There are so many different strands in the complex pattern of the Winterstoke of 1953, some promising good, others evil, that we cannot tell what the outcome will be. The offices in Winterstoke Park are still the seat of power though they are not quite so thickly populated with officials as they were. The land has not been forsaken as it was after the previous world war. The fields of the Wendle Valley are still under the plough, for there will be little more ‘cheap’ food from overseas. Despite the cries of ‘more exports’ that pipe-dream of the workshop of the world has dissolved for ever. The world has other workshops now, each with the same problem of a swollen population clamouring for a higher standard of living. One threat that Winterstoke will certainly face before many years have passed will be that of starvation, but out of that suffering may come good: the restoration of those broken links between the town and the country; the return of man to the land. But as yet this danger is not fully recognized and good land is still being squandered.
Another more immediate and terrible threat comes from that final apotheosis of scientific progress under Summersend Hill; that sinister wired enclosure where the work of the Summersend Atomic Research Establishment goes forward. Here the old human pride which once flared in Bedlam Furnace rides on towards its ultimate and most deadly fall. Yet even this has been countered by the return of an even older humility. For in one respect the wheel has already come full circle. As we turn our backs upon the town, ascend Emberley Hill for the last time and pass the tall elms which screen the Old Hall, so we may hear, very faintly, the ancient music of Gregorian chant, elemental and timeless as the surge of the sea, as monks sing their office. For William Winter has bequeathed his hall to the church. After four hundred years the Cistercians have come back to Winterstoke and confront another wilderness.
Chronology
Date
1072? Emberley Castle built by Hugh Fitzwinter
1085? Chapel built by Hugh Fitzwinter on site of first church of St. Cenodoc
1132 William Fitzwinter grants lands to Benedictines of Citeaux; Winterstoke Abbey founded
1133– River Wendle embanked
1210? St. John’s Bridge constructed
1348–9 The Black Death
1385? Robert Fitzwinter builds Emberley Hall on site of Norman Castle
1433–67 Luttrell tower and new Lodging built by Abbot Thomas Luttrell
1510? First ‘water bloomery’ built on the Wendle
1539 Dissolution of Winterstoke Abbey
1542– Abbey lands granted to Richard Hanmer, first Earl of Winterstoke. Abbey church destroyed. Abbots’ Lodging rebuilt as Winterstoke Place
1548 (circa) Certain Common lands enclosed
1550–1600 Ironworks concentrated in Lob Valley
1585 First coal pit sunk at High Hanger
1594 First charcoal blast furnace built at Darley Bank
1636 First water powered slitting mill at Darley Bank
1642–9 Civil War: St. John’s Bridge damaged, ironworks raided and Emberley Hall sacked
1682–4 Winterstoke Place rebuilt by Henry Hanmer, fourth Earl
1708 Darley Bank Company founded by Josiah Leeds I
1710 Lower Wendle Navigation Company incorporated
1711 First pound locks built on River Wendle
1712 ‘Bedlam’ Furnace blown in on coke fuel
(First Newcomen engine built near Dudley)
1715 Darley Bank Company takes over High Hanger pits
1720 Second forge and slitting mill built at Darley Bank
1722 First Newcomen cylinder cast at Darley Bank
1730 Wooden wagonways built from High Hanger to Darley Bank
1733 (Savery’s steam engine Patent lapses)
1734 First Newcomen engine in Winterstoke installed at High Hanger Pit
1742 Newcomen engine installed at Darley Bank and a second engine at High Hanger
1755 ‘Bedlam’ furnace rebuilt and Newcomen engine built to pump water to the bellows wheel
1766 Cast-iron plateway constructed from High Hanger to Darley Bank and river wharf
1766 Lobstock Canal projected, James Brindley, Engineer
1767 Reverbatory Furnace at Darley Bank produces coke smelted forge pig iron
1768 Lobstock Canal Act passed
1772 Westerport – Winterstoke – Coltisham Road becomes a Turnpike Trust
Winterstoke Enclosure Act passed
1773–6 Winterstoke Place rebuilt by James Wyatt
Winterstoke Park laid out by Lancelot Brown
Old village and church destroyed and new village constructed including church by James Wyatt
