CREWE

:''This article is about Crewe in England. There is another Crewe in Virginia, USA.''
'Crewe' is a town in south Cheshire, England. It is the major town in the Borough and Parliamentary Constituency of Crewe and Nantwich, where it is the only unparished area of the borough. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683. It is twinned with Mâcon in France and Bischofsheim, near Mainz, Germany.
Crewe is perhaps best known for its association with the railway industry, being a major junction and once home to a bustling railway works. From 1946 to 2002 it was the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. From the end of 2002 Rolls-Royce production ceased at Crewe while the ''Pyms Lane'' factory on the west of the town now produces Bentley motor cars exclusively.

Contents

History

Transport

Education

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Colleges of Further Education

Colleges of Higher Education

Local economy

Sports

Trivia

Notes and References

External links

History

Crewe did not come to prominence until the late 1830s, when the Grand Junction Railway (GJR) company chose it as the site for its locomotive works (known in the surrounding area simply as Crewe Works) and Crewe railway station.
Guardian newspaper article, ''The beauty of Crewe'' (6 December 2005). Retrieval Date: 10 August, 2007. The town of Winsford, situated seven miles north of Crewe, rejected an earlier original building plan. Subsequently local landowners from neighbouring Nantwich (located four miles away) prevented the second choice plan to locate the building in their town. When the GJR opened its station in fields near Crewe Hall in 1837, the population of Crewe (c. 1831), the nearest Cheshire village, was just 70.
A new town grew up, in the parishes of Monks Coppenhall and Church Coppenhall, alongside the increasingly busy station, with the population expanding to reach 40,000 by 1871. GJR chief engineer Joseph Locke helped lay out the town.

Crewe War Memorial in the site where it was relocated in 2006 after a local political crisis. It is one of only two war memorials in Britain which features Britannia.

The town has a large park, Queen's Park (laid out by engineer Francis Webb), the land for which was donated by the London and North Western Railway (successor to the GJR). (Rumour has it that they did this to prevent the Great Western Railway from building a railway line through it but there is no evidence for this).^[1]
The railway provided an endowment towards the building and upkeep of Christ Church. Until 1897 its vicar, non-conformist ministers and schoolteachers received concessionary passes, the school having been established in 1842. The company provided a doctor's surgery with a scheme of health insurance. A gasworks was built and the works water supply was adapted to provide drinking water and a public baths. The railway also opened a cheese market in 1854 and a clothing factory for John Compton who provided the company uniforms, while McCorquodale of Liverpool set up a printing works. Nevertheless, the dominance of the railway industry was such that times of recession were keenly felt.

Transport

Crewe railway station is less than a mile from Crewe town centre, although politically it was not incorporated into the then-Borough of Crewe until 1937. It is one of the largest stations in north-west England and a major interchange station on the West Coast Main Line, and has 12 platforms in use and has a direct service to London (Euston) (2/hour, the average duration is now 1 hour 45 minutes), Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Stoke-on-Trent and many other cities.
It is on the A530 and A534 and less than 10 miles from the M6 motorway.
The main bus company in Crewe is Arriva, which operates in Crewe and the surrounding towns, villages.
First PMT operates bus service 20 from Hanley to Leighton Hospital every twenty minutes.

Education

Primary Schools

★ Beechwood Primary School

★ Edleston Primary School

★ Gainsborough Primary and Nursery School

★ Hungerford Primary School

★ Leighton Primary School

★ Mablins Lane Community Primary School

★ Monks Coppenhall Primary and Nursery School

★ Oakefield Primary School and Nursery

★ Pebble Brook Primary School

★ St Mary's Catholic Primary School (Crewe)

★ Underwood West Primary School

★ Vine Tree Primary School

Secondary Schools

★ King's Grove High School

★ Ruskin Sports College

★ Shavington High School

★ Sir William Stanier Community School

★ St Thomas More Catholic High School

Colleges of Further Education

★ South Cheshire College^[2]

