Didcot
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Didcot is a town in the Thames Valley in southern England, United Kingdom.
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History and economy
Didcot dates back to the iron age. The settlement was situated on the ridge in the town, and the remainder of the surrounding area was marshland.
The Romans attempted to drain the marshland by building the ditch that runs north through what is now known as the Ladygrove area north of the town near Long Wittenham.
Didcot first appears in historical records in the 1200s as Dudcotte, Berkshire. The name is believed to be derived from that of the local Abbot. Didcot was then a sleepy rural Berkshire village with a population of 100 or so, and remained that way for hundreds of years, only occasionally cropping up in records. Parts of the original village still exist in the Lydalls Road area and part of All Saints church dates back to the eleventh century.
There are a number of major scientific employers nearby including the UKAEA at Culham (and the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion research project), Harwell Laboratory, the CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the new Diamond Light Source synchrotron, which is the largest UK-funded scientific facility to be built for over 30 years.
The railway
1839 saw the arrival of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Western Railway at Didcot, and in 1844 his station followed, which enclosed the track completely in a similar style to Paddington (the original station burnt down in the later part of nineteenth century). The more obvious location for the original line to Bristol would have been the town of Abingdon a little further north, but the landowner, Lord Wantage (Robert James Loyd-Lindsay, Baron Wantage of Lockinge), is reputed to have prevented the railway coming close to the town. This and the junction of the 'Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway' created the conditions for the future growth of Didcot. The station's name also finally fixed the spelling of Didcot. Image:Didcot Pkwy Plat3.jpg The position of Didcot at the junction of the routes to London, Bristol, Oxford and to Southampton via the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway made the location of strategic importance to military logistics, in particular during the campaign on the Western Front and the build up to D-Day. Although that railway line has closed and the large Army and Royal Air Force ordnance depots that were built to serve these needs have long since disappeared beneath the power station and Milton Park trading estate, there is still an army camp (Vauxhall Barracks) on the edge of town.
After World War II technology changed, with steam locomotives becoming obsolete, and the motor car becoming common. The station was renamed Didcot Parkway in the 1980s and the old GWR provender stores were demolished (the provender pond was kept to maintain the water table) to become a car park so that the station would attract travellers from the surrounding area. The locomotive depot became the Didcot Railway Centre in 1967.
Power stations
Image:Didcot power station cooling tower zootalures.jpg The Didcot Power Stations (which are next to each other, and actually at Sutton Courtenay) supply electricity to the National Grid.
A vote was held in Didcot and surrounding villages on whether to build a power station. There was strong opposition from Sutton Courtenay but the yes vote was carried due to the number of jobs that were created in the area. Building was started on the 2000 MW coal-fired power station for the CEGB during the 1960s, and was completed early in the 1970s at a cost of £104m, and up to 2400 workers were employed at peak times. It is located on a 300 acre (1.2 km²) site formerly part of the Ministry of Defence Central Ordnance Depot. The main chimney is 650 ft (198 m) tall with the six cooling towers 325 ft (99 m) each.
The power stations are now run by RWENPower[1]. The Didcot A power station can burn both coal and natural gas, and in addition, a small amount of biomass such as sawdust is burnt.
It was voted Britain's third worst eyesore in 2003 by Country Life readers. [2].
The Didcot B, is newer and is powered by natural gas. It is capabable of generating 1,360MW.
Current Developments
Some residents can still remember Didcot as a Berkshire village in the 1930s. A change in county boundaries in 1974 moved Didcot into Oxfordshire; it became the largest town in the new South Oxfordshire district, although it is situated right at its edge. Didcot is now home to around 24,500 people, with a new town centre, The Orchard Centre[3], a large Sainsbury's supermarket, Next, New Look, Argos and many of the 30 shops opened in August 2005. Didcot has been designated as one of the three major growth areas in the county, a prolonged and contentious planning enquiry has decided that a 3200 dwelling[4] development will now be built to the west of the town partly overlapping the boundary with the Vale of White Horse.
Culture
A cinema and arts centre should be opening in 2007.
In the hit British TV mockumentary The Office, lead character David Brent explains to the audience "When I’m finished with Slough there’s… Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell, you know. I’ve got Didcot, Yateley…".
Schools
The two public secondary schools in Didcot are St Birinus School and Didcot Girls School. These two single-sex schools join together at sixth form. In September 1997 Didcot Girls school was awarded specialist Language College status, and St. Birinus Technology College and Language College status (as of 2006).
Didcot Town FC
Didcot Town football club play at Loop Meadow ground, situated on the Ladygrove Estate. They have just won the Hellenic Football League Premier Division and so are promoted to the Southern League for 2006-2007. They also won the FA Vase in 2005.
Skate Park
Didcot has its own Skate Park, which holds yearly skate competitions for the local enthusiasts as well as people beyond Didcot's limits.
Fishing
In Ladygrove, there is a place where you can fish, and there is also an Angling Centre in Didcot.