Burton upon Trent Local History

Museum

In 1915 Burton Corporation opened a municipal museum and art gallery in a building designed by Henry Beck of Burton on the site of the former police station at the corner of Station Street and Guild Street.

The museum displays included a collection of artefacts belonging to the Burton-upon-Trent Natural History and Archaeological Society. In 1921 an extensive private collection of zoological specimens was purchased from the estate of the society’s president, Philip Mason of Trent House, Bridge Street. In 1923 the corporation was given the natural history collection from Rolleston Hall, and in 1928 it opened an extension to house them.

There was a ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for a new museum in October 1913, over a year before it was completed.

The entrance and stonework were befitting of a museum. My earliest memory was of the lower corner section housing the ‘Gas Showroom’.

The interior was also a good space and well suited to being a museum.

The museum and art gallery was closed in 1981. Some items were transferred to the Bass Museum, others to Derby Museum & Art Gallery and the Staffordshire County Museum at Shugborough. Big shame? Not really… given the history of the town, the museum exhibits were very underwhelming and it is little wonder that no-one ever visited.

Fire Brigade – Early History

There was an enforced requirement in some towns during the early 17th century for householders to have buckets or water containers next to any wells to assist with fire protection.

In 1707, the Parish Fire Act was introduced by the Government which deemed that a parish should have a fire combatting equipment conspicuously available although, in the most sophisticated cases, this was nothing more than a crude hand pump. In Burton, fire hooks and buckets were maintained out of town lands money and kept in the market place, next to the original town hall.

There is known to have been a Burton manual fire engine in 1791, when a new one was acquired by subscription. A second engine was given in the same year by Robert Peel, the owner of cotton mills at Bond End and Winshill. The engines were maintained out of a parish rate, which in 1807 paid a retaining fee of £2 to the man who worked the engine and £1 every time he was called out; he also received 3 guineas for keeping the engines in good repair.

Eight assistants were each paid £1 as a retainer and 10s. for a callout. There were also fees for four annual practice sessions. In 1835 one engine was kept in Horninglow Street opposite Holy Trinity church, and by 1844 the other was kept in the gatehouse of the former monastic precinct near the market place. A replacement engine was acquired in 1839.

By 1841 the engines were maintained jointly by Burton and Burton Extra townships, but support from the parish rate was evidently later withdrawn and in 1854 it was stated that the engines had been kept for several years by the feoffees of the town lands. The feoffees stopped payments that year and responsibility passed to the improvement commissioners. A new engine house for both engines was opened in 1855 in the former gas works in Station Street.

It was replaced in 1879 by one on the west side of Union Street. In 1876, while situated in Union Street, Burton Fire Brigade finally took possession of thier first Steam Fire Appliance, a Shand Mason and Company Fire Engine – although the steam was used to drive a pump not for traction; it was a horse drawn vehicle requiring two horses in harness which were borrowed in the case of a fire from local merchants!

Below is one of the very few surviving pictures of the Union Street firemen, together with their steam appliance.

Aside from being Burton’s most effective available fire-fighting appliance, it provided a convenient stage for this later group photo, with helmets polished for the occasion. It seems that at the time, moustaches were compulsory!

The Burton Steamer survives to this day and is still proudly displayed at the present day fire station.

Brewery Fire Brigades

In the 1850s Michael Thomas Bass established a fire brigade for his brewery. Allsopp & Co. also had one by 1904, when it was agreed with Burton corporation that neither brigade would turn out unless requested to do so by the town brigade and that they would attend a fire outside a 5 mile radius from St. Modwen’s church only if the premises involved belonged to a partner of one of the companies. The Bass fire brigade survived until 1970.

In 1884, a fire broke out at a property in Sydney Street, Horninglow. Burton Fire Brigade failed to attend. Instead, the Allsopps Brewery brigade had to attend but were late on the scene. Following this incident, the town’s authorities agreed that a number of Hose Reel Stations should be strategically placed around the town with a hand pulled hose cart which could act as a first line of defence where necessary. These were locked with a notice informing who the custodian was.

