Weston-on-Trent
Encyclopedia
Weston-on-Trent is a village and civil parish
in the South Derbyshire
district of Derbyshire
. It is to the north of the River Trent
and the Trent and Mersey Canal
. Nearby places include Aston-on-Trent
, Barrow upon Trent
, Castle Donington
and Swarkestone
.
The name is of Anglo-Saxon descent ('ton' an Anglo-Saxon suffix meaning town). Being in the west, the name literally means 'West Town' - with Aston-on-Trent (East-Town) being east of it. The 'On-Trent' suffix of both Weston and nearby villages simply means they are near the river Trent.
At the last census there were about 800 people in the village over sixteen years old.
Voluntary Aided primary school. The school has been in existence since 1821 and had on its old site to the west of the village since 1830. Two cottages were let from Sir Robert Wilmot
at two shillings per annum in 1830. The old school building is reported to have been erected in 1842 and to have had a capacity of 60, although only 35 were attending in 1890. In January 2007, the school was relocated to a new building on the site of the old playing field and formally opened on April 21. The school's placement was discussed extensively by the residents living near the roads leading to the school because of the lack of access. However its position had been decided in the 1960s when the Local Education Authority purchased the land belonging to Old Gate Farm and the remainder of the land had been used to construct Old Gate Avenue in the 1970s. The farm had previously served as one of Weston's pubs.
All of these are based at the Village Hall.
In 1009 Æþelræd Unræd
(King Ethelred the Unready) signed a charter at the Great Council which recognised the position and boundaries of Weston. The charter shows that Weston controlled the crossings of the Trent at, Weston Cliff, King's Mills and Wilne
. These crossings controlled one of the main routes for travellers moving up or down England and was a boundary within Mercia
. The land was listed as eight hides at Weston upon Trent, and a hide at Morley
, Smalley
, Ingleby
, Crich
and Kidsley. This land was then given to Morcar
, the King's chief minister, and he was unusually given rights that were normally reserved for the King alone. He was given the responsibility for justice and exemption from the Trinoda necessitas
, he alone could decide a fate of life or death without the need of the authority of the King or his sheriff. Morcar was given further lands in Derbyshire. In 1011 he was given 5 hides at what (maybe) Mickleover
and in 1012, two more at Eckington. Weston again come under the control of Æþelræd Unræd, when Morcar and his brother were murdered by Eadric in 1015. Later it was given to Ælfgar
, the Earl of Mercia
, but he lost this at the Norman Conquest. See the inset box for Weston's entry in Domesday.
Sometime after 1086, King William I
gave the manor of Weston to Hugh d'Avranches
, who was later to become the first Earl of Chester
. Hugh in 1093 gifted the manor to Chester Abbey and sometime around the turn of the century they gave Weston to the Monastery of St Werburgh which he had just founded at Chester
.
In 1215, King John
signed another charter concerning the ownership of Weston. He confirmed to the Abbots of Chester that the soke of Weston were free of all suits to counties or hundreds. This was in the same year as the Magna Carta
when King John had agreed to expel the local Sheriff, Philip Marc
, under pressures from his Barons. It should be noted that Marc remained the sheriff and left lands at nearby Chellaston
to his son.
to Charles Paget
who also gave him a pension of £200 a year. This is unusual as the previous monarch had threatened to have him assassinated in France as he refused to return to face the charges against him. He was found guilty of his involvement in the Babington plot
. It was Charles Paget, who Mary, Queen of Scots had written to from her imprisonment in code; this letter was part of the evidence that caused her execution.
In 1633 James I granted the manor of Weston on Trent to Antony Roper and it is believed that this is when Weston Hall's construction started.
At the start of the English civil war
s (in 1642) soldiers who were based at Weston Hall attacked Royalists who were based on the south side of the river. Some Parliamentary soldiers were reputedly buried in Weston Churchyard in 1644 after a battle at King's Mill when Sir John Gell
took 200 royalist prisoners.
The Roper family sold Weston Hall in 1649 and it was never completed. Bricked up doorways can be observed at first and second storeys where presumably the rest of the building was intended to be. The hall was bought by Robert Holden who passed it to his son Reverend Charles Edward Holden whose son was Edward Anthony Holden
.
