridge was
widened on its north side in 1926. (fn. 12)
Ferry Bridge
A proposal to replace the Stapenhill ferry by a bridge
was being considered in 1862. (fn. 13) In 1886 Sir Michael
Arthur Bass (later Lord Burton) offered to build a foot
bridge there and the marquess of Anglesey agreed to
sell the ferry rights to Burton corporation. (fn. 14) Built by
the Burton engineering firm of Thornewill & Warham,
the present suspension bridge called Ferry bridge was
opened in 1889. (fn. 15) Lord Burton also paid for a viaduct,
opened in 1890, which ran from the bridge to Green
Street, replacing the stepping stones over the Fleet. (fn. 16) A
toll was charged on the bridge until in 1898, when Lord
Burton paid off the corporation's outstanding debt on
the purchase of the ferry rights. (fn. 17)
St. Peter's Bridge
St. Peter's bridge, carrying a relief road from Burton to
Stapenhill north of Ferry bridge, was opened in 1985. (fn. 18)
It is named after the church in Stapenhill.
Figure 15:
Ferry bridge
(opened 1889) from the
west
RIVER NAVIGATION
When Sir William Paget acquired Burton manor in
1546, he ordered an inquiry into whether the Trent
would be navigable for vessels if the weirs and mills were
removed. (fn. 1) A proposal in 1665 to make the river navigable between Burton and Wilden Ferry, in Castle
Donington (Leics.), was rejected by the Staffordshire
grand jury, chiefly on the grounds that it would benefit
mainly London merchants and not local traders. (fn. 2) The
scheme was revived in the early 1690s by Lord Paget, (fn. 3)
who was named as the undertaker in an Act of 1699. The
Act empowered Paget to levy a toll of up to 3d. per ton
and assigned him up to £600 which the navigation
commissioners and the feoffees of the Burton town
lands were authorised to levy on the inhabitants of
Burton parish. (fn. 4)
The enterprise proved too costly for Paget and little
progress had been made by 1711, when he let his rights
as undertaker to George Hayne, a merchant of Wirksworth (Derb.) who was intent on monopolising trade
in partnership with Leonard Fosbrooke, a carrier based
at Wilden Ferry. Hayne was to pay £10 a year for the
31-year lease, and Paget agreed to help him raise within
the next 6 years the £600 levy authorised by the 1699
Act. (fn. 5) By 1713 Hayne had built a warehouse, probably
on the wharf he established at Umpler green where
Burton bridge crossed the south end of Burton
meadow. Hayne later extended the navigation to the
former monastic precinct, which he occupied as lessee,
and he constructed a wharf there. (fn. 6)
Hayne died in 1723 and the lease passed to his
brother Henry, who was granted a 20-year renewal in
1742. (fn. 7) Henry was succeeded in 1757 by his son John,
who continued the navigation until the expiry of the
lease in 1762. (fn. 8) The earl of Uxbridge then granted a new
lease of the navigation to a partnership, known as the
Burton Boat Company, which comprised Isaac Hawkins, a Burton lawyer, Sampson Lloyd the younger, a
Birmingham iron master, Robert Palmer of Burton and
Joseph Wilkes of Overseal (Leics.), cheesefactors, and
William Wyatt of Burton, a timber merchant and
Uxbridge's agent for Burton manor. (fn. 9) By 1765 the
lessees had built an additional wharf and warehouses
near those in the former monastic precinct, which John
Hayne had been allowed to retain. In addition,
Uxbridge granted them new sites in 1765, one in
Bond End near the point where the Bond End canal,
cut by the lessees in 1770, left the river, and the other in
Stapenhill. (fn. 10) A wharf at Bond End had been built by
1769, but apparently nothing was done with the
Stapenhill land. (fn. 11) Following an Act of 1783 which
allowed the use of horses rather than men only to
haul boats, a new lease was made in 1784 to an
enlarged partnership still headed by Hawkins and
Lloyd. (fn. 1) A large warehouse was then built on Umpler
green, and it survived in 2000 as Trent Bridge House,
having been converted into flats in 1988. (fn. 2)
The boat company stopped trading in 1805,
although the lease remained in force until 1849. (fn. 3) In
1886 the marquess of Anglesey agreed to lease his
rights to a Burton maltster, L. J. Meakin, who established the upper Trent Navigation Co. Ltd. The
company failed in 1894, and there were no further
attempts to make the river navigable. (fn. 4)
ROADS
Roman Roads
The Roman Ryknild Street ran west of Burton, its line
marked by the present Clays Lane (in Branston), Wellington Street, and Derby Street. It crossed the river
Dove in Stretton, at a point probably to the east of the
modern road bridge. (fn. 5) Referred to as 'the broad street'
at Burton in 1008, it was called 'Hykenildestrete' in the
