Waggonway Research Circle
Introduction and editorial overview (Updated 12 August 2007)
This web site was created to cover the Industrial Archaeology surrounding the development of the early British waggonway (or wagonway)*. These wagonways, or wagonways, were originally made of wood, later evolving into iron L plate tramways or what we today regard as a railway with iron rails. The format of the site is similar to a magazine in that it we aim to bring together contibutions froma range of authors. Due to the current interests of the circle members the site has a current bias towards the history of the World's first recorded cross-country overland waggonway, (the Wollaton waggonway of 1604) and Huntingdon Beaumont the man who built it. Additional material relating to other waggonway (wagonway) and plateway (plate way) history will be added over time.
There are individual contents pages for the key sections covering waggonways (wagonways), the life of Huntingdon Beaumont, the Wollaton Waggonway and plateways. Hot links on each page list material on this site and also where relevant externally. Additional material relating to Elizabethan and Stuart period mining activities in the west Nottingham area which the Wollaton Waggonway served will also be added.
The most recent significant content updates were made during August 2007, relating to the Mines Royal. The section relating to the 2008 Early Railways Conference was also updated. A rolling general review of the content and page layout is also underwa, with modifications being made as time permits between my full-time work commitments. Changes will always be posted to the updates page as they are made.
The Circle's contributors hope that you find the WRC website a useful resource for study of the English waggonway.
John New DMS MCMI Site coordinator / Editor.
To email the site editor -
NB Blocked content - A known fault has been discovered when testing against Intermet Explorer 7 - the email link generator uses Java code and this is not always allowed to run. This is the only Active X coding on the site, the script code is harmless and it is safe to permit IE to run this blocked content.
External Links
| Strelley Systems Business Centres | The WRC thank them for their recent sponsorship of WRC activities. |
| Lenton Times | Local history paper covering the area near Wollaton. |
| Nottinghamshire History | Excellent site with self explanatory title. |