Stations were positioned as follows:

Outside Marston’s Brewery, Dog Lane, Horninglow (keyholder – Mr Hubbard of Dog Lane)
Barley Mow, Main Street, Stapenhill (keyholder – publican of Barley Mow)
Anglesey Arms, Church Hill Street, Winshill (keyholder – publican of Anglesey Arms)
End of Trent Bridge, Newton Road, Winshill (keyholder -publican of Swan Hotel)

The last example can be seen in the below photo.

Burton Station 1839

Though many will be able to remember the old railway station on the site of the current one, this was not the original Burton station. Burton’s first railway station was opened in 1839 by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway on its original route from Derby to Hampton-in-Arden meeting the London and Birmingham Railway for London. The station stood at end of what was then called Cat Street.

At the same time, the new Station Bridge was built prior to which, there was only a foot crossing between Station Street (Cat Street) and Borough Road where the new Saint Paul’s Institute and Liberal Club had recently been opened (later to become the Town Hall). The number of lines was also quadrupled to cater for much greater needs.

In 1844, Cat Street was renamed to the much more appropriate Station Street.

Once the station existed, local companies very soon adapted to its use. Midland Railway built a grain warehouse adjacent to the train track with its own siding comprising of three storeys and a basement, constructed from red brick with 11 bays and traditional weatherboarded grain hoists.

The building still exists and is Grade II listed.

Also soon to appear was the Station Hotel to take up prime position for the future railway

In 1848, the North Staffordshire Railway Company opened a line from Crewe to Derby, with a branch line from Uttoxeter which connected Tutbury and Burton.

A small passenger train known affectionately as the Tutbury Jinny, seen below, was a popular sight at the old Burton station. With no means of turning the train, it operated a push-pull service between the two stations.

The First Tutbury Jinnie. 1849

In its heyday, the ‘Tutbury Jinnie’ provided eight trains each way on weekdays and two on Sundays. However, as the motor car became more accessible, a survey in 1960 revealed that the service was only carrying an average of twelve passengers and running at a loss of around £7000, which was quite a significant sum at the time. The service managed to survive until it was withdrawn in 1960. The ceremoniously packed last train left Tutbury at 8:12pm on 11th June.

The Last Tutbury Jinnie. 1960

The line was closed in 1960. Tutbury station was fully closed in 1966 but was re-opened by popular request in 1990 and remains in use today.

The below view provides one of the best views of the 1839 station platform and gives good feel for the position. On the other side of the Station Bridge you can see the recently completed Station Hotel to give you bearings.

A year after the previous line, in 1849, the Midland Railway Company, which now owned and operated the Birmingham to Derby line, opened a line from Burton to Leicester which crossed the Trent by a substantial viaduct still known today as the Leicester Line Bridge or Drakelow Viaduct.

Burton’s main streets became congested by drays delivering barrels to the station from the breweries which were mostly located near the river. As early as 1853 it was proposed to lay a railway track from the main line south of Horninglow Street as far as the breweries in High Street to service them.

Under an Act of 1859 the Midland and other railway companies were authorised to construct two branches from the North Staffordshire line in Stretton, one running across Guild Street and High Street and the other under Hawkins Lane, across Anderstaff Lane (later Wetmore Road), and southwards along the west arm of the Trent. The branches met at sidings on the Hay behind the High Street breweries. A separate Act of 1860 authorised a private line from the Guild Street branch to serve Allsopp’s brewery on the north side of Horninglow Street. The construction of the Hay branch was instrumental in the demolition of the old medieval bridge over the Trent and its replacement by a new bridge opened in 1864.