earlier 13th century and 'Rykeneldstrete' in 1341, and
the name Ricknell Street was still used for part of its
line in 1598. (fn. 6)
Ryknild Street may have been crossed on the Branston–Tatenhill boundary by a Roman road between
Leicester and Chester. (fn. 7)
Medieval Roads
When Abbot Thomas Packington laid out Cat Street in
1286, it extended as far as Ryknild Street and the abbot
apparently improved the line of the Roman road there
towards Horninglow in order to provide better access. (fn. 8)
Before 1286 Ryknild Street was presumably picked up
as the route to Derby only where it met the extension
of Horninglow Street, and the road at that point was
known as Derby way in the 18th century. (fn. 9) When
Anderstaff Lane, leading off Horninglow Street to
Wetmore, was laid out with burgage plots in 1273, it
was widened apparently in order to promote it as a
route to Derby, (fn. 10) but did not replace the earlier route.
On the Gough map of c. 1360 the Derby road is shown
as part of a road from London, and at Burton it was
crossed by a road running east—west from Leicester to
Stone and then on to Chester. (fn. 11)
The Burton–Tutbury road through Horninglow
village, mentioned as a 'street' in 1008 and known as
Castle way in the early 14th century, (fn. 12) was a continuation of the road from Ashby-de-la-Zouch (Leics.) over
Burton bridge. A bridge to take the road over Branston
brook near the modern Hawkins Lane was built when
the Horninglow Street part of the road was laid out
with burgage plots, probably c. 1200. (fn. 13)
The Burton stretch of the road to Lichfield through
Branston village was known as Broad way in the later
13th century. (fn. 14) Possibly near the point where it left
Bond End the road crossed over what was called
'Risene' bridge in the late 13th century and Risom
bridge (or causeway) in the 1630s. (fn. 15) What was called
'Brounballokes' bridge in the later 13th century may
have carried the road over a stream further south
towards Branston. (fn. 16)
A road west from Burton to Abbots Bromley
through Shobnall ran off the present Lichfield Street,
its eastern end taking the line of what was called
'Hautassise' in the early 14th century and Pinfold
Lane by 1457. (fn. 17) By the late 12th century there was a
bridge where it crossed over Branston brook. (fn. 18) It was
crossed a short distance east of Shobnall by what in
1538 was called Cellarer's Lane, running north from
Branston village to Outwood, in Horninglow. (fn. 19)
A road to Stretton presumably ran along Anderstaff
Lane and through Wetmore. It was mentioned in 1539,
when money was left for its repair. (fn. 20) At the north end
of Anderstaff Lane it crossed a stream, possibly over
what was called 'Cellers' [i.e. Cellarer's] bridge in
1370. (fn. 21) A single-arch bridge was built there in 1791,
the feoffees of the town lands contributing towards the
cost because it was a 'church road'. (fn. 22)
A lane running westwards from the end of Cat Street
(modern Station Street) was known as 'le causey' in the
earlier 16th century and as Butter Womans causeway
in the later 18th century. (fn. 23) It was part of a route into
Needwood forest across Outwood, in Horninglow, and
through Anslow, in Rolleston: the name 'Women's
Way' was recorded in the late 12th century for the
stretch in Anslow. (fn. 1)
Turnpike Roads
The Burton—Lichfield road was turnpiked in 1729 and
the Burton—Derby and Ashby—Tutbury roads in 1753. (fn. 2)
There were no tollgates in Burton or Burton Extra
townships, but by the later 1750s there were gates on
the Lichfield road in Branston, on the Derby road in
Stretton, and on the Ashby—Tutbury road in both
Winshill and Horninglow. (fn. 3)
Pinfold Lane was replaced as the main route to
Abbots Bromley when New Street and its westward
extension, Moor Street, were adopted as part of a
turnpike road in 1809, in connexion with the enclosure
of Needwood forest. (fn. 4) There were tollgates at both the
junction with Wellington Road (by 1852) (fn. 5) and further
west at Rough Hay, in Branston (by 1845). (fn. 6) The former
was removed when that part of Burton Extra was added
to Burton in 1853. (fn. 7)
All the turnpike roads were disturnpiked in 1873. (fn. 8)
Bypass
In 1938 the government proposed a western bypass to
divert traffic travelling north–south from Burton town
centre but the scheme was abandoned, presumably
because of the outbreak of war in 1939. (fn. 9) The present
A38 bypass was opened in the late 1960s. In the late
1980s traffic approaching Burton from the south was
diverted from Branston village and taken from the
bypass along Wellington Road, which connects with
Wellington Street and Derby Road for northbound
traffic and with Evershed Way for eastbound traffic.
