Before The Railway
The area of north Staffordshire known today as the City of Stoke-on-Trent was already a thriving industrial area before the arrival of the railways. The establishment of the pottery industry and the development of coal and ironstone mines in the 18th century had provided a need for materials, most noticeably clay, to be brought into the area. A corresponding need also arose for the resulting fragile goods i.e. pottery to be taken away from the area. This need had given rise in the mid to late 18th century of the construction of the Trent & Mersey Canal (T&M) and its various branches. Opened in 1777 it was a spectacular success and paid dividends reaching 75% in 1822. By 1845 this had fallen to a still impressive 30% despite the onset of railway development in the North West of England. In 1836 the canal carried 184,500 long tons (187,461 t; 206,640 short tons) of goods away and brought in 143,610 long tons (145,914 t; 160,843 short tons).
It was the Trent & Mersey Canal company that built the first railway in north Staffordshire when in 1776 it was granted powers to build a railway, or plateway, from Caldon Low limestone quarries to the canal basin at Froghall in the Churnet Valley.
Read more about this topic: North Staffordshire Railway
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)