Further lines in the central and eastern parts of the town were laid privately by brewing companies under an Act of 1862 and by the Midland Railway Company under Acts of 1864 and 1867. To serve brewery premises on the west side of town lines were laid by the Midland company in 1874, including one along the disused Bond End canal. Lastly, the London and North Western Railway Company in 1882 made a line along the east side of the Trent and Mersey canal between Shobnall and the Stretton junction.

The below extract from a map produced in 1865 shows the yet disjointed Station Street (now renamed from Cat Street) and Borough Road. It is also interesting to note that the soon to be demolished windmill is still in place on what would become the rear of the Station Hotel. It would also be a few years before Saint Paul’s Church followed by Saint Paul’s Institute and the Liberal Club (eventually destined to become the Town Hall) appeared.

As an ever increasing centre for beer brewing, Burton soon became criss-crossed brewery companies’ private lines and the numerous level crossings became the bain of the town!

Burton Swifts

Founded in 1871, Burton Swifts were one of the early pioneers of professional football in England, representing the brewing town of Burton upon Trent during a period when the game was rapidly evolving from local competition into a national sport. Although their time in the Football League lasted less than a decade, the Swifts played an important role in the development of football in the Midlands and left behind a legacy that deserves to be remembered.

The club’s origins can be traced back to 1871, when it was formed under the name Outwood Stars. Two years later, in 1873, the club adopted the name Burton Swifts and played at Peel Croft in Lichfield Street. The team wore several colour combinations throughout their history. When the club was founded, they played in red and blue thin horizontal stripes. At some point, they changed to brown and blue thin vertical stripes, as in the poster.

Like many ambitious clubs of the Victorian era, Burton Swifts progressed through a succession of competitions as organised football became increasingly structured. In 1890 they became founder members of The Combination, one of several leagues created to satisfy the growing appetite for competitive football. After only a single season they switched to the stronger Football Alliance, where they competed against many clubs that would soon become household names. Their strip was changed to maroon and orange for which they are best known.

Their biggest opportunity arrived in 1892, when the Football Alliance merged with the Football League. Burton Swifts were invited to become one of the founder members of the newly created Football League Second Division, a significant achievement that placed the club among England’s recognised professional sides. Home matches were staged at Peel Croft, a ground that became synonymous with the club throughout its Football League years.

The Swifts made an encouraging start to life in league football. During the 1893–94 season they enjoyed the finest campaign in their history, finishing sixth in the Second Division while collecting 31 points and scoring 79 league goals. Those achievements remained club records throughout their existence and demonstrated that Burton could compete with more established opponents when at their best.

However, consistency proved elusive. For much of the following decade Burton Swifts occupied positions in the lower reaches of the Second Division and struggled to establish themselves as genuine promotion contenders. Financial pressures and increasing competition meant that survival often became the club’s primary objective. In 1897 they were required to seek re-election to the Football League after finishing near the foot of the table. Fortunately for the Swifts, they retained their place, while local rivals Burton Wanderers lost theirs.

Despite occasional memorable performances, success remained limited. The club recorded an exhilarating 8–5 victory over Walsall in 1894, one of the highest-scoring matches of the era, but they also suffered heavy setbacks, including a 9–0 defeat against Manchester City in 1898. Their best FA Cup run came during the 1896–97 season, when they reached the First Round before narrowly losing 4–3 to Liverpool in an entertaining contest.

By the turn of the twentieth century, Burton Swifts were again battling to preserve their Football League status. The 1900–01 season proved disastrous, as they finished bottom of the Second Division and once more faced the prospect of applying for re-election. Recognising that neither Burton Swifts nor Burton Wanderers possessed the resources to thrive independently, officials from both clubs agreed to unite before the League held its annual meeting.

The merger created Burton United in 1901, with the new club inheriting Burton Swifts’ place in the Football League and continuing to play at Peel Croft. Although the amalgamation ensured that league football remained in Burton upon Trent, it marked the end of Burton Swifts as an independent club after almost thirty years of existence.

