Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a big town spanning the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. The citizens of Burton are known as "Burtonians". Burton is best known for its brewing tradition, home to over a dozen breweries in its peak. It firstly grew up in Burton-on-Trent Abbey, the monastery of Saint Modwen, and had expanded into a hectic market town by the early modern period. Even as Burton's great bridge over the Trent was in poor repair by the early 1500s it served as "a comen passage to and fro many countries to the grett releff and comfort of travellyng people", according to the abbot. The town, which had an projected population of 64,449 according to the 2001 Census, is inside the National Forest. There is an amount of confusion as to if Burton on Trent is found in the West Midlands or the East Midlands, even though all of the town centre is southwest of the River Dove, which forms the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border. This is maybe because it was previously inside the East Midlands Utility (electricity and gas) areas, and has Derbyshire postcodes (DE13-DE15). For hundreds of years, Burton on trent has been connected with the brewing industry. This is owing to the quality of the local water, which contains a high quantity of dissolved salts, largely caused by the gypsum in the surrounding hills. This allowed a greater percentage of hops, a natural preservative, to be incorporated in the beer, thus allowing the beer to be transported further afield. Much of the open land inside and in the region of the town is protected from chemical treatment to aid safeguard this water quality. The opening of the River Trent Navigation at the beginning of the 18th century allowed Burton beer to be transported to Hull, and to Prussia and on to the Baltic Sea, as well as to London where it was for sale in 1712. Some breweries opened in the second half of the 18th century to gain benefit of this trade. The Napoleonic blockade brought this to a halt, leading to an amount of consolidation and a redirection of the commerce to London and Lancashire via canals. When Burton brewers succeeded in replicating the Pale ale produced in London, the advantage of the water’s qualities allowed the expansion of the trade of Burton India Pale Ale (an ale specifically brewed to keep all through the long sea journey to India). The building of rail links to Liverpool enabled brewers to export their beer through the British Empire. Burton on trent came to dictate this trade, and at its height 25% of all beer sold in Britain was produced here. In the latter part of the 19th century there was a growth in native breweries, supplemented by outside brewing firms moving into the area so that greater than 30 breweries were recorded in 1880. Conversely at the beginning of the 20th century there was a fall in beer sales causing a lot of breweries to fold, not helped by the Liberal government’s anti-drinking policy. This time however, no fresh markets were located and as a result the breweries shrank by shutting down and consolidation from 20 in 1900 to 8 in 1928. A further procedure of mergers and buy-outs ended in three main breweries remaining by 1980: Bass, Ind Coopes and Marstons. Nowadays, just Burton Bridge brewery remains as an independent brewer. The town's association with the brewing industry is celebrated by a statue of the Burton Cooper, which is currently housed in the Coopers Square shopping centre in the centre of the town.
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Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or purely Burton, is a large town spanning the River Trent East Staffordshire, England.
For more information about Burton on Trent, visit http://www.inburton.co.uk
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