Derby East Midlands

Approximate Population: 233,700

Derby has Roman, Saxon and Viking connections.

The Roman camp of ‘Derventio’ was probably at Little Chester/Chester Green.  The site of the old Roman fort is at Chester Green.   Later the town was one of the ‘Five Boroughs’ (fortified towns) of the Danelaw.  The Tower of Derby Cathedral, England’s third tallest (Anglican) cathedral church tower.

The popular belief is that the name ‘Derby’ is a corruption of the Danish and Gaelic Djúra-bý (recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Deoraby) (Village of the Deer). However some assert that it is a corruption of the original Roman name ‘Derventio’.   The town was also named ‘Darby’ or ‘Darbye’ on some of the oldest maps, eg. Speed’s 1610 map.   Derby recently celebrated its 2,000th year as a settlement.

Modern research (2004) into the history and archaeology of Derby has provided evidence that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons probably co-existed, occupying two areas of land surrounded by water.   The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900) says that “Derby is divided by water”.   These areas of land were known as Norþworþig (”Northworthy”, = “north enclosure”) and Deoraby, and were at the “Irongate” (North) side of Derby.

Heavy Haulage Derby East Midlands

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Halifax West Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 82,056

Halifax was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1848 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and with the passing of the Local Government Act 1888 became a County Borough in 1889.   Since 1974, Halifax has been the administrative centre of the Metropolitan District of Calderdale, part of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire.

North Halifax is noted for its local support of the far-right British National Party; the suburb of Mixenden became the first area in West Yorkshire to popularly vote in a BNP councillor, with Illingworth soon to follow.

Topographically, Halifax is located in the south-eastern corner of the moorland region called the South Pennines. Halifax is situated about 4 miles (6.4 km) from the M62 motorway close to Bradford, Huddersfield and Rochdale.   The Tees-Exe line passes through the A641 road, which links nearby Brighouse with Bradford and Huddersfield, The town lies 65 miles (105 km) from Kingston upon Hull and Liverpool, and about 200 miles (320 km) from the cities of London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff as the crow flies. The major waterway is the River Calder.

Heavy Haulage Halifax West Yorkshire

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Approximate Population: 140,100

In 1402 Rhys Gethin, General for Owain Glyndwr, forcibly took Newport Castle together with those at Cardiff, Llandaff, Abergavenny, Caerphilly, Caerleon and Usk.  During the raid the town of Newport was badly burned and St. Woolos church destroyed.

A second charter establishing the right of the town to run its own market and commerce came from Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1426. By 1521 Newport was described as having “….a good haven coming into it, well occupied with small crays [merchant ships] where a very great ship may resort and have good harbour.  ” Trade was thriving with the nearby ports of Bristol and Bridgewater and industries included leather tanning, soap making and starch making.  The town’s craftsmen included bakers, butchers, brewers, carpenters and blacksmiths. A further charter was granted by James I in 1623.

In 1648 Oliver Cromwell’s troops camped overnight on Christchurch Hill overlooking the town before their attack on the castle the next day. A cannon-ball dug up from a garden in nearby Summerhill Avenue, dating from this time, now rests in Newport Museum.

As the Industrial Revolution took off in Britain in the 19th century, the South Wales Valleys became key suppliers of coal from the South Wales coalfield, and iron: these were transported down local rivers and the new canals to ports such as Newport, and Newport Docks grew rapidly as a result. Newport became one of the largest towns in Wales and the focus for the new industrial towns of the eastern valleys of South Wales.

Heavy Haulage Newport Wales

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Leicester Leicestershire

Approximate Population: 285,100

On 4 November 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey was arrested on charges of treason and taken from York Place.   On his way south to face dubious justice at the Tower of London, he fell ill.   The group escorting him was concerned enough to stop at Leicester.   There, Wolsey’s condition quickly worsened and he died on 29 November 1530 and was buried at Leicester Abbey, now Abbey Park.

Leicester was a Parliamentarian stronghold during the English Civil War.   In 1645, Prince Rupert decided to attack the city to draw the New Model Army away from the Royalist headquarters of Oxford.   Royalist guns were set up on Raw Dykes and after an unsatisfactory response to a demand for surrender, the Newarke was stormed and the city was sacked on 30 May. Although hundreds of people were killed by Rupert’s cavalry, reports of the severity of the sacking were exaggerated by the Parliamentary press in London.