Unfortunately, the merger did not bring the success many had hoped for. Burton United struggled for several seasons before eventually losing its Football League status in 1907 and folding altogether in 1910. Consequently, neither Burton Swifts nor Burton United has any direct historical connection with the modern Burton Albion, despite all three clubs sharing the same town.

Although Burton Swifts never challenged for major honours or reached the top flight, they occupy an important place in football history. As founder members of the Football League Second Division, they helped establish the national league structure that still exists today. Their story reflects the realities faced by many pioneering Victorian clubs—ambitious, community-driven organisations that laid the foundations of professional football before financial realities and changing fortunes brought their journeys to an end. Today, Burton Swifts remain an important chapter in the rich sporting heritage of Burton upon Trent and in the wider history of the English Football League.

Dunstall Hall

The Dunstall estate was the property of the Earl of Derby from 1145. The first house on the site of the hall was a hunting lodge in the Royal Forest of Needwood.

In 1814 the estate was bought by Richard Arkwright junior, (son of Sir Richard Arkwright). The impressive Dunstall Hall was built for his son, Charles, who lived there and who was appointed the High Sheriff of Staffordshire in 1849.

Charles died in 1850 childless and the estate was sold to John Hardy, later Sir John Hardy Bt. Hardy and later his son, Sir Reginald Hardy (High Sheriff 1893) carried out extensive alterations and improvements to the property. New building works included a new entrance front with a portico and new wings.

After the death of the 3rd Hardy Baronet in 1953 the estate was sold to wealthy Midlands civil engineer Sir Robert McCallum.

Douglas and on his death in 1997 it was sold to property developer and race course owner Sir Stanley Clarke.

Eatoughs Shoemakers

Eatoughs Ltd operated a prominent shoe and slipper manufacturing factory in Burton-on-Trent, which was part of a larger footwear firm founded by Oliver Eatough in 1919.

It was expanded from a factory in Rossendale Valley, Lancashire, which only manufactured slippers. Wanting to largely expand into a full range of leather footwear, Eatough established factories in Earl Shilton, Syston, Coalville, and Burton-on-Trent.

In 1924, Eatoughs Ltd moved its Burton operations from a small factory in Branston into the much larger Allsopp and Sons’ former brewery building on High Street, opposite the Burton Mail office building, when it became vacant.

By the 1930s, the firm employed around 1,000 workers across its sites and was known for industrial innovations like introducing ‘Music while you work’ broadcasts in 1936, and during WW II, it producing specialized clothing for electrically heated flying suits worn bomber crews.

The two photographs taken in 1946 show that it was a major employer in the town with a workforce of several hundred.

Eatoughs was finally closed 977

Chess

Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841–1924) was a Chess Grandmaster of legendary status who in his heyday was the second ranked player in the World, second only to World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz. He was famous for his Blindfold Simultaneous ability where he very regularly played 10 strong opponents at a time without sight of the board. He was also well know for consuming large amounts of alcohol.

W.H. Worthington of brewing fame was president of the first formal Burton Chess Club when it moved to the new Liberal Institute Club after it opened. Through his enthusiasm for chess, generosity and hospitality. In 1875, Joseph Blackburne gave a two day exhibitions. On the first day, he performed his famous ten player blindfold exhibition in front of an audience, on the second day, he played twenty odd players at the same time by walking around making moves at each board allowing his opponents much more time to ponder, at least until the majority of them had been eliminated. This was a great success and was repeated on seven occasions.

W.H.Worthington also donated impressive trophies including an impressive cased sterling silver cup and a large boxed solid ivory chess set and wooden board, very probably used by Blackburne himself, still owned by Burton Chess Club and now of high valuable.

For those interested in Chess, the above board shows the famous ‘Blackburne Shilling Gambit’ so called because Blackburne often played for a shilling wager in simultaneous player exhibition through which he secured many shillings! On the face of it, it seems suicidal allowing 4. Nxe5 by white but it has a sting in the tail for the uninitiated.

