So the coaching trade was an extremely important element that contributed greatly towards the development in communications in the Georgian period but sources such as the market and the port contributed also.
In the Victorian period communication and the development of Victorian Doncaster depended greatly on transport, in this period the railway was the main mode of transport, the railway reinforced Doncasters link with communication.
The railway affected Doncaster mostly between 1849 and the early 20th century. The plantwork map of Doncaster shows that Doncaster’s north side had been developed with new areas and many new small close together houses, all were Victorian as the all had features such as Welch slate roofs, coal cellars and coal grates. All these new terraced houses were rented out to artisans. No public transport was available so all the new houses were built close to work places, a good example of this is bell Mont Avenue.
Obviously new cheap houses and lots of new jobs due to the railway attracted more people which increased the population, from 1851-1871 it was increased by 6716, which was over half of the population in 1851.
The railway provided impetus for a belated industrialization, the railway attracted industry because goods could be transported quickly and cheaply. Factories and plantworks were built near railway stations in order to transport a large amount of product quickly. For example Peglars transported bridon ropes and taps to places all over the country. All the new factories, plantworks and railway lines were turning Doncaster from a once described “beautiful and wealthy town”(1828 map of Doncaster) to “one of the largest industrial centers of the kingdom”(Doncaster corporation congress report 1903.)
Other new areas such as balby and hexthorpe were developed to build plantworks. Although these new areas were built with lots of new Victorian, close together houses, unlike Sheffield, they were not slums due to the Artisans Dueling Act and had to have clan running water and a bathroom.
However many jobs the railway provided for Doncaster it was no way near the amount of industrial jobs that Balby and Hexthorpe, in the south west, provided. According to the 1871 census, for example out of 750 people 10 were employed as a railway porter also there were about 18 industrial associated jobs available in Balby and Hexthorpe where as in Doncaster out of 750 only 2 were employed as a railway porter and only about 9 industrial jobs were available.
The railways were also the main link to the coal mining industry.
communications helped the development of mines and mining villages but however was not the only source of aid.
Mining was brought into Doncaster as a result of the developing railways. Because the trains were powered by steam they needed coal, due to this many pits opened such as Denaby Main -which opened in 1864- and many branch lines were built around doncaster, if you look at the armthorpe map an example of many railway lines going through armthorpe shows hw industrial even a village was.
As the mining industry was developing so did a lot of new areas. Land that was used for farming and agricultural purposes were replaced with new pit villages such as Armthorpe and Woodlands these new houses were built due to “The Tudor Walters Housing Program” as they felt that, according to the mining source booklet “there was no accommodation available in areas such as Doncaster for the thousands of miners who were required for the pits.” All these new housing estates and developing areas increased the size of Doncaster greatly.
Thousands of new houses were built for the new pits but that must have meant that thousands of new jobs were going to be available, and they were. Because job availability increased, and the coal industry was doing well in Doncaster as there was a huge demand for coal and fuel, so did the population as many families traveled from as far as Scotland (Doncaster Gazette 1916) just to work in the mining industry as, for example, engineers and construction workers.
As the new pit villages opened such as Armthorpe “thousands of new houses” were built the houses were simplistic but because of the trains being able to take things around the country the new houses were built with new materials and are known as Pre Fabricated houses. The houses were working class standard and they all had indoor bathrooms and large gardens to the front and rear of the house, all the land that the houses were built on was cheap agricultural land and they only had bathrooms because the government laws said so.
The mining industry and the railway also lead to developments elsewhere. Churches were in demand to satisfy the religious needs of the new residents and there was the same need for schools. Small businesses that advantaged most people developed such as corner shops such as “sweetz” on Park way in armthorpe and factories.
Mining that took place in the early twentieth century overtook railways as the main employer which developed Doncaster greatly.
As the twentieth century developed, industry and the railway also developed. However the mining industry did for a while but slowly many pits closed down.
On the twentieth century map, the date is not given but we know that it is after the 1960’s as it has the M18 and shows that Cantly and Bessacarr had developed, it shows that the road network had developed so transport was not reliant on trains.
From the 1950’s onwards the overall picture of Doncaster had declined. There were many job losses as there were several changes in the way things were done. Since 1955, diesel became the locomotive for the railway network as steam had been abandoned. Diesel does not need as much manpower as a steam train so jobs were lost there. Mines started to scale down as the demand for coal was not as great as it had been before, many strikes took place in the 1980’s and as a result most pits closed down and left thousands of people unemployed. There was also the decline of heavy industry because most things were changed to electrical, again there was not a great deal of manpower needed so this also leaded to job losses.
The growth of Doncaster made communications within Doncaster stronger. The growth of the railways included electrical lines which meant that going places did not take as much time for example the time to get from Doncaster to London was and still is 1 hour and 40 minuets and from Doncaster to Edinburgh only 3 hours. Also the Freight Depot developed and people could travel to France by train.
The expansion of the road network lead road transport being improved. Modern new roads were built and huge motorways were built such as the M1 and M18.
If you look at the
Doncaster map, it shows
that places are linked
together better and look
more organized and neat.
Due to the new roads it
was easier for people to
commute as there were
more ways to reach people.
In time shopping,
leisure and sporting facilities
developed. Where old pits were
new facilities were built for
example the Earth Center was built on Denaby Main. Places like medowhall, the Dome, the Yorkshire outlet and the BT call center were all built on pits, all have modernized the town and also provided jobs. If you look at the 1999 chart 25% of people work in retail,
compared with the 1911 census which shows most people had an industrial job the comparison shows that despite unemployment problems Doncaster has become a modern town with jobs which don’t affect your health in a bad way like the pits did, and I think that that is very important in life!
Doncaster is still developing, there will an airport being built in 2004 that should employ at least 7000, already this is expanding Doncaster as new housing estates are being built in preparation, which means the population is expected to increase. Also being able to communicate by air will develop communications within Doncaster.
In conclusion I believe that communications have been the main impetus for development in Doncaster, although other sources have affected it too. In the eighteenth century the coaching trade developed communications, this lead to the railway in the nineteenth century being the main impetus and then to mining, which had an indirect affect on communications as it affected it but not without the railways presence. And then to the twentieth century of which the roads and industrys like the railways helped communications with new buildings being built. So that leaves the future in which we hope to see communications develop by air.
