Shropshire Routes to Roots

www.shropshireroots.org.uk

Transport and communication: Timeline

Year	Day	National Event	Local Event	Related Theme:Page
4000 to 2500 B.C.		Britain inhabited by tribes	Portway an important route used by Neolithic communities	From trackways to motorways: Prehistoric trackways
Bronze Age			Increased trade of metal and goods using ridgeways such as Clun Clee	From trackways to motorways: Prehistoric trackways
Iron Age			Hillforts connected with tracks	From trackways to motorways: Prehistoric trackways
First Century A.D.		Romans conquered Britain and began their road-building. Watling Street built from Richborough (near Dover) to beyond Wroxeter	Watling Street passed through Shropshire, running from Wroxeter to the fort at Leintwardine	From trackways to motorways: Roman roads
Medieval period		Ridgeways, drove roads and tracks the main means of transport	Kerry ridgeway an important route in Shropshire	From trackways to motorways: Medieval movement
1750		The Industrial Revolution 'began'; the demand for transport of goods began to increase
1750		'Turnpike mania' began; 870 turnpike roads created over the next twenty years		From trackways to motorways: Turnpikes and tolls
1779			The Chester Canal opened	The Shropshire Union Canal: Chester Canal
1791			Shropshire Canal main line opened	The Shropshire Union Canal: East Shropshire canals
1796			Canal from Llanymynech to Frankton opened	Getting goods to market: Opening to the world
1797		World's first large-scale cast-iron aqueduct built	Whole of the Shrewsbury Canal opened; Longdon-on-Tern aqueduct built	The Shropshire Union Canal: The Shrewsbury Canal
1805			The Ellesmere Canal fully opened	The Shropshire Union Canal: Ellesmere Canal
1819			The Montgomeryshire Canal fully opened	The Shropshire Union Canal: Montgomeryshire Canal
1825	September 27	The first working locomotive railway in the world opened between Stockton and Darlington
1826	January	Holyhead Road from London to Holyhead opened	Designed by Thomas Telford, civil engineer for Shropshire	From trackways to motorways: Telford and the Holyhead Road
1828		1000 turnpike trusts in England	High-point of the coaching trade on the turnpike road between Oswestry and Shrewsbury	From trackways to motorways: Turnpikes and tolls
1835	March 2	Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal opened	The canal passed through several towns, including Market Drayton	The day the canal came: When the canal arrived
1837	July	Railway line from Liverpool to Manchester and Birmingham opened	The railway passed just outside of Shropshire's borders, stopping at Whitmore near Market Drayton	The day the canal came: The age of steam
1846			Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company formed	The Shropshire Union Canal: The Shropshire Union
1847		London and North Western Railway formed (in 1846)	The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company bought by the London and North Western Railway	The Shropshire Union Canal: From canal to railway
1848	October 12	Shrewsbury to Chester railway opened	First railway in Shropshire	The Cambrian Railway: Dreaming of Rails
1860			Thomas Savin's wider-gauge railway linked the mine at Coed-y-Go to Cambrian Railway	Getting goods to market: The shape of things to come
1861			Oswestry and Newtown railway opened	The Cambrian Railway: Dreaming of Rails
1865	October 24		Bishop's Castle railway opened	Abbey Station: Your project
1865		Cambrian Railways Company formed	Cambrian Railway headquarters in Oswestry	The Cambrian Railway: Two Stations for Oswestry
1866	August 13		Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway opened	Abbey Station: Introduction
1877		Canal Boats Act passed, partly to improve the education of boat children		The day the canal came: Life with the Canal
1886	March 8	In Germany, Gottleib Daimler developed the first four-wheeled automobile
1903	December 17	Orville Wright made the first controlled, powered flight in an aeroplane		The Shropshire Union Canal: Montgomeryshire Canal
1904			First public bus service began in Shropshire, running from Bridgnorth to Wolverhampton	Shropshire buses and coaches: Pioneering services
1909		Development of the Model-T Ford made cars affordable by many more people; the dawn of the age of the automobile
1921			Carrying business ended on the Shropshire Union Canal	The Shropshire Union Canal: Closure and rebirth
1960	February 29		Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway finally closed	Abbey Station: Introduction
1963	March 27	The Beeching Report recommended the closure of many smaller railway lines	Branch lines in places in Shropshire began to close
1966	November 3		Last passenger service on the railway from Oswestry	The Cambrian Railway: No Station for Oswestry
1983			M54 motorway opened, linking Shrewsbury and Telford to the M6	From trackways to motorways: Motorways and bypasses
1994/5		British Railways privatised
2004		Steam trains and canals major tourist attractions	15 000 boats pass through Market Drayton every year	The day the canal came: The canal today

Timewords

The history of transport is long. Men have created tracks or transport routes wherever they want to travel, beginning with the early tracks formed by Neolithic tribes as they traded in tools. Roads and tracks were the main method of transport for many thousands of years. They were improved by the Romans and later by the creation of turnpike roads.

When the Industrial Revolution began around 1750, cheaper and more efficient ways of carrying goods started to be developed.

The first method was the canal. Although canals had been around for thousands of years, it was only after 1750 that canal building really took off in Britain. Canals were used for carrying goods until the early twentieth century, but they were never very popular with passengers. Instead people still travelled in coaches on turnpike roads.

Then in 1825 the first railway was opened. Railways quickly became the most popular means of carrying people. They spread all over the country, but in 1963 a report by Dr. Richard Beeching recommended the closure of many local lines.

In the modern period, road is the most popular means of transport for both goods and people. It is also possible to fly quickly around the world, or to pass from England to Europe on the train using the Channel Tunnel.

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