Colleges of Higher Education

★ MMU Cheshire

Local economy

Ryman, the national stationers have their headquarters on ''Savoy Road'' (A532), on south of the town. There is a Morrisons on ''Dunwoody Way'', a Tesco on ''Vernon Way'', and an ASDA in the Victoria Centre; all in the town centre.
There are plans to revamp the Town centre, according to the latest news this is due to start in 2008 with almost half the town centre to be rebuilt with a new street created (another set of plans have been submitted in early 2007, meaning that the revamp is now unlikely to start until 2009).
There are also plans to revamp the Railway station.
Plans to revamp the Queens Park are already underway.

Sports

Crewe's sporting claim to fame is that it is home to Crewe Alexandra F.C.,^[3] for a long time one of English football's perpetual under-achievers, though during the late 20th century the club enjoyed something of a renaissance under the management of Dario Gradi, reaching the First Division (ie: the second tier of the professional pyramid) for five seasons from 1997-2002, being relegated to the Second Division in the 2002-03 season but being promoted back to the First Division after only one season. At the end of the 2005-06 season, Crewe were relegated to the third tier (renamed to League One) again.
Crewe is also home to Crewe Wolves Rugby League club, also known as Crewe and Nantwich Rugby Union Football Club (or Crewe and Nantwich RUFC) who play in the Rugby League Conference.^[4]

Trivia

The renovated Lyceum Theatre is a fine example of Edwardian theatre design.

★ Crewe crater on Mars is named after the town of Crewe.

★ The Limelight, Crewe is a live music venue, established in the mid 1990s. With three floors, the Annex Bar and Music Cafe, the Club has a capacity of over 900. From humble beginnings (with mainly tribute bands) the club is now one of the North's top venues.

★ Crewe has a fast growing population of workers from Poland who, with their families, have migrated to south Cheshire after Poland's accession to the European Community. Polish immigrants have also had a strong presence in Crewe since the days of World War 2, hence the long-established Polish Working Men's Club on West Street, Crewe.

★ In 2005, an online article named Crewe as one of the worst and 'chavviest' town's in Britain.^[5]

★ Crewe was described by author Alan Garner in his book Red Shift as 'the ultimate reality'.

★ Generations of British children learned the distribution of positive trigonometric values around a circle using the mnemonic ''All Stations Through Crewe'': 'all' of them in quadrant 1, 'sine' in quadrant 2, 'tan' in quadrant 3, and 'cosine' in quadrant 4.

★ In The Railway Series, Henry the Green Engine was sent here for major repairs of changing firebox sizes and different boiler shapes.

★ Crewe & Nantwich is twinned with the French commune of Mâcon.

Notes and References

1. Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council web page on Queen's Park states: "This can now be totally dispelled as records show the LNWR Co. originally thought their line to Chester would run alongside the river. However, it was discovered the ground was not firm enough and a more northerly route was decided upon. Had the original thought gone ahead it would have taken the land that was eventually used for Queens Park? It's obvious that a rumour became mixed with a proposal to open a station on the present Chester line called Queens Park Halt. To further clarify the situation an entry on the 18th December 1886, in the Minute Book of the Board of Directors of the LNWR, refers to the area being given for a public park."
2. South Cheshire College. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.
3. Crewe Alexandra F.C. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.
4. Crewe and Nantwich RUFC. Retrieval Date: 10 August, 2007.
5. Chav Towns entry - Crewe, Cheshire - Chav Capital of the World. Retrieval Date: 10 August, 2007.

External links

★ Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ Crewe blog, photos of Crewe. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ Crewe Guardian newspaper. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ The Railway Age museum. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ Lyceum Theatre. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ Crewe Golf Club. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ United Co-op Band. Retrieval date: 14 July, 2007.

★ The Limelight - Popular local music venue.

★ Polish Community in Crewe (in Polish). Retrieval date: 14 July 2007.