Beaumont, Huntingdon (Mining & Materials)
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
Beaumont, Huntingdon
August 18, 2006, 2:41 pm
Huntingdon Beaumont (c.1560-1624) was a British mining entrepreneur who built the first documented railway. Between October 1603 and October 1604, Beaumont built a two-mile wooden wagon-way from his mining concessions near Strelley, UK from the northwest of Nottingham down to Wollaton. These wagon-ways were tracks with wooden or iron rails built to easily move wagons of coal. Beaumont's wagon-way is the earliest-known railway to have been built in the UK, and it allowed for year-round mining and transport of coal. Prior to the construction of wagon-ways, coal mines had been forced to close down during the winter due to impassable road conditions.
Further Reading
Huntigdon Beaumont (Waggonway Research Circl)