ROAD TRANSPORT
Carriers
A Burton carrier was operating a service from his base in
London in the earlier 1650s. (fn. 10) In 1681 there was a weekly
carriage service from London to Burton and Uttoxeter. (fn. 11)
Still only one service in 1740, there were two by 1749 and
six by 1763. (fn. 12) At least one service was run by the Bass
family, and in 1766 William Bass, later also a brewer,
operated services between London and Manchester. (fn. 13)
After the opening of the canal system to Burton in
1770, road haulage declined and by 1780 there was
only a twice-weekly service from London. (fn. 14) In 1794
there were weekly services to London and Manchester,
but there was also a waggon three days a week to
Derby. In addition, several waggons ran through
Burton each week: two between Sheffield and Bewdley
(Worcs.), two between Derby and Birmingham, and
one between Nottingham and Birmingham. There was
also a weekly day-return stage cart service between
Burton and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. (fn. 15) In 1818 waggons left
for destinations in Staffordshire, Birmingham, and
Lancashire from the Vine in Horninglow Street and
the Nag's Head in Bond End. (fn. 16) By 1834 most of the
Burton carriers travelled only to nearby towns and
villages. (fn. 17)
Coaches
Travellers to London presumably used the stage-coach
service from Lichfield. After the Derby road was turnpiked in 1753, it was also convenient to travel through
that town: a twice-weekly coach between Derby and
Birmingham via Burton which was started in 1764
provided a connecting service. By 1794 there were
coaches every week day from Burton to Birmingham
and to Sheffield, together with day-return services to
Birmingham and Nottingham three days a week. The
coaching inns were the Crown and the George in High
Street and the Three Queens in Bridge Street. (fn. 18)
By 1818 there was a direct nightly light post-coach
to London, leaving from the Three Queens. That inn
was also the departure point in 1818 for daily services
to Sheffield and Liverpool and a service four days a
week to Birmingham. In addition, mail coaches left
daily for Birmingham and Sheffield from the Three
Queens and the George on alternate days. All those
services still ran in 1834, when there was also service to
London. (fn. 19) The only coach service to survive the opening of the railway in 1839 was one to Uttoxeter,
Cheadle, and Newcastle-under-Lyme, which ran daily
in 1846 but had evidently ceased by 1851. (fn. 20)
Motor Buses and Trams
A regular omnibus service between the railway station
and the Queen's hotel (formerly the Three Queens inn)
was in operation by 1846. (fn. 21) It was supplemented by
one from the White Hart in High Street in the mid
1870s and by one from Stapenhill in the earlier 1880s. (fn. 1)
A service from Little Burton to West Street (later All
Saints Road) was introduced c. 1890 and was extended
to Branston in the mid 1890s. (fn. 2) Although the Burtonon-Trent Tramways Co. Ltd. had been formed by 1883,
it was not until 1903 that a tram system, managed by
the corporation, was established, serving Horninglow,
Stapenhill, and Winshill. (fn. 3) By the 1920s several private
companies ran motor bus services on routes not served
by trams and to outlying districts, and in 1924 the
corporation started its own bus service, extended after
the tram system was abandoned in 1929. (fn. 4)
At Winshill the tram service connected with a rural
tramway, the Burton and Ashby Light Railway, opened
in 1906 and closed in 1927. (fn. 5)
CANALS
The Burton stretch of the Trent and Mersey canal was
completed in 1770, and by 1771 there was a warehouse
where the canal crossed the Horninglow road in the
part of Horninglow township added to the borough in
1853. (fn. 6) Probably from the opening of the canal there
