Beeston, Nottinghamshire
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:GBdot Beeston is a town in the county of Nottinghamshire, England some 3 miles (5km) south west of the centre of Nottingham.
Although Beeston is now generally regarded as a suburb of the City of Nottingham, it lies just within the separate Borough of Broxtowe. From 1935 until 1974 Beeston was paired with the town of Stapleford (2 km to the north west) in Beeston and Stapleford Urban District Council. Beeston is in the Broxtowe constituency for UK general elections.
Contents |
Geography
Suburban development of the mid twentieth century means that the built up area of Beeston is now continuous with the former villages of Chilwell to the west and Wollaton to the northeast, although Beeston is still separated from Bramcote to the northwest by the Beeston Fields Golf Course. There are two main areas of the town. North of the railway that runs through the town lies the main part, including the main shopping district. Southwards lies the housing area of Beeston Rylands. Beeston Rylands is more at risk of flooding from the River Trent to the south, and this has meant that property here was less desirable, and led to more modestly sized houses being constructed, originally mostly for rental.
The eastern edge of Beeston abuts to the main campus of the University of Nottingham. Although most of the University is within the City of Nottingham, the student self catering flats of Broadgate Park, owned by the University, are partly within the borders of Beeston. Beeston also has a large population of postgraduate students, who tend to prefer its quieter atmosphere to that of the Nottingham areas of Dunkirk and Lenton where many undergraduates live.
| North: Ilkeston | ||
| West: Long Eaton, Stapleford, Derby | Beeston | East: Nottingham, University of Nottingham |
| South: River Trent |
Shopping, Restaurants, Pubs, Cafés etc
Beeston's main shopping area is the High Road, much of which is pedestrianised. Many chain stores have braches in the town, particularly in the pedestrianised area, and there are a fair number of local shops, including specialist east Asian and Mediterranean grocers. A market is held each Friday and Saturday.
Beeston has a large number of pubs and bars, ranging from designer-type bars to rough local boozers. Of particular note is the Victoria Hotel close to the railway station, which has an unusual character due to the banning of mobile phones and the absence of piped music. There are also large numbers of takeaway's and a smattering of restaurants. There are a few cafés around the centre, notably the Bean which is also a BookCrossing site.
History
Beeston grew from its village status with its development as a silk weaving centre in the early nineteenth century. The first silk mill was burned down (along with Nottingham Castle) in the Reform Bill riots of 1831. With the decline of the silk industry, many of the former mills moved to light industrial uses in the early twentieth century. Equipment produced by the Beeston Boiler Company is still to be found all around the former British Empire. Image:BeestonPop.GIF Originally a factory was started there for making tele phone material by the National Telephone Co., Ltd., in 1901, and this was taken over by the British L.M. Ericsson Manufacturing Co., Ltd., in 1903. Shortly before the transfer, most of the old factory was destroyed by fire, and in the rebuilding it was extended. A new power station was built. In 1906 and 1907 a large new building was erected, chiefly devoted to cabinet work. The old factory building covered an area of 63,000 sq. ft., and the cabinet factory 70,000 sq. ft., whilst the power station had an area of 7,000 sq. ft., making a total covered space of 140,000 sq. ft. Under the Plessey name these premises continued to be a major source of local employment until the 1980s. The site is now occupied by Siemens and Marconi Communications.
The pharmaceutical and retail chemist group Boots has it headquarters on a campus 1km southeast of Beeston. This site is partly within the boundaries of the City of Nottingham. The grade 1 listed modernist buildings on Boots campus - designed by engineer Owen Williams - are very difficult to see from any public highway.
Between 1880 and the turn of the century, Thomas Humber and his partners were making bicycles and eventually motor-cycles and cars at a large factory at the junction of what is now Queens Road and Humber Road. At its height it employed 2000 although this came to an abrupt end in 1907 when the company moved all operations to Coventry.
Motor manufacture returned to Beeston for a short period in 1987 when The Middlebridge Company set up a small factory on Lilac Grove and produced 77 Scimitar cars. The company went into liquidation in 1990.
Other wide-reaching local companies include Myford lathes and the internet firm Hosteurope.
Transport
The Nottingham and Derby Road was turnpiked in 1758-9, and dis-turnpiked in 1870. A branch of the Nottingham and Ashby Turnpike Road, usually called the Sawley branch, went through Beeston. In 1831 an advertisement of the four-horse coach from Nottingham to Birmingham states that the coach calls at Beeston daily at 8.30 a.m., and in the opposite direction at 3.30 p.m.
The Canal from the Trent, via Nottingham and Lenton, to Langley Mill, was completed in 1802. A branch canal from Lenton chain to Beeston Cut was made by the Trent Navigation Company under an Act passed in 1794, and it involved the necessity for the weir at the Rylands to hold up the water to supply the canal through to Trent Bridge.