1775 Lobstock Canal completed and opened
1779 New iron bridge constructed over the Wendle
Wilkinson cylinder boring lathe installed at Darley Bank
1780 New Bank Furnace with Watt direct blast engine blown in
1782 Watt rotative beam engine installed in new Darley Bank Forge
1788 New rolling and slitting mill built at Darley Bank powered by Watt rotative engine
1791 Heslop winding engine built at High Hanger Pit
1810 Poor House built at Winterstoke
1812 New military barracks built at Church Ambling
New County Gaol built at Church Ambling
1825 Combination Laws repealed; Winterstoke Mechanics Union recognized and Mechanics Institute opened
1826 Wendle Navigation improved, horse towing-path built and locks reconstructed
1827–8 Lobstock Canal improved by Thomas Telford
1832 Reform Bill passed; Winterstoke becomes a new borough
1834 London & Earlspool Railway promoted
1835 Municipal Corporations Act passed; Winterstoke ratepayers enfranchised
1836 London & Earlspool Railway Act passed
1837 First steam locomotive built by the Darley Bank Co.
1840 London & Earlspool Railway opened
1842 Corn Laws repealed; effect on local agriculture
1846 Lobstock Canal becomes part of the Midshire Union Canal Company by amalgamation
Midshire Union Canal Carrying Company formed
Great North-Western Railway promoted
1847 London & Earlspool Railway becomes the Grand Central Railway by amalgamation
1849 Great North-Western Railway Act passed
Great North-Western Railway Company obtains a controlling interest in the Midshire Union Canal and Carrying Companies
1850 Winterstoke Brewery built by Richard Blenkinsop
1852 Winterstoke Steam Mills opened by Richard Blenkinsop
1853 Great North-Western Railway opened
Camp Colliery opened by the Darley Bank Company
1853–5 War between rival railway companies for Winterstoke traffic ends in two disasters
1856 Bedlam and New Bank furnaces rebuilt (Bessemer Converter introduced)
1861 New Market Hall built
1863 New Town Hall opened
1865 Summersend Branch Line completed
1866 (Siemens Martin open hearth process of steel-making introduced)
1866 Great Ketton Steel Company formed
1866–8 Great Ketton Steelworks and Ketton Deep Pit opened
1872 Winterstoke Theatre Royal opened
1875–6 Death of Thomas Leeds; Darley Bank Company wound up; Darley Bank Forge and High Hanger & Camp Colliery Companies formed
1876 Darley Bank Ironworks dismantled
1888 Local Government Act; Winterstoke becomes a County Borough
1889 Free Library, Museum and Art Gallery opened
1895 First motor car seen in Winterstoke
1896 National Telephone Company Exchange opened
1901 Winterstoke Electric Generating Station opened
Electric Tramway system opened
1906 First regular motor bus service inaugurated
1909 Winterstoke Electric Theatre opened
1912 First aeroplane seen over Wint
erstoke
1914–18 First World War; Darley Bank Forge builds tanks; Zeppelin raid
Winterstoke Park becomes a War Emergency Hospital
1920 Winterstoke Park destroyed by fire
Foster Car Company established by Robert Foster
1921 Grand Central and Great North-Western Railway Companies amalgamate as London & North Midland Railway
Midshire Motor Services established by Peter Foster
1921 Midshire Union Canal Carrying Co. wound up
1923 Winterstoke Park presented to the town by Bernard Blenkinsop
1925 Collapse of Ketton canal tunnel
1926 Abbey Building Estate completed and Abbey Cinema opened
Trams cease running and are superseded by buses
General strike in Winterstoke
1929 Lobstock Canal abandoned by Act of Parliament
1929 New road bridge built at St. John’s
New Grid Power Station built
1930 Darley Bank Forge closes down; Company goes into liquidation
Great Ketton Steel Company becomes a subsidiary of the Universal Steel Corporation
1931 Darley Bank Forge buildings taken over by Foster Car Company and re-equipped for mass production
1932 Darley Bank canal basin filled in to make new Wharf Square and new Government offices built
1933–4 Winterstoke By-pass constructed
Wendleside Estate and Seville Cinema built Allied Iron Founders Ltd. factory opened
1935 United Pressed Steel Company’s factory opened
1937 Special Stress Alloys Ltd., factory opened
1938 R.A.F. station, High Emberley, built
Air-raid shelters dug in Winterstoke Park
Foster Car Company build shadow factory at Darley Bank
Pre-fabricated & Hydraulic Aircraft Components Ltd. factory built
1939 Electronics Development Corporation factory built
1939–45 Second World War; Winterstoke ‘Blitz’ and damage caused; death of Robert Foster
1944 First Foster ‘Wendle’ jet engine produced at Darley Bank
1946 New government offices established in Winterstoke Park
1946–48 Railways, collieries, Gas and Electricity undertakings nationalized
1949 ‘Highways’, Emberley, reconstructed as offices for the National Coal Board
1950 Summersend Branch Line closed
1951 Atomic Research Establishment completed
1952 William Winter grants Emberley Hall to the Benedictines of Citeaux
Copyright
This ebook edition first published in 2015
by Faber & Faber Ltd
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© The Estate of L. T. C. Rolt, 1954
Introductory remarks © individual contributors, 2015
The right of L. T. C. Rolt to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–32603–7