In 1745 the young pretender
advanced as far as nearby Swarkestone
. Local records show that monies were found to not only repair ye town musquet but also money to charge it. Two other parishioners were given three quearts of ale to keep watch for the rebels from the church tower whilst a third was despatched to Derby.
In September 1770, the canal which had been started by James Brindley
reached Weston where goods could be moved the short distance from the canal to the river and vice versa. Much of this building still remains and Weston's lock, two canal bridges and several mileposts are listed by English Heritage.
The railway revolution initially happened outside Weston taking off in the area when three companies and their corresponding lines joined together to form the Midlands Railway Company
. The company was an amalgamation of different lines from Derby to Nottingham, to Birmingham
and to Leeds
. Business was good and in the 1860s it was realised that traffic could be improved if there was a line to relieve the congestion if there was a line to the south of Derby. The proposers realised that there were advantages in not only following the level ground of the Trent Valley but also in capturing additional business with a new line from Melbourne. One act of Parliament allowed an old tram line route to be reused to make a line from Ashby de la Zouch to Melbourne and another act allowed a line to Stenson
. This latter route was destined to disturb the quiet of the village as the new line allowed traffic to make its way from Trent Junction, creating an express route past the central station in Derby. The route as approved by the Act went directly through the village and although there was an allowance for deviations to this route, worryingly every allowable route just cut the village at a different point. Petitions were raised by the villagers to try and influence the construction, but despite deviations being agreed the effect on the village was large and permanent. The agreements and the work meant that the line was not fully complete until 1873 after four years of excavation and construction.
In 1851 the population of Weston was just under 400 in over seventy dwellings, but over the next twenty years the population fell by about a hundred, ten houses disappeared and another five were empty. Even allowing for the six houses that were in the way of the new railway this was a substantial change on the previous agricultural life. A cutting assisted in dividing the village in half as well as changing the routes of local roads to join with the four new bridges. New houses were constructed in the village for the station master and the head porter as well as a row of six workman's houses outside the village near the parish border with Swarkestone
. These new buildings replaced the lost thatched cottages, but more thatches were lost later when sparks from the locomotives set alight to others. By 1871 only just after a half of the remaining population was still working on the land. Sidings had been built in the village and trains were loaded with milk, parcel post and freight for Weston and nearby villages. Weston was again the local centre of activity with Shardlow and Aston also channeling their trade through the station at Weston.
The railway revolution substantially reduced the traffic on the rivers and canals, but at Weston there was an extended life. The mill at King's Mill was a useful source of power and was relatively close to the gypsum quarries at Chellaston and Aston on Trent. Because of this a circuitous route was devised that must have involved considerable effort. The stone once quarried was loaded onto a purpose built tramway so that the stone could be pulled to the canal near Aston. From here the stone was loaded into canal barges and moved the short distance to Weston Cliff where it was again unloaded and craned onto river barges that took the stone again on the short trip to King's Mill. Here the stone was again unloaded, ground into plaster and then sent back by the same circuitous route via the river barges to Weston Cliff and then the product was taken to Pegg's works on the canal at Derby. There was a £400 pound a year charge for the power of the mill, but the rest of this effort was achieved with animal and human effort.
There were two ferries at Weston, one at Weston Cliff and the other at King's Mill which ceased trade in 1942. This ferry crossed the river at the end of King's Mill Lane closest to Castle Donington. After the second world war Weston-on-Trent became home to the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) in the UK, which took over one of the camps which had been set up during the Second World War. One of these camps had hosted concerts by Vera Lynn
, Glenn Miller
and Ivy Benson
.
In 1980 in the build up to the Moscow Olympic games
, Weston-on-Trent was named by the Russians as a site of international espionage. The idea was that anti Olympic agents were being trained at the Tarasivka Ukrainian camp just outside the village by the CIA.
The last shop in Weston closed in 1998. In 2006, The Old Plough was closed and subsequently demolished. This pub had been in almost continuous operation as a victuallers since at least 1829 when Francis Henshaw operated it a combined pub and ploughmakers. At that time there were three pubs.
which is to the east in Nottinghamshire. The only major difference between the weather in Sutton and Weston is due to the latters location in the Trent Valley. Resulting in, as other nearby villages, regular river mists and fogs. These graph below shows average temperature and rainfall figures taken between 1971 and 2000 at the Met Office weather station on Sutton Bonington University campus..