was a basin and wharf on the south side of the road. (fn. 7)
In 1770 the Burton Boat Company, concerned that
the canal would adversely affect the river navigation,
made a cut, known as the Bond End or Burton canal,
from the Trent at Bond End to Shobnall, where it
stopped a short distance from the Trent and Mersey
canal. (fn. 8) By 1776 there was a wharf at a lock west of the
Branston road and wharves and a warehouse around a
basin at the Shobnall end. (fn. 9) The proprietors of the Trent
and Mersey canal at first refused to allow a lock
connecting the two canals, which remained separate
until 1795. (fn. 10) The Bond End canal continued in use
until 1870, and its line was later used for a brewery
railway. (fn. 11)
RAILWAYS
A line between Birmingham and Derby through
Burton was opened in 1839, with a station at the
west end of Cat Street (renamed Station Street by
1844). (fn. 12) The station was demolished in 1881, and
after a bridge had been constructed linking Station
Street and Borough Road, a new station, built in an
Early English style and partly timbered, was opened in
1883 to the south. (fn. 13) That building was replaced by the
present station in 1971. (fn. 14)
In 1849 the Midland Railway Co., owner of the
Birmingham—Derby line, opened a branch from
Burton to Leicester which crossed the Trent by a
viaduct in Burton Extra township. (fn. 15) A year earlier, in
1848, the North Staffordshire Railway Co. had opened
a line from Crewe to Derby, with a branch between
Tutbury and Burton on which a little train called the
Tutbury Jenny provided a passenger service. (fn. 16) That
service was withdrawn in 1960 and the track was
dismantled after the line was closed completely in
1968. In the earlier 1980s a road, Princess Way, was
laid out along the line as far as Stretton. (fn. 17)
The town's main streets became severly congested by
drays delivering barrels to the station from the breweries which were mostly located near the river. As early
as 1853 it was proposed to lay a railway track from the
main line south of Horninglow Street as far as the
breweries in High Street. (fn. 18) Under an Act of 1859 the
Midland and other railway companies were authorised
to construct two branches from the North Staffordshire
line in Stretton, one running across Guild Street and
High Street and the other under Hawkins Lane, across
Anderstaff Lane, and southwards along the west arm of
the Trent; the branches met at sidings on the Hay
behind the High Street breweries. A separate Act of
1860 authorised a private line from the Guild Street
branch to serve Allsopp's brewery on the north side of
Horninglow Street. The construction of the Hay
branch led to the demolition of the medieval bridge
over the Trent and its replacement by a new bridge, not
completed until 1864. (fn. 19)
Further lines in the central and eastern parts of the
town were laid privately by brewing companies under
an Act of 1862 and by the Midland Railway Co. under
Acts of 1864 and 1867. (fn. 20) To serve brewery premises on
the west side of town lines were laid by the Midland
company in 1874, including one along the disused
Bond End canal. (fn. 1) Lastly, the London and North
Western Railway Co. in 1882 made a line along the
east side of the Trent and Mersey canal between
Shobnall and the Stretton junction. (fn. 2) So extensive was
the network that in 1951 railways covered nearly 1/4 of
land used for industrial and commercial purposes in
the county borough. (fn. 3) Most of the private railway lines
were closed between 1963 and 1968 and the tracks
were removed, the brewery companies having converted to long-distance road transport. Some of the
larger breweries had also constructed overhead pipelines to carry beer between various parts of their
premises. (fn. 4)