Railway Sleepers Woodbridge Suffolk

Approximate Population: 10,956

Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben and the town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with Mussidan in France.

Sutton Hoo, a group of low grassy mounds famous for turning up Anglo-Saxon treasure of one of the earliest English kings, Rædwald, overlooks Woodbridge from the Eastern Bank of the Deben.

There is a museum devoted to the Suffolk Punch, a breed of heavy working horse, in the Shire Hall on the Market Hill. Local folklore has it that the route from the river to the top of Drybridge Hill (via Church Street, the Market Hill and Seckford Street) is the hill which was marched up by the Grand Old Duke of York in the popular Nursery Rhyme. Woodbridge is also the location of two prisons: HMP Hollesley Bay is an open prison for adult males, while HMP Warren Hill holds male juveniles.

Railway Sleepers Woodbridge Suffolk

Railway Sleepers

Plymouth Devon

Approximate Population: 250,700

The city was heavily bombed by the Germans during World War II in a series of 59 raids known as the Plymouth Blitz.  Although the dockyards were the principal targets, much of the city centre and over 3,700 houses were completely destroyed and more than 1,000 civilians lost their lives.  The redevelopment of the city was planned by Sir Patrick Abercrombie in 1943 and by 1964 over 20,000 new homes had been built.  Most of the shops had been destroyed and those that remained were cleared to enable a zoned reconstruction according to his plan.   Charles Church was hit by incendiary bombs and partially destroyed in 1941 during the Blitz, but has not been demolished, as it is now an official permanent monument to the bombing of Plymouth during World War II.  Devonport Dockyard was kept busy refitting aircraft carriers such as the Ark Royal.   By the time this work ended in the late 1970s the nuclear submarine base was operational.   The army had substantially left the city by 1971, with barracks pulled down in the 1960s, however the city has become home to the 42 Commando of the Royal Marines.

Railway Sleepers Plymouth Devon

Railway Sleepers

Doncaster South Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 67,977

During the 14th century a number of friars arrived in Doncaster who were known for their religious enthusiasm and preachings.   In 1307 Franciscan friars arrived and they were called Greyfriars because of the colour of their costumes.   Carmelites or Whitefriars arrived in the middle of the 14th century.   In the Mediaeval period other major features of the town included the Hospital of St Nicholas and leper colony of the Hospital of St James, a moot hall, grammar school, and the five-arched stone town bridge with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Bridge.

By 1334, Doncaster was the wealthiest town in southern Yorkshire and the sixth most important town in Yorkshire as a whole, even boasting its own banker.   By 1379, it was already recovering from the Black Death and had a population of around 1,500 people, and by 1547, it had over 2,000.   The town was incorporated in 1461 and its first Mayor and corporation were established.

Today, many of Doncaster’s streets are named with the suffix ‘gate’.   The word ‘gate’ is derived from the old Danish word ‘gata’ which meant street. During Medieval times, craftsmen or tradesmen with similar skills, tended to live in the same street.   Baxter is an ancient word for baker thereby confirming that Baxtergate was indeed the bakers’ street.   It is assumed that ‘Frenchgate’ may be named after French speaking Normans who settled on this street.

Railway Sleepers Doncaster South Yorkshire

Railway Sleepers

Ely Cambridgeshire

Approximate Population: 15,102

Sir Clive Woodward, rugby union player and Rugby World Cup 2003 winning manager with England national rugby union team was born in Ely, as was Autogiro world record holder Ken Wallis and actor Simon MacCorkindale. Other notable people from Ely include The Sisters of Mercy singer Andrew Eldritch, and Australian émigrée actor Guy Pearce.   Folk singer Boo Hewerdine and crime writer Jim Kelly both currently live in Ely.

Former England football player Gary Lineker currently lives in Ely with Model girlfriend Danielle Buxton.   Noted press photographer Gareth Iwan Jones, lived in Ely between 1989-1999.   The creators of Lethal Cocktail, Alexander and James Andrews and Carl Skipper are also based within Ely.

In the spring of 2008 a competition was held to find an official anthem for the City of Ely.   The competition was sponsored by The Ely Standard, ADEC and Star 107 radio.   Judges from around the town and local music scene evaluated the entries and after much deliberation chose Ship of the Fens as the winner.   Written by local song writing duo Graham Brown and Geoff Meads, “Ship of the Fens” (a local nick-name for Ely Cathedral) describes life in Ely from the point of view of an elderly resident returning to the city.

Using a modern folk style in a homage to the popular Ely folk festival and recorded using all local musicians and singers, “Ship of the Fens” was first aired on Star 107s Mark Peters breakfast show on 19 June 2008 and performed live at the 2008 Ely Aquafest on 6 July 2008.

Railway Sleepers Ely Cambridgeshire

Railway Sleepers Newport Wales

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.

Railway Sleepers Newport Wales

Railway Sleepers Salford Greater Manchester

Approximate Population: 72,750

With increased competition from the towns of Bolton and Oldham, Salford’s cotton spinning industries faltered, and so its economy turned increasingly to other textiles and to the finishing trades, including rexine and silk dyeing, and fulling and bleaching, at a string of works in Salford.  For centuries in Salford, textiles and related trades were the main source of employment.

Both Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels spent time in Salford, studying the plight of the British working class.   In The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, Engels described Salford as “really one large working-class quarter …[a] very unhealthy, dirty and dilapidated district which, while other industries were almost always textile related is situated opposite the ‘Old Church’ of Manchester”.

