Turn Right At Mottram Roundabout - Week 16
Tue 22nd November 2016 | General | By Stewart Taylor
Our destination last week was Nelson and, to be honest, the photo was a real giveaway for anyone who has visited the ground. That row of terraced houses behind the dugouts is iconic and, seemingly, timeless – long may they last.
The first part of the quick link took us back a good few years. The film star who partnered Janette McDonald was Nelson Eddy. Of more recent times July 18th is recognised worldwide as Nelson Mandela Day so Nelson it is.
When one sits down to write one of these slightly whimsical pieces, thoughts immediately turn to what are the particular features of a town which makes it stand out. What that implies is that there are a lot of similarities between our towns and a moment’s further thought suggests that should this really be the case then could one write a sort of template which covers this.
With that in mind, let’s have a go and see what we come up with this week.
First suggestion of a settlement in the area comes from evidence uncovered by archaeologists. Those who have watched the TV programme Time Team will be aware of how digging “trenches” under what are now ploughed fields unearths areas which are, roughly spherical in nature and slightly darker than the surrounding soil.
The wise men and women decide that these are post holes and merrily produce excellent diagrams of what were, essentially, mud huts. Further, they then allocate a period in history when these were constructed, Bronze Age, Iron Age etc.
Additional 3D reconstructions show the pathway of a nearby river or rivers even though the current location may not be exactly as it was. From this we get an idea of the topography of the area and that, generally, we are looking at settlements in river valleys surrounded by not insignificant hills.
We then move forward into recorded history and find that the town was originally very small, no more than a village in an agricultural setting, and probably a staging post on a route between areas of much greater population. The last remaining link with these, often medieval times, are a couple of buildings which now have preservation orders on them – quite a few are pubs!
Then came the Industrial Revolution and, with that, the establishment of factories and the movement of people from the land. Power for factories was provided initially by the river(s) with raw materials being available locally (iron ore and/or coal) or capable of transportation by river.
Next we see the establishment of transport links with improved roads, canals – late 18th century and/or railways – middle 19th century. This allowed factories to grow and made it possible for goods to travel reasonable distances to their final markets (textiles). Populations increase as industry, very labour intensive at this time, booms.
As we reach the middle part of the 20th century these traditional industries suffer serious decline as the country gradually changes from being industry based to service based in terms of its economy. Service based companies tend to operate from financial centres or “out of town” areas close to major roads and this influences the nature of the population in former industrial towns.
What tends to happen is that they become commuter towns servicing the needs of cities, in our case Manchester and Liverpool, and the out of town retail areas which may be some distance away. Here we see the influence of the car as a means of private transport allowing greater mobility of people although commuter rail lines remain very important.
So, perhaps, there we have it, admittedly in a rather shortened form, but all of our towns are different and natives of such towns celebrate their uniqueness with, in many cases, a certain degree of pride.
The town we are looking for this week satisfies all of the above generic features so we need to look for the points of differentiation to give the reader at least a chance of guessing where we are.
This town sits at the confluence of two rivers. In terms of modern day transport a major A-road services the town as do two railway lines so the town, somewhat unusually for a town of some 10,000 people, has two railway stations.
Probably the most impressive feature is the Millennium Walkway completed in 1999. A “steel spider’s web” of a construction, the walkway provides a route through a previously impassable gritstone gorge which is an area of exceptional natural beauty and unique industrial archaeology.
Very unusually for this area, the town has a micro-hydroelectric scheme, nicknamed Archie, which is community owned and supplies power to a supermarket near the centre of the town.
The major event in the town is the annual Festival which is held in the second two weeks of September and features a series of concerts and exhibitions with beer supplied, these days, by a local brewer situated in the town’s marina.
The football club can trace its history back to the first decade of the 20th century. As with many of our clubs this club has seen some difficult times being disbanded on a couple of occasions. One of the highlight periods came in the early part of the 1920s when crowds in excess of 3000 regularly attended matches in the Manchester League. Of more recent times, the club has reached the level of Step 4 in the National League System.
Quick link - What links this club with the slogans “I want U” and “You’re Gorgeous”?