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the South Derbyshire
South Derbyshire
South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. It contains a third of the National Forest, and the council offices are in Swadlincote....
district of Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
. It is to the north of the River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
and the Trent and Mersey Canal
Trent and Mersey Canal
The Trent and Mersey Canal is a in the East Midlands, West Midlands, and North West of England. It is a "narrow canal" for the vast majority of its length, but at the extremities—east of Burton upon Trent and west of Middlewich—it is a wide canal....
. Nearby places include Aston-on-Trent
Aston-on-Trent
Aston-on-Trent is a Derbyshire village, situated in the English East Midlands, near Derby. It is adjacent to Weston-on-Trent and is near to Chellaston. It is very close to the border with Leicestershire....
, Barrow upon Trent
Barrow upon Trent
Barrow upon Trent is a village and civil parish in the South Derbyshire district of Derbyshire, England. The village is south of Derby, and between the River Trent and the Trent and Mersey Canal . According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 546...
, Castle Donington
Castle Donington
Castle Donington is a village, with a population of around 7000 in the North West of Leicestershire, part of the Derby postcode area and on the edge of the National Forest. It is the closest town to East Midlands Airport.-Transport and housing:...
and Swarkestone
Swarkestone
Swarkestone is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England.Swarkestone has a very old village church, a full cricket pitch, the Crewe and Harpur pub, a canal with locks, moorings and canalside tea-rooms...
.
The name is of Anglo-Saxon descent ('ton' an Anglo-Saxon suffix meaning town). Being in the west, the name literally means 'West Town' - with Aston-on-Trent (East-Town) being east of it. The 'On-Trent' suffix of both Weston and nearby villages simply means they are near the river Trent.
At the last census there were about 800 people in the village over sixteen years old.
The Primary School
Weston's only school is a Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Voluntary Aided primary school. The school has been in existence since 1821 and had on its old site to the west of the village since 1830. Two cottages were let from Sir Robert Wilmot
Sir Robert Wilmot, 2nd Baronet
Sir Robert Wilmot Bart was the natural son of Sir Robert Wilmot the first baronet of Osmaston Hall, who was the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.-Biography:...
at two shillings per annum in 1830. The old school building is reported to have been erected in 1842 and to have had a capacity of 60, although only 35 were attending in 1890. In January 2007, the school was relocated to a new building on the site of the old playing field and formally opened on April 21. The school's placement was discussed extensively by the residents living near the roads leading to the school because of the lack of access. However its position had been decided in the 1960s when the Local Education Authority purchased the land belonging to Old Gate Farm and the remainder of the land had been used to construct Old Gate Avenue in the 1970s. The farm had previously served as one of Weston's pubs.
Other organisations
The village has a community which offers organisations which include;- Brownies
- Coffee Morning (once a month)
- Girls Brigade
- The annual 'Scarecrow Trail'
All of these are based at the Village Hall.
A thousand years
The Domesday Book: "Weston-on-Trent is spelt as Westune or Westone in the Domesday Book. Weston is listed amongst the small proportion of manors that are owned directly by the king.
|
| — Note: Berewicks (outlying estates) of this manor, at that time, included Aston-on-Trent Aston-on-Trent Aston-on-Trent is a Derbyshire village, situated in the English East Midlands, near Derby. It is adjacent to Weston-on-Trent and is near to Chellaston. It is very close to the border with Leicestershire.... and Shardlow Shardlow Shardlow is a village in Derbyshire, England about 8 km southeast of Derby and 12 km southwest of Nottingham. It is part of the civil parish of Shardlow and Great Wilne, and the district of South Derbyshire. It is also very close to the border with Leicestershire which follows the River Trent, ... . Earlier evidence dated 1009 place Weston on Trent at the head of an estate which went as far as the Derwent River Derwent, Derbyshire The Derwent is a river in the county of Derbyshire, England. It is 66 miles long and is a tributary of the River Trent which it joins south of Derby. For half its course, the river flows through the Peak District.... and included not only Shardlow and Aston but also Wilne Great Wilne Great Wilne is a small village in Derbyshire, England on the border with Leicestershire. It is 7 miles south east of Derby. It is a village split from its church of St Chads by the river... . |
In 1009 Æþelræd Unræd
Ethelred the Unready
Æthelred the Unready, or Æthelred II , was king of England . He was son of King Edgar and Queen Ælfthryth. Æthelred was only about 10 when his half-brother Edward was murdered...
