Roads and Music

British roads cover more than 262,300 miles. The earliest roads were constructed by the Romans, when they invaded the UK, and were built primarily for military purposes. The majority of those roads have been lost, but a select few have been incorporated into the roads that we use today. 

 

After the Romans, it was from the Middle Ages to the 17th century that new roads were constructed. In the 17th century, travellers paid tolls for the upkeep of the road; these were authorised by the Highways Act 1663. This Act was replaced by the Turnpike Trust in 1706, which originated from individual Acts of Parliaments. These allowed trusts to collect road tolls, with the profits from the tolls being split between the shareholders and the costs of the maintaining of the road. Toll gates were built where the tolls were collected.

Most of the road networks that we know today were developed during the 1950s and mid-60s. The first motorway, the Preston Bypass was opened during 1958. The following year saw the first major motorway, and the M1 opened. During the 1930s it was first proposed that a new road be built to connect London to South Wales. The first section, the Chiswick Flyover in London was opened in 1959, with further sections of the motorway, the M4, being opened during 1961, 1963, 1966 and finally being completed during 1996.

All these roads have one thing in common – they are laid with Tarmac. Swansea can boast a connection with this road substance.

During the 1820s the Scottish engineer, John McAdam devised a process called “Macadamisation”, which was an economical method of constructing roads using single-sized crushed stones, laid on small angular stones in a shallow groove and then compacted thoroughly. A top layer of stone dust was used to bind the stones together. However, these roads were prone to rutting and generating creating dust. It was not until 1901, that things changed. Enter Edgar Purnell Hooley.

Edgar Purnell Hooley (left) seems to have been written out of Swansea history. Edgar was born in Swansea in 1860. At the time of the 1861 census, the 10-month old Edgar, son of Charles and Elizabeth Hooley resided at 58 Brunswick Street. By the 1871 census, the now widowed Elizabeth was living in Neath; her occupation is listed as Licensed Victualler, while Edgar now aged 10 was a scholar. It was in Neath that Edgar now a surveyor entered a business partnership with an architect named Francis Lean, forming Lean and Hooley – the business was dissolved in 1881.

1889 saw Edgar being appointed County Surveyor to Nottinghamshire County Council. It was during 1901, that Edgar whilst passing the tar works noticed that some tar had accidently spilt on the roadway, and in an attempt to reduce the mess gravel had been added. Seeing that the road was not so dusty, Edgar developed and patented Tarmac in 1902, registering Tar Macadam in 1903. With some further modifications with tar, Radcliffe Road was the first road to be tarmaced in the UK.

Road Traffic Act, 1934, was introduced by the Minister of Transport, Leslie Hore-Belisha (right). The Act was made in the year, where there a record number of road casualties, 7,434 deaths and 