Turn Right At Mottram Roundabout - Week 16
Tue 22nd November 2016 | General
By Stewart Taylor
Our destination last week was Nelson and, to be honest, the photo was a real giveaway for anyone who has visited the ground. That row of terraced houses behind the dugouts is iconic and, seemingly, timeless – long may they last.
The first part of the quick link took us back a good few years. The film star who partnered Janette McDonald was Nelson Eddy. Of more recent times July 18th is recognised worldwide as Nelson Mandela Day so Nelson it is.
When one sits down to write one of these slightly whimsical pieces, thoughts immediately turn to what are the particular features of a town which makes it stand out. What that implies is that there are a lot of similarities between our towns and a moment’s further thought suggests that should this really be the case then could one write a sort of template which covers this.
With that in mind, let’s have a go and see what we come up with this week.
First suggestion of a settlement in the area comes from evidence uncovered by archaeologists. Those who have watched the TV programme Time Team will be aware of how digging “trenches” under what are now ploughed fields unearths areas which are, roughly spherical in nature and slightly darker than the surrounding soil.
The wise men and women decide that these are post holes and merrily produce excellent diagrams of what were, essentially, mud huts. Further, they then allocate a period in history when these were constructed, Bronze Age, Iron Age etc.
Additional 3D reconstructions show the pathway of a nearby river or rivers even though the current location may not be exactly as it was. From this we get an idea of the topography of the area and that, generally, we are looking at settlements in river valleys surrounded by not insignificant hills.
We then move forward into recorded history and find that the town was originally very small, no more than a village in an agricultural setting, and probably a staging post on a route between areas of much greater population. The last remaining link with these, often medieval times, are a couple of buildings which now have preservation orders on them – quite a few are pubs!
Then came the Industrial Revolution and, with that, the establishment of factories and the movement of people from the land. Power for factories was provided initially by the river(s) with raw materials being available locally (iron ore and/or coal) or capable of transportation by river.
Next we see the establishment of transport links with improved roads, canals – late 18th century and/or railways – middle 19th century. This allowed factories to grow and made it possible for goods to travel reasonable distances to their final markets (textiles). Populations increase as industry, very labour intensive at this time, booms.
As we reach the middle part of the 20th century these traditional industries suffer serious decline as the country gradually changes from being industry based to service based in terms of its economy. Service based companies tend to operate from financial centres or “out of town” areas close to major roads and this influences the nature of the population in former industrial towns.
What tends to happen is that they become commuter towns servicing the needs of cities, in our case Manchester and Liverpool, and the out of town retail areas which may be some distance away. Here we see the influence of the car as a means of private transport allowing greater mobility of people although commuter rail lines remain very important.
So, perhaps, there we have it, admittedly in a rather shortened form, but all of our towns are different and natives of such towns celebrate their uniqueness with, in many cases, a certain degree of pride.
The town we are looking for this week satisfies all of the above generic features so we need to look for the points of differentiation to give the reader at least a chance of guessing where we are.
This town sits at the confluence of two rivers. In terms of modern day transport a major A-road services the town as do two railway lines so the town, somewhat unusually for a town of some 10,000 people, has two railway stations.
Probably the most impressive feature is the Millennium Walkway completed in 1999. A “steel spider’s web” of a construction, the walkway provides a route through a previously impassable gritstone gorge which is an area of exceptional natural beauty and unique industrial archaeology.
Very unusually for this area, the town has a micro-hydroelectric scheme, nicknamed Archie, which is community owned and supplies power to a supermarket near the centre of the town.
The major event in the town is the annual Festival which is held in the second two weeks of September and features a series of concerts and exhibitions with beer supplied, these days, by a local brewer situated in the town’s marina.
The football club can trace its history back to the first decade of the 20th century. As with many of our clubs this club has seen some difficult times being disbanded on a couple of occasions. One of the highlight periods came in the early part of the 1920s when crowds in excess of 3000 regularly attended matches in the Manchester League. Of more recent times, the club has reached the level of Step 4 in the National League System.
Quick link - What links this club with the slogans “I want U” and “You’re Gorgeous”?