(King Ethelred the Unready) signed a charter at the Great Council which recognised the position and boundaries of Weston. The charter shows that Weston controlled the crossings of the Trent at, Weston Cliff, King's Mills and Wilne
Great Wilne
Great Wilne is a small village in Derbyshire, England on the border with Leicestershire. It is 7 miles south east of Derby. It is a village split from its church of St Chads by the river...
. These crossings controlled one of the main routes for travellers moving up or down England and was a boundary within Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
. The land was listed as eight hides at Weston upon Trent, and a hide at Morley
Morley, Derbyshire
Morley is a civil parish within the area of Erewash Borough Council in the English county of Derbyshire, north of Derby It is on the eastern side of Morley Moor, with Morley Smithy to the north. The parish church of St Matthew stands near the Tithe Barn and dovecote of Morley Hall...
, Smalley
Smalley, Derbyshire
Smalley is a village on the main A608 Heanor to Derby road in Derbyshire in the East Midlands of England.Its name came from Anglo-Saxon Smæl-lēah = "narrow woodland clearing"...
, Ingleby
Ingleby, Derbyshire
Ingleby is a hamlet and civil parish in South Derbyshire, England. Situated on the south of the River Trent on a rise between Stanton by Bridge and Repton, Ingleby contains the privately owned John Thompson public house and the Ingleby Art Gallery....
, Crich
Crich
Crich is a village in Derbyshire in England. It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway Village, and at the summit of Crich Hill above, a Memorial Tower for those of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died in battle, particularly in World War I.Built in 1923 on the site of an...
and Kidsley. This land was then given to Morcar
Morcar (died 1015)
Morcar was a thane of King Æthelred the Unready. He was given lands in Derbyshire in 1009 including Weston-on-Trent, Crich and Smalley by King Æthelred, 1011 and 1012. He was also given the freedom from the three common burdens. He and his brother were murdered in 1015...
, the King's chief minister, and he was unusually given rights that were normally reserved for the King alone. He was given the responsibility for justice and exemption from the Trinoda necessitas
Trinoda necessitas
Trinoda necessitas is a Latin term used to refer to a "threefold tax" in Anglo-Saxon times. Subjects of an Anglo-Saxon king were required to yield three services: bridge-bote , burgh-bote , and fyrd-bote...
, he alone could decide a fate of life or death without the need of the authority of the King or his sheriff. Morcar was given further lands in Derbyshire. In 1011 he was given 5 hides at what (maybe) Mickleover
Mickleover
Mickleover is a suburb located two miles west of the city centre and is the most westerly suburb of the City of Derby in the United Kingdom.-History:...
and in 1012, two more at Eckington. Weston again come under the control of Æþelræd Unræd, when Morcar and his brother were murdered by Eadric in 1015. Later it was given to Ælfgar
Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia
Ælfgar was son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia,by his well-known wife Godgifu . He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on the latter's death in 1057....
, the Earl of Mercia
Earl of Mercia
Earl of Mercia was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. During this period the earldom covered the lands of the old Kingdom of Mercia in the English Midlands....
, but he lost this at the Norman Conquest. See the inset box for Weston's entry in Domesday.
Sometime after 1086, King William I
William I of England
William I , also known as William the Conqueror , was the first Norman King of England from Christmas 1066 until his death. He was also Duke of Normandy from 3 July 1035 until his death, under the name William II...
gave the manor of Weston to Hugh d'Avranches
Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester
Hugh d'Avranches , also known as le Gros and Lupus was the first Earl of Chester and one of the great magnates of early Norman England.-Early career:...
, who was later to become the first Earl of Chester
Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs-apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of Prince of Wales.- Honour of Chester :The...
