The Wollaton Wagonway (or Waggonway), built between October 1603 and 1604 in the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, L ...
of
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
by
Huntingdon Beaumont in partnership with
Sir Percival Willoughby,
has sometimes been credited as the world's first ''overground''
wagonway
Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam-powered railways. The terms plateway, tramway, dramw ...
and therefore regarded as a significant step in the development of
railways
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
. Its primacy has been recently questioned because of a wagonway built at
Prescot, near
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
, sometime around 1600 and possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, this line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to a terminus about half a mile away. Also, a wagonway at
Broseley
Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first The Iron Bridge, iron bridge in the world was built in 17 ...
in Shropshire was probably earlier.
The wagonway was the earliest form of
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...
. Although modern historians are uncertain as to whether it evolved gradually or was invented at a particular time, it is known that, between the Autumn of 1603 and 1 October 1604, a wagonway had been built near
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...
, by
Huntingdon Beaumont who was the partner of
Sir Percival Willoughby, the local land-owner and owner of
Wollaton Hall. It ran for approximately two miles (3 km) from
Strelley to
Wollaton to assist the haulage of
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
. The actual
track gauge
In rail transport, track gauge (in American English, alternatively track gage) is the distance between the two rails of a railway track. All vehicles on a rail network must have wheelsets that are compatible with the track gauge. Since many ...
is unknown but some websites state it was .
No documentary evidence exists to support such statements although Lewis' work (1970) on early wooden railways, and the practicalities of horse haulage, suggest a gauge close to that dimension is plausible.
The above is from Sir Percival Willoughby's agreement with Huntingdon Beaumont dated 1 October 1604. Sir Percival was
Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
of Wollaton and Huntingdon Beaumont was the lessee of the Strelley coal pits. They worked the Strelley mines in an equal partnership.
Comparatively little is known of the wagonway. It cost £172 (equivalent to £ in ), and ended at Wollaton Lane End, from where most of the coal was taken onwards by road to Trent Bridge and then downstream on the
River Trent
The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...
by barge. The wagons or carriages were drawn by horses on wooden rails. The Strelley mines were worked only until about 1620, by which time all readily recoverable coal had probably been mined. The wagonway was presumably then abandoned.
The success of the Wollaton Wagonway led to Huntingdon Beaumont building other wagonways for his other mining leases near
Blyth in
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land ...
. A continuous evolution of railways can be traced back to the Wollaton Wagonway.
See also
*
Diolkos
The Diolkos (, from the Greek , "across", and , "portage machine") was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The shortcut allowed ancient vessels to avoid t ...
References
;Notes
;Sources
*.
*.
*.
*.
*.
*
*
*{{Citation , surname=Ashworth, given=W., title=The History of the British coal industry, year=1986, publisher=Oxford University Press , pages=168
External links
* Waggonway Research Circle
The Wollaton Wagonway of 1604. The World’s First Overland Railway August 2005
Rail transport in Nottinghamshire
Railway lines opened in 1604
1604 establishments in England
Horse-drawn railways
History of Nottinghamshire
4 ft 6 in gauge railways in England
Railway lines closed in the 1620s
1620s disestablishments in England