Salford developed several civic institutions; in 1806, Chapel Street became the first street in the world to be lit by gas (supplied by Phillips and Lee’s cotton mill).  In 1850, under the terms of the Museums Act 1845, the municipal borough council established the The Royal Museum & Public Library, said to have been the first unconditional free public library in England, preceding the Public Libraries Act 1850.

The effect on Salford of the Industrial Revolution has been described as “phenomenal”.  The area expanded from a small market town into a major industrial metropolis; factories replaced cottage industries, and the population of rose from 12,000 in 1812 to 70,244 within 30 years.   By the end of the 19th century it had increased to 220,000.  Large-scale building of low quality Victorian terraced housing did not stop overcrowding, which itself lead to chronic social deprivation.  The density of housing was as high as 80 homes per acre.

Railway Sleepers Salford Greater Manchester

Railway Sleepers Rhondda Wales

Approximate Population: 72,443

Although little evidence of settlements has been found in the Rhondda that date between the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, several cairns and cists have been discovered throughout the length of both valleys.   The best example of a round-cairn was found at Crug yr Afan, near the summit of Graig Fawr, west of Cwmparc.

The cairn consisted of an earthen mound with a surrounding ditch 28 metres in circumference and over 2 metres tall.  Although most cairns discovered in the area are round, a ring cairn or cairn circle exists on Gelli Mountain.  Known as the ‘Rhondda Stonehenge’ the cairn consists of 10 upright stones no more than 60 cm in height encircling a central cist.  All the cairns found within the Rhondda are located on high ground, many on ridgeways, and may have been used as waypoints.

In 1912 a hoard of 24 late Bronze Age weapons and tools was discovered during construction work at the Llyn Fawr reservoir, at the source of the Rhondda Fawr.   The items did not originate from the Rhondda and are thought to have been left at the site as a votive offering.   Of particular interest were fragments of an iron sword which is the earliest iron object to be found in Wales and the only ‘C-type’ Hallstatt sword recorded in Britain.

Railway Sleepers Rhondda Wales

Railway Sleepers

Southampton Hampshire

Approximate Population: 228,600

There are 120,305 jobs in Southampton, and 3,570 people claiming job seeker’s allowance, approximately 2.4 per cent of the city’s population, as of March 2007.  This compares with an average of 2.5 per cent for England as a whole.

As of June 2006, 74.7 per cent of the city’s population are classed as economically active.

Just over a quarter of the jobs available in the city are in the health and education sector.   A further 19 per cent are property and other business and the third largest sector is wholesale and retail, which accounts for 16.2 percent.  Between 1995 and 2004, the number of jobs in Southampton has increased by 18.5 per cent.

As of January 2007, the average annual salary in the city was £22,267.   This was £1,700 lower than the national average and £3,800 less than the average for the South East.

Southampton has always been a maritime centre, and the docks have long been a major employer in the city.   In particular, it is a port for cruise ships; its heyday was the first half of the 20th century, and in particular the inter-war years, when it handled almost half the passenger traffic of the UK. Today it remains home to luxury cruise ships, as well as being the largest freight port on the Channel coast and fourth largest UK port by tonnage, with several container terminals.

Unlike some other ports, such as Liverpool, London, and Bristol, where industry and docks have largely moved out of the city centres leaving room for redevelopment, Southampton retains much of its inner-city industry. Part of the docks has been redeveloped, however, as the Ocean Village development, a local marina and entertainment complex.   Southampton is home to the headquarters of both the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department for Transport.

Railway Sleepers Southampton Hampshire

Railway Sleepers

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.

Railway Sleepers Lisburn Northern Ireland

Railway Sleepers

Blackpool Lancashire

Approximate Population: 142,900

Much of Blackpool’s growth and character from the 1870s on was predicated on the town’s pioneering use of electrical power.   In 1879, it became the first municipality in the world to have electric street lighting, as large parts of the promenade were wired.   The lighting and its accompanying pageants reinforced Blackpool’s status as the North’s most prominent holiday resort, and its specifically working class character.

It was the forerunner of the present-day Blackpool Illuminations.   In 1885 one of the world’s first electric tramways was laid down as a conduit line running from Cocker Street to Dean Street on the Promenade.   The line was operated by the Blackpool Electric Tramway Company until 1892 when their lease expired and Blackpool Corporation took over running the line.   A further line was added in 1895 from Manchester Square along Lytham Road to South Shore, and the line was extended north, first to Gynn Square in 1899, and then to Fleetwood.   The tramway has remained in continuous service to this day.

By the 1890s, the town had a population of 35,000, and could accommodate 250,000 holidaymakers.   The number of annual visitors, many staying for a week, was estimated at three million. 1894 saw the opening of two of the town’s most prominent buildings; the Grand Theatre on Church Street, and Blackpool Tower on the Promenade.

The first decade of the new century saw the development of the Promenade as we know it today, and further development southwards beyond South Shore towards Harrowside and Squires Gate.   The Pleasure Beach was first established about this time. Seasonal static illuminations were first set up in 1912, although due to World War I and its aftermath, they only enjoyed two seasons until they were re-introduced in 1925.   The illuminations extended the holiday season into September and early October.

Railway Sleepers Blackpool Lancashire