The construction of the Grand Union Canal in the 1790s linked Leicester to London and Birmingham and by 1832 the railway had arrived in Leicester; the new Leicester and Swannington Railway providing a supply of coal to the town from nearby collieries.   By 1840 the Midland Counties Railway had linked Leicester to the national railway network and by the 1860s, Leicester had gained a direct rail link to London (St Pancras) with the completion of the Midland Main Line.

Heavy Haulage Leicester Leicestershire

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Approximate Population: 169,880

Following the Norman Conquest, a marcher lordship was created.   Named Gower, it included land around Swansea Bay as far as the Tawe, and the manor of Kilvey beyond the Tawe, as well as the peninsula itself.   Swansea was designated its chief town and subsequently received one of the earlier borough charters in Wales.

Swansea’s port grew, shipping some coal and vast amounts of limestone (for fertiliser) out from the town by 1550. As the Industrial Revolution reached Wales, the combination of port, local coal, and trading links with the West Country, Cornwall and Devon, meant that Swansea was the logical place to site copper smelting works.   Smelters were operating by 1720 and proliferated.

Following this, more coal mines (everywhere from north-east Gower to Clyne and Llangyfelach) were opened and smelters (mostly along the Tawe valley) were opened and flourished.   Over the next century and a half, works were established to process arsenic, zinc and tin and to create tinplate and pottery.   The city expanded rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was termed “Copperopolis”.

Heavy Haulage Swansea Wales

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Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire

Approximate Population: 184,506

The flood plains of the Great Ouse and of its tributaries (the Ouzel and some brooks) have been protected as linear parks that run right through Milton Keynes.  The Grand Union Canal is another green route (and demonstrates the level geography of the town - there is just one minor lock in its entire 10 mile route through from Fenny Stratford to the “Iron Trunk” Aqueduct over the Ouse at Wolverton.

The Milton Keynes redway system of cycleways and footpaths uses these and other routes.   The Park system was designed by landscape architect Peter Youngman, who also developed landscape precepts for the whole town: groups of grid squares were to be planted with different selections of trees and shrubs in order to give them distinct identities.   However the landscaping of parks and of the grid roads was evolved under the leadership of Neil Higson, who from 1977 took over as Chief Landscape Architect and made the original grand but not entirely practical landscape plan more subtle.

A policy of creating “settings, strings, beads” for landscape features was introduced: ’settings’ for historic villages and landscape features, ’strings’ of landscape to make the linear parks hang together and ‘beads’ of public space where residents might linger.   Higson also made the landscaping of the Grid Roads, one of the glories of Milton Keynes, more subtle, with ‘windows’ cut into the roadside planting so that motorists travelling through had a sense of the major town they were in; early critics had said of Milton Keynes ‘there is no there there’, as the town could not be seen by the motorist just passing through.   Now that the trees and shrubs have matured, the skill and lavish scale of the Grid Road planting makes a dramatic and welcome change from the monotony of many British towns.

Heavy Haulage

Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire

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Sheffield South Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 530,300

As World War II loomed the steel factories of Sheffield were set to work making weapons and ammunition for the war.   As a result, once war was declared, the city became a target for bombing raids, the heaviest of which occurred over the nights of 12 December and 15 December 1940 (now known as the Sheffield Blitz).  More than 660 lives were lost and numerous buildings were destroyed.

In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the slums were demolished and replaced with housing schemes such as the Park Hill flats.   Large parts of the city centre were also cleared to make way for a new system of roads.  Increased automation and competition from abroad resulted in the closure of many steel mills.   The 1980s saw the worst of this run-down of Sheffield’s industries (along with those of many other areas in the UK).   The 1984/5 miners’ strike affected the coal mining areas to the east and north east of Sheffield, though it is unlikely to have had a major impact upon Sheffield’s economy.   The building of the Meadowhall shopping centre on the site of a former steelworks in 1990 was a mixed blessing, creating much needed jobs but speeding the decline of the city centre.   Attempts to regenerate the city were kick-started when the city hosted the 1991 World Student Games, WSG, which saw the construction of new sporting facilities such as the Sheffield Arena, Don Valley Stadium and the Ponds Forge complex.

