William Stenson
Encyclopedia
Coleorton
Coleorton is a village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the A512 road approximately 2 miles east of Ashby de la Zouch...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
.
Background
Little is currently known about Stenson's background. Detail of his parentage remains unknown and neither is it known where he would have received his training as an engineer. It is known that he was a non-conformist, being buried in the old Baptist cemetery at Hugglescote
Hugglescote
Hugglescote is a village in North West Leicestershire, England. It formerly formed a civil parish with the adjacent settlement of Donington le Heath, though this was dissolved in 1936, when the area joined the urban district of Coalville...
and also that he is said to have been born at Coleorton
Coleorton
Coleorton is a village and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England. It is situated on the A512 road approximately 2 miles east of Ashby de la Zouch...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. The connection of his family with Coleorton is supported by a baptismal entry for one William Stenson of Coleorton Moor which occurs in the register of Packington
Packington
Packington is a village and civil parish in the district of North West Leicestershire. It is situated close to the A42 road and the town of Ashby de la Zouch. The population of Packington according to the 2001 UK census is 738...
Baptist Church for 1770, though this would relate to an adult baptism and therefore not that of Stenson the engineer.
It has also been suggested that 'Stenson' would have been a variant spelling of 'Stinson', the Stinsons being a very prominent family of tradesmen in this district. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century for example, several of this family were proprietors of businesses in the neighbouring village of Whitwick, which included a tallow candle factory, mineral water factory and butcher's shop.
Founding of Whitwick Colliery and birth of the town of Coalville
In the 1820s, he started to sink a mine shaft on a farm alongside a track known as Long Lane in the parish of Whitwick
Whitwick
Whitwick is a village in Leicestershire, England and is an ancient parish which formerly included the equally historic villages of Thringstone and Swannington. It was an important manor in the Middle Ages, which once included Bardon and Markfield, parts of Hugglescote, Donington le Heath, Ratby,...
. His boring, in what was then a remote wilderness, proved the presence of coal and led to the growth of an industrial settlement around the site of the colliery which is now known as the modern town of Coalville
Coalville
Coalville is a town in North West Leicestershire, England, with a population estimated in 2003 to be almost 33,000. It is situated on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junction 22 of the M1 motorway where the A511 meets the A50 between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and...
.
Soon after founding the Whitwick
Whitwick
Whitwick is a village in Leicestershire, England and is an ancient parish which formerly included the equally historic villages of Thringstone and Swannington. It was an important manor in the Middle Ages, which once included Bardon and Markfield, parts of Hugglescote, Donington le Heath, Ratby,...
Colliery, when visiting the north-east of England, Stenson saw the new Stockton and Darlington Railway
Stockton and Darlington Railway
The Stockton and Darlington Railway , which opened in 1825, was the world's first publicly subscribed passenger railway. It was 26 miles long, and was built in north-eastern England between Witton Park and Stockton-on-Tees via Darlington, and connected to several collieries near Shildon...
and at once realised the great potential of this revolutionary method of transport. He surveyed land between his colliery and Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
to choose a suitable route and then, with the backing of his partners, formed the Leicester and Swannington Railway
Leicester and Swannington Railway
The Leicester and Swannington Railway was one of England's first railways, being opened on 17 July 1832 to bring coal from collieries in west Leicestershire to Leicester.-Overview:...
Company. He contacted George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
, who invested £2500 in the enterprise and Stephenson's son, Robert
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
, was appointed the railway's engineer.
Stenson - often referred to as 'the father of Coalville
Coalville
Coalville is a town in North West Leicestershire, England, with a population estimated in 2003 to be almost 33,000. It is situated on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junction 22 of the M1 motorway where the A511 meets the A50 between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and...
' - lived to the grand old age of ninety and witnessed the birth of the new town. His house (now demolished) was near the site of the present day North West Leicestershire
North West Leicestershire
North West Leicestershire is a local government district in Leicestershire, England. Its main towns are Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Coalville.The district contains East Midlands Airport, which operates flights to the rest of Britain and to various places in Europe...
Municipal Offices. He was buried in the old Baptist cemetery off Grange Road, Hugglescote
Hugglescote
Hugglescote is a village in North West Leicestershire, England. It formerly formed a civil parish with the adjacent settlement of Donington le Heath, though this was dissolved in 1936, when the area joined the urban district of Coalville...
, where his tomb has recently been restored.