Burton Station 1883

A construction of a new much needed station was agreed in 1881. The first part of the plan necessitated the Station Bridge to be constructed to join the top of Cat Street (Station Street) to Borough Road, prior to which, there was only a foot crossing. The new station was built 150 yards down the line. It was built as an island platform with bays at each end, with substancial buildings along its length. At the same time, the number of tracks was quadrupled to cater for much greater needs.

Buildings, including freight handling and a booking hall, were built at the upper bridge level. They were built in early English retro-style, partly timbered to look older than they actually were. Access down to the platforms was reached by a wide flight of steps with one side for ascending, the other for descending.

The new station was opened in 1883 and the old station was demolished. It had much larger buildings at the upper level and a large canopy provided shelter at the front.

The distinctive canopy survived pretty much unchanged by the time the above 1910 photograph was taken. Trams had by now replaced horse drawn hanson cabs. The canopy was eventually removed to meet the demand for car parking.

Still little changed by 1960. The tramlines were of course, long replaced by a suitable surface for cars together with improved street lighting. The lattice work of the canopy had been replaced with simpler boarding.

A restoration of an early photo showing locomotive 64354 sitting at Burton Station – enough to bring the out the schoolboy in anyone!

Views of either side of the platform looking in the Branston direction from viewpoints at the upper level which used to be inside the station buildings but now form part of the car park.

And a marvellous wider view to put everything in perspective.

A posed picture by some of the senior staff from the Bass Brewery prior to a trip financed by the company.

And a slightly busier picture of one of the Bass trips, financed by the company for its employees, that became legendary with numerous trains being specially commissioned for trips to various seaside resorts. This image shows the 1909 trip to Great Yarmouth.

And a later Bass trip in 1911.

Other breweries were to following suit in the coming years.

A view of the distinctive platform clock which I am sure I can remember, together with the news kiosk which did a brisk trade in newspapers, confectionery and cigarettes.

Before being whisked away in old fashioned style. Burton Station still very recognisable as the express train heads south towards Branston.

A late 1950s image shows that the site of the old station has been taken over by new brewery buildings.

Just down the line, visible from the station platform in its day, in front of what was Ind Coope Ltd, bottling store (now IMEX Business Park) was a typical signal box.

Two restorations of the north-bound platform. Interesting to note that in the early days, the station had a Telegraph Office.

Finally, a few more photos towards the end of its life.

One of the very last photographs taken of the distinctive platform building.

Most of the private brewery railway lines were closed between 1963 and 1968 and the tracks were removed, with road transport now far more preferred.

Burton Station 1971

The station was demolished and rebuilt in 1971.

The booking office remains in around the same place and the platform stairs are largely original to the previous station. The final photos show the present station with its magnificent architecture for comparison.

Burton Trains

Allsopp & Sons

Used by Allsopp & Sons 1899
Tenderless Tank Locomotive Number 1120

Its gorgeous burgundy with gold piping livery makes it look way too nice for industrial use.

Sir Nigel Gresley

Sir Nigel Gresley in service 1938
LNER Class A4 Pacific steam locomotive No. 60022

Sir Nigel Gresley in retirement

Passenger Train 1960
Steam Locomotive 64354 Class J11

Goods Train c1960
Steam Locomotive 44248 Class 4F

In 1870 a new locomotive shed was built to the south of the station. This consisted of a roundhouse built round a 42 feet diameter turntable. In 1892 another roundhouse was added, with a 50 feet diameter turntable. In 1923 these were replaced by still larger 57 feet and 55 feet turntables respectively. It can be seen below, still in regular use in 1960 a few years before it fell into disuse.

By 1948 it had 111 locomotives allocated to it, but with the arrival of diesel locomotives it became a sub-depot of Nottingham and was finally closed in 1968.

LMS Class 5-4-6-0 at Burton.