The city is now changing rapidly as new projects aim to regenerate some of the more run-down parts of the city. One such project, the Heart of the City Project, has seen a number of public works in the city centre: the Peace Gardens were renovated in 1998, the Millennium Galleries opened in April 2001, the Winter Gardens were opened on 22 May 2003, and a public space to link these two areas, the Millennium Square, was opened in May 2006. Further developments included the remodelling of Sheaf Square in front of the recently refurbished railway station. The new square contains The Cutting Edge a sculpture designed by Si Applied Ltd made of Sheffield steel.

Heavy Haulage Sheffield South Yorkshire

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Wigan Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 81,203

In the Anglo-Saxon period, the area of Wigan was probably under the control of the Northumbrians and later the Mercians.   In the early 10th century there was an influx of Scandinavians expelled from Ireland.   This can be seen in place names such as Scholes – now a part of Wigan – which derives from the Scandinavian skali meaning “hut”.   Further evidence comes from some street names in Wigan which have Scandinavian origins.
Although Wigan parish church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, the current building dates to the 15th century.

Although Wigan is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, possibly because it was included in the Neweton barony (now Newton-le-Willows), it is thought that the mention of a church in the manor of Neweton is Wigan parish church.  The rectors of the parish church were lords of the manor of Wigan, a sub-manor of Neweton, until the 19th century.   The incorporation of Wigan as a borough happened in 1246 following the issue of a Charter by King Henry III to John Maunsel, the local church rector and lord of the manor.  The borough was later granted another Charter in 1257–1258, allowing the lord of the manor to hold a market on every Monday and two annual fairs.

Edward II visited Wigan in 1323 in an effort to stabilise the region which had been the source of the Banastre Rebellion in 1315.   Edward stayed in nearby Upholland Priory and held court in the town over a period of several days.  During the medieval period Wigan expanded and prospered and in 1536, antiquarian John Leland described the town, saying “Wigan paved; as big as Warrington and better builded.   There is one parish church amid the town. Some merchants, some artificers, some farmers”.

Heavy Haulage Wigan Greater Manchester

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Lisburn Northern Ireland

Approximate Population: 71,465

* Lisburn railway station was opened on 12 August 1839.  The railway remains a popular means of transport between Lisburn and Belfast, with the express trains taking 8-10 minutes to reach Belfast’s Great Victoria Street. The train also links the city directly with Portadown, Lurgan, Moira and Bangor. Connections to Dublin require a change at either Portadown or Belfast Central.

* The city is served by a variety of bus routes to Belfast city centre via the Lisburn Road (523/4/5) and also the Falls Road (530/1/2). There are also routes passing through the city heading for Banbridge or Newry (service 38) and Craigavon (service 51). There are few buses that access Belfast using the M1 motorway, adding to the popularity of the train.

* The city has a vast network of local buses, serving the local housing developments and amenities.

* A new ‘Bus Centre’ opened on 30 June 2008 at the corner of Smithfield Street and the Hillsborough Road. The new structure replaces the simple shelters at Smithfield Square, 200 yards to the east.

Heavy Haulage Lisburn Northern Ireland

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Chester Cheshire

Approximate Population: 77,040

A considerable amount of land in Chester is owned by the Duke of Westminster who owns an estate – Eaton Hall – near the village of Eccleston. He also has vast London properties in Mayfair.   Indeed, the clock tower which houses Big Ben was copied on the Duke’s estate home of Eaton Hall and can be seen from the road from Aldford to Chester today.

Grosvenor is the Duke’s family name, which explains such features in the City such as the Grosvenor Bridge, the Grosvenor Hotel, and Grosvenor Park. Much of Chester’s architecture dates from the Victorian era, many of the buildings being modelled on the Jacobean half-timbered style and designed by John Douglas, who was employed by the Duke as his principal architect. He had a trademark of twisted chimney stacks, many of which can be seen on the buildings in the city centre.

Douglas designed amongst other buildings the Grosvenor Hotel and the City Baths.   In 1911, Douglas’ protégé and city architect James Strong designed the then active fire station on the west side of Northgate Street.   Another feature of all buildings belonging to the estate of Westminster is the ‘Grey Diamonds’ – a weaving pattern of grey bricks in the red brickwork laid out in a diamond formation.

Heavy Haulage Chester Cheshire

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