Wollaton Wagonway Traditional Cache
ThePiggyWyggles: Appears to have been muggled. So We are archiving this cache
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Wollaton Wagonway is generally regarded as the first embryonic, overland, railway to have been built in England. As no earlier example is known elsewhere it is also recognised as the World’s first overland railway.
The exact route and location of the Wollaton Wagonway is not known. However, indications of the location of the coal pits in Strelley, the location of the coal distribution point near Wollaton Lane, now Wollaton Road, and possible evolved tracks between those locations suggest that the most probable route of the wagonway was down what was later known as the Old Coach Road. Furthermore, the Old Coach Road has a fairly linear downhill slope over the two miles from Strelley to Wollaton Lane, which would have allowed gravity to assist the horses to convey the loaded coal wagons from Strelley to Wollaton.
What is known with certainty about the Wollaton Wagonway is set out below.
1 - The overland, railed, route was approximately two miles long.
2 - The rails, made of wood, ran from Strelley to Wollaton.
3 - The wagonway was built to carry coal from the Strelley Pits to a distribution point near Wollaton Lane (now Wollaton Road). A considerable % of the coal was also taken onwards from there by road to Trent Bridge and then on downstream by barge.
4 - The vehicles used to carry the coal on the rails were referred to as wagons or carriages.
5 - The wagons or carriages were drawn by horses.
6 - The Wagonway was built between October 1603 and October 1604.
7 - The Wagonway was built by Huntingdon Beaumont.
8 - The Wagonway cost approximately £166 to build, however, it is not clear exactly what that included.
9 - The cost of the Wagonway was shared 50:50 between Huntingdon Beaumont and Sir Percival Willoughby.
10 - The Wagonway is understood to have been used successfully for a number of years, until at least 1615. However records of a specific closure date have not survived.
The success of the Wollaton Wagonway lead to Huntingdon Beaumont building other wagonways for his other mining leases in Northumberland. A continuous evolution of railways can be traced back to the Wollaton Wagonway.
The railway line is the mainline route from Nottingham to Sheffield
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Bccbfvgr Oevgvfu Envy npprff tngr.
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