. Hugh in 1093 gifted the manor to Chester Abbey and sometime around the turn of the century they gave Weston to the Monastery of St Werburgh which he had just founded at Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...
.
In 1215, King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
signed another charter concerning the ownership of Weston. He confirmed to the Abbots of Chester that the soke of Weston were free of all suits to counties or hundreds. This was in the same year as the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...
when King John had agreed to expel the local Sheriff, Philip Marc
Philip Marc
Philip Marc was a High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests in 1208. Marc has been proposed as a candidate for the role of Sheriff of Nottingham in the legend ofRobin Hood.-Biography:...
, under pressures from his Barons. It should be noted that Marc remained the sheriff and left lands at nearby Chellaston
Chellaston
Chellaston is a suburb of the City of Derby, which is in the East Midlands in England in the United Kingdom. It is on a natural hill, and has recently expanded due to several new housing estates....
to his son.
Treason
In 1603, Weston-on-Trent was awarded by James IJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
to Charles Paget
Charles Paget (conspirator)
Charles Paget was a Roman Catholic conspirator, involved in the Babington plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England.He was also a double agent working for Sir Francis Walsingham....
who also gave him a pension of £200 a year. This is unusual as the previous monarch had threatened to have him assassinated in France as he refused to return to face the charges against him. He was found guilty of his involvement in the Babington plot
Babington Plot
The Babington Plot was a Catholic plot in 1586 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth, a Protestant, and put Mary, Queen of Scots, a Catholic, on the English throne. It led to the execution of Mary. The long-term goal was an invasion by the Spanish forces of King Philip II and the Catholic league in...
. It was Charles Paget, who Mary, Queen of Scots had written to from her imprisonment in code; this letter was part of the evidence that caused her execution.
In 1633 James I granted the manor of Weston on Trent to Antony Roper and it is believed that this is when Weston Hall's construction started.
At the start of the English civil war
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
s (in 1642) soldiers who were based at Weston Hall attacked Royalists who were based on the south side of the river. Some Parliamentary soldiers were reputedly buried in Weston Churchyard in 1644 after a battle at King's Mill when Sir John Gell
Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet
Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet was a Parliamentarian politician and military figure in the English Civil War.-Background:...
took 200 royalist prisoners.
The Roper family sold Weston Hall in 1649 and it was never completed. Bricked up doorways can be observed at first and second storeys where presumably the rest of the building was intended to be. The hall was bought by Robert Holden who passed it to his son Reverend Charles Edward Holden whose son was Edward Anthony Holden
Edward Anthony Holden
Edward Anthony Holden was a landowner who lived at Aston Hall, in Aston upon Trent, Derbyshire. He inherited land and bought more starting in 1833. He was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1838/9...
.
In 1745 the young pretender
Charles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
advanced as far as nearby Swarkestone
Swarkestone
Swarkestone is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England.Swarkestone has a very old village church, a full cricket pitch, the Crewe and Harpur pub, a canal with locks, moorings and canalside tea-rooms...
. Local records show that monies were found to not only repair ye town musquet but also money to charge it. Two other parishioners were given three quearts of ale to keep watch for the rebels from the church tower whilst a third was despatched to Derby.
In September 1770, the canal which had been started by James Brindley
James Brindley
James Brindley was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th century.-Early life:...
reached Weston where goods could be moved the short distance from the canal to the river and vice versa. Much of this building still remains and Weston's lock, two canal bridges and several mileposts are listed by English Heritage.
The railway
Less than a century later, the village was again redesigned with several houses demolished, large earth works and roads were diverted to allow the railway to be opened in 1873 which "cut through the heart of the village isolating the south side from the north of the village".The railway revolution initially happened outside Weston taking off in the area when three companies and their corresponding lines joined together to form the Midlands Railway Company
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
. The company was an amalgamation of different lines from Derby to Nottingham, to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
and to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
. Business was good and in the 1860s it was realised that traffic could be improved if there was a line to relieve the congestion if there was a line to the south of Derby. The proposers realised that there were advantages in not only following the level ground of the Trent Valley but also in capturing additional business with a new line from Melbourne. One act of Parliament allowed an old tram line route to be reused to make a line from Ashby de la Zouch to Melbourne and another act allowed a line to Stenson
Stenson, Derby
Stenson is a hamlet south of Derby on the Trent and Mersey Canal.Between Stenson and Derby itself lies the busy A50 dual-carriageway and Stenson Fields, a large housing estate built between the early 1970s and late 1990s...
. This latter route was destined to disturb the quiet of the village as the new line allowed traffic to make its way from Trent Junction, creating an express route past the central station in Derby. The route as approved by the Act went directly through the village and although there was an allowance for deviations to this route, worryingly every allowable route just cut the village at a different point. Petitions were raised by the villagers to try and influence the construction, but despite deviations being agreed the effect on the village was large and permanent. The agreements and the work meant that the line was not fully complete until 1873 after four years of excavation and construction.
Swarkestone
Swarkestone is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England.Swarkestone has a very old village church, a full cricket pitch, the Crewe and Harpur pub, a canal with locks, moorings and canalside tea-rooms...
. These new buildings replaced the lost thatched cottages, but more thatches were lost later when sparks from the locomotives set alight to others. By 1871 only just after a half of the remaining population was still working on the land. Sidings had been built in the village and trains were loaded with milk, parcel post and freight for Weston and nearby villages. Weston was again the local centre of activity with Shardlow and Aston also channeling their trade through the station at Weston.
The railway revolution substantially reduced the traffic on the rivers and canals, but at Weston there was an extended life. The mill at King's Mill was a useful source of power and was relatively close to the gypsum quarries at Chellaston and Aston on Trent. Because of this a circuitous route was devised that must have involved considerable effort. The stone once quarried was loaded onto a purpose built tramway so that the stone could be pulled to the canal near Aston. From here the stone was loaded into canal barges and moved the short distance to Weston Cliff where it was again unloaded and craned onto river barges that took the stone again on the short trip to King's Mill. Here the stone was again unloaded, ground into plaster and then sent back by the same circuitous route via the river barges to Weston Cliff and then the product was taken to Pegg's works on the canal at Derby. There was a £400 pound a year charge for the power of the mill, but the rest of this effort was achieved with animal and human effort.
The last 100 years
1937 saw a significant change in the lifestyle of the village with the arrival of piped water. This allowed a public sewer to be built and the ten council houses were given hot and cold water at a cost of under £520. The piped water supply had cost just under £50,000.There were two ferries at Weston, one at Weston Cliff and the other at King's Mill which ceased trade in 1942. This ferry crossed the river at the end of King's Mill Lane closest to Castle Donington. After the second world war Weston-on-Trent became home to the Ukrainian Youth Association (CYM) in the UK, which took over one of the camps which had been set up during the Second World War. One of these camps had hosted concerts by Vera Lynn
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
, Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
and Ivy Benson
Ivy Benson
Ivy Benson was an English musician and bandleader, who led an all-female swing band. Benson and her band rose to fame in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium, and became the BBC's resident house band.-Early years:Benson was born on 11 November 1913 in...
.
In 1980 in the build up to the Moscow Olympic games
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
, Weston-on-Trent was named by the Russians as a site of international espionage. The idea was that anti Olympic agents were being trained at the Tarasivka Ukrainian camp just outside the village by the CIA.
The last shop in Weston closed in 1998. In 2006, The Old Plough was closed and subsequently demolished. This pub had been in almost continuous operation as a victuallers since at least 1829 when Francis Henshaw operated it a combined pub and ploughmakers. At that time there were three pubs.
Climate
The climate in the area is measured at Sutton BoningtonSutton Bonington
Sutton Bonington is a village and civil parish lying along the valley of the River Soar in the Borough of Rushcliffe, south west Nottinghamshire, England. The University of Nottingham has a site just to the north of the village: Sutton Bonington Campus....
which is to the east in Nottinghamshire. The only major difference between the weather in Sutton and Weston is due to the latters location in the Trent Valley. Resulting in, as other nearby villages, regular river mists and fogs. These graph below shows average temperature and rainfall figures taken between 1971 and 2000 at the Met Office weather station on Sutton Bonington University campus..