21. Communications—Past and Present.

Nottinghamshire was crossed in Roman times by several roads. Of these the Fosseway, made about A.D. 120, is the best preserved. It crossed the country from Bath and passed through Leicester to Lincoln. It entered this county with the wolds and left it north-east of Newark. It kept close to the crest of the highest ground south of the Trent and consequently had a dry foundation.

Another road, Till Bridge Lane, branched off from the Ermine Street just north of Lincoln, crossed the Trent at Littleborough by a pavement which still exists, and pursued a north-westerly course to Bawtry. Leeming Lane, north of Mansfield, is the remnant of another road, which entered the county near Sutton-in-Ashfield and also left it at Bawtry.

Next in age to the Roman roads came the North Road. From Rempstone it makes its way north through Nottingham, Ollerton, and Blyth to Bawtry, and thence to York. At Nottingham, where it gave names to Stoney Street, Broad Street, York Street, it has become part of Mansfield Road. It was along this road that the Danes came in A.D. 868. By the thirteenth century it had ceased to be a noted road. Another one had come into existence, parallel to it, but passing through a set of more important towns. This went from Nottingham through Mansfield with its royal manor Warsop, and Worksop with its great priory.

The Great North Road, leaving Newark.
The Great North Road, leaving Newark.

The Great North Road enters the county just south of Balderton, crosses the Fosseway at Newark, passes through the old post-town of Tuxford, and on to Retford and Bawtry. Its name is more familiar than that of the North Road because it became the main trunk to the north during the “coaching days.” This was partly due to the fact that a greater number of places lay along its route. Between Newark and Bawtry it passes eighteen, whereas the other road in a longer distance, viz, from Nottingham to Bawtry, passes only four. The posts for Nottingham were delivered from Newark.

Thus four ancient roads converge from Littleborough, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Rempstone, and Balderton upon one point, Bawtry. It has been already stated that all the country between this town and the Trent and Humber was covered with swamps. Bawtry was the most easterly point at which these roads could cross the Idle and pass round the swamps on their way to the north. Where they enter the county they are widely separated. This is due to the great distance between the gateways into the plain of Nottingham at Lincoln, Grantham, and Loughborough.

Sutton on Trent, Great North Road.
Sutton on Trent, Great North Road.

The winding courses of the North and Great North Roads stand out in marked contrast to the straightness of the Fosseway. The latter was made for military purposes. The two former were probably made by piecing together pre-existing roads and tracks.

From the introduction of railways until the invention of motor cars the necessity for great trunk roads was not felt. But at one time every town and village was a centre from which good roads radiated in all directions. No doubt many of these existed a century and a half ago, but in those days they were so badly kept that goods had to be carried about on pack-horses and a speed of three miles an hour was considered satisfactory.

Towards the close of the eighteenth century the inadequacy of the roads for the purposes of transport was partly made up for by the making and improvement of waterways. Nottinghamshire was favoured in the possession of the Trent. It seems very probable that this river was used by the Romans at least from East Bridgford downwards. In the fourteenth century it was so important a means of transport that Nottingham became a noted river port. In the eighteenth and at the commencement of the nineteenth century goods from all parts of the country were conveyed by it to the Humber for south Yorkshire or London, and to the Fossedyke for Boston, London, and France.

Colwick Weir.
Colwick Weir.

After the introduction of railways the traffic on the Trent declined, but during the last twenty years attention has been turned to it once more. The channel has been deepened by dredging and the making of weirs, and steam or motor traction has been introduced. These improvements have already enabled it to become an efficient competitor with the railways. Vessels carrying as much as 150 tons come up to Newark and, when recently-granted powers to construct additional locks and weirs have been used, such vessels will be able to come fully loaded up to Nottingham also. Thus the river is gradually regaining its old position as an important commercial highway. Should the great “four rivers scheme” for connecting the Trent, the Severn, the Thames, and the Mersey in the neighbourhood of Birmingham be carried through, its importance will be considerably enhanced.

In its northerly reaches the Trent is connected with the flourishing network of canals in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Within the county it receives the Fossedyke, the Chesterfield, the Nottingham, and the Grantham canals, all of which are owned by the railways and should he commercial feeders of the Trent. Above Nottingham it is connected with London through the canalised river Soar and the Grand Junction Canal, and with the Black Country and Liverpool by the Trent and Mersey Canal.

The Trent, near Cromwell.
The Trent, near Cromwell.

The waterways helped forward the commercial development of England considerably during the period 1750 to 1800. The railways have done the same, but to a much greater extent, during the last sixty years. The county possesses an intricate network of lines belonging mainly to the Midland, Great Northern, and Great Central Railways. The first line, which was made by the present Midland Company from Nottingham to Derby, was opened in 1839. Several influences have governed the successive extensions which have since been made. Foremost among these has been the presence of a great coalfield in the west. During the earlier years of railway enterprise the Midland and Great Northern were anxious to secure access to this field and through communication to the London market. That these objects have been attained is shown by the numerous lines entering the county from the west and uniting to form main lines to the south.

Three lines strike across the county to the east and converge on the Lincoln gap. These supply northern Lincolnshire and the port of Grimsby.

The presence of great stores of ironstone south of the Belvoir Escarpment influenced the making of two lines from Nottingham to Melton Mowbray.

Underlying all these influences was the desire to make through routes from London to the North and Scotland. Two of these belong to the Midland Railway. The one skirts the county along the valleys of the Soar and Erewash, the other comes through Melton and Nottingham and passes north along the Leen Valley. The Great Central main line leaves the Soar Valley near Loughborough and strikes across to Nottingham and the north along the same valley. The Great Northern main line runs along the same route as the Great North Road and is connected with Nottingham by an important branch which runs into Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

The London and North Western and the Great Eastern have running powers in some parts of the county.