Town in Cheshire, England
Crewe
Crewe barely existed until the railway arrived in 1837. Now it builds steam engines' luxury descendants: Bentleys, by the thousand.
Key information
- County
- Cheshire
- Nation
- England
- Population
- around 70,000 (2011 Census)
- Known for
- Railway junction, Crewe Works, Bentley Motors
- Famous people
- Nick Powell, plus a long line of academy-trained footballers
- Football clubs
- Crewe Alexandra (the Railwaymen)
About Crewe
The town that trains built
Few English towns can say they were designed around a timetable. Crewe was a scatter of farmland until the Grand Junction Railway chose the spot for a junction in the 1830s, where lines to Chester, Manchester, Liverpool, Shrewsbury and Stafford could meet. Crewe station opened in 1837. In 1840 the company began building a locomotive works there, along with streets of houses for the workers. The first locomotive was completed at Crewe Works in 1843, and Columbine, an early surviving Crewe-built engine, followed in 1845. The works kept going for more than a century, turning out well over 7,000 steam locomotives. The result is a place with a grid of terraces, a railway in every direction and a reputation that has long outrun its size. Generations of travellers have changed trains at Crewe, and some have never seen the rest of the town.
From Merlin engines to Bentleys
When the steam age faded, Crewe didn't. In 1938 Rolls-Royce opened a factory on Pyms Lane, and during the Second World War it made Merlin aero engines, the power behind Spitfires and Hurricanes. That importance made the town a target for German bombers in 1940 and 1941. After the war the same site turned to cars. Bentley's post-war production moved to Crewe in 1946, and the town has been the home of the marque ever since. Continental GTs, Bentaygas and Flying Spurs are all made within a short walk of the old railway streets. So a town once known for engines that pulled people across the country is now known for cars that carry them in a good deal more comfort.
Why the football club is called the Railwaymen
Crewe Alexandra was founded in 1877 and named after Princess Alexandra of Denmark, wife of the future Edward VII. The club's nickname, the Railwaymen, nods to the town's trade, and the team plays at Gresty Road, right beside the tracks. The Alex are best known for something other than trophies: producing footballers. Under manager Dario Gradi, who took charge in 1983 and stayed for 24 years, the club's academy became one of the most admired in the country. Players who came through or passed through Crewe include Danny Murphy, Dean Ashton, Seth Johnson, Rob Jones and Neil Lennon. Murphy, Ashton and Lennon all went on to play at the top level, which is a remarkable record for a club of Crewe's size.
A mansion older than the railway
Crewe Hall is proof that the area had grand history before the first locomotive. The Jacobean house was built in the early 1600s for the Crewe family, whose name the town carries. A serious fire in 1866 gutted much of the interior. It was rebuilt in rich Victorian style by the architect E. M. Barry, who also designed the Royal Opera House's Floral Hall in London. The hall still stands in its parkland, now run as a hotel. The mansion makes a neat contrast with the railway town on its doorstep, since one story belongs to the landed gentry and the other to the industrial revolution.
Where the tilting train lives
Rail history is easy to find in Crewe. Crewe Heritage Centre sits beside the main line and is home to the Advanced Passenger Train prototype, Britain's ambitious tilting train of the 1970s and 1980s. The APT-P entered passenger service briefly in December 1981 and returned to passenger operation in 1984, but the planned production fleet was never built. It was a forerunner of the Pendolino trains that later ran on the same West Coast tracks. The heritage site also preserves signalling equipment from the days when Crewe's junctions were controlled by a vast tangle of levers and wires. Steel arches, sidings and a busy station still mark the centre of town. Crewe is also a place where new things are made. The town's story has always been about engineering, and the surrounding Cheshire countryside makes the factories feel all the more surprising.