The Midland Counties Railway from Nottingham to Derby through Beeston was opened on May 30 1839. The station buildings were replaced in 1871 and a new glass canopy provided on the Nottingham bound platform. At the same time, the old wooden station shelters from Southwell Station were moved to Beeston to provide additional cover on both platforms. These still survive to this day and the whole of the station is Grade II listed.
Before the introduction of gas generally in the parish there was a limited supply from the Mill to separate houses. The Church was first lighted with gas in 1857. The Public Lighting Act was adopted at a Vestry Meeting on November 13, 1862. The opposition to lamps in the streets was strong, and the effigy of an active promoter of it was carried on an ass round the village and hung on a lamp-post, and but for police interference would have been burned. In 1861 gas was supplied from Nottingham, and for street lamps in 1872. Beeston was connected to the mains water supply in 1876.
Today Beeston also has good transport facilities with a railway station served by Midland Main Line services to Leicester and London St Pancras and local services; frequent bus services to Nottingham, Nottingham East Midlands Airport, Derby, Loughborough and other local towns, operated by trent barton and Nottingham City Transport; ample car parking facilities are also available. Proposals have been made to build a light rail line through the town as part of the new Nottingham Express Transit system. These are motivated in part by traffic jams on local roads during rush hour periods. There has been some local opposition to the scheme, as local traders fear that during the extensive works necessary to construct the line their business would be adversely affected. However, surveys by Nottingham Express Transit also show strong local support for the scheme.
Built Environment
The centre of Beeston is marred by a 1970s shopping development, The Square, which is complemented with a paving scheme, and much of the north side of the High Road was replaced by 1960s structures built to an abandoned road widening line.
Nevertheless, Beeston has a number of historic buildings, including its manor house and parish church of St. John the Baptist. The church dates from the 11th century but was largely rebuilt in 1843 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Both are included in a conservation area which extends to include some characterful older houses in West End.
A particularly fine Methodist Church was constructed by the architect W.J. Morley of Bradford on Chilwell High Road in 1902. Its landmark spire is now visible for miles around since the demolition of several large mill buildings in the [1990s].
The crenellated listed building of the Anglo-Scotian Mills remains on Wollaton Road to the north of the town centre. It is a solitary reminder of the former dominance of silk and lace mills on the local skyline, and has been converted into apartments. Lost industrial buildings included the rebuilt silk mill and the looming bulk of the Neville Works mill on the boundary with Chilwell (later occupied by the Myford lathe factory).
Following the enclosure of the land surrounding Beeston in 1809 the area of St. John's Grove was allotted to the vicar of the parish church. In 1878 the land was acquired from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners by the Beeston Land Society, a group of citizens, who divided the land out into 28 plots of between three-quarters and one acre and set out the wide straight streets. The majority of the houses are of Edwardian and late Victorian origin. The Land Society set conditions for the developers including no public houses, and strict building lines which ensured that properties were set back a consistent distance from the road. The St. John's Grove Estate is now a conservation area.
Shortly after 1878, the Imperial Park Land Society and it sister organisation Beeston Building Society were founded. Together, they aimed to assist the development and financing of relatively superior housing, centred on what is now Imperial Road, north of Newton Street, adjacent to the St John's Grove development and bounded on the north by North Street. The early model was saving by a group of subscribers and the allocation of funds as they accumulated by the drawing of lots, in turn for each of them to build a house.
This initial success was repeated when, in 1881, a syndicate acquired land from George Fellows, of the banking family that had its home at Belle Vue, now Beeston Fields Golf Club. The Belle Vue Land Society was formed to develop this land using similar methods to Imperial Park. The development lay to the north and formed a continuation to Imperial Park. Denison Street formed its northern extreme and Montague Street defined its eastern limit.
Trivia
- The name inspired the character of Mr Beeston, the school headmaster in the long running BBC radio programme - King St Junior - a tale set in an everyday junior school.
- The bins that are located on the High Road are decorated in black and gold, with a symbol of a bee on each. This refers to the 'Bee' in 'Beeston'.
- There is also a sculpture on the High Road of a man sitting next to a bee hive. Again, this is another reference to the 'Bee'. The sculpture is popularly known as the 'Bee-man', 'the man of Beeston', 'The Beekeeper' or 'Bee king'. Some people are known to affectionately call him 'George'.
- Famous Beeston residents include the 19th century bare-knuckle boxer William 'Bendigo' Thompson.
- A cottage on the north side of the Silk Mill was reputed to have the tallest domestic chimmney in England. Its length was necessary to reach over the roof of the Mill. Although the cottage has been demolished for several years, the chimmney can still be seen attached to the wall of the Mill.
- Mahatma Gandhi visited Linden Grove in Beeston on October 17 1931 to see his nephew, a student at University College, Nottingham.
- In the late 1990s, United Utilities built the UK’s largest ‘run-of river’ hydro-electric plant at Beeston Rylands Weir. It supplies enough electricity for 2,000 homes.
External links
- Template:Note - Population statistics from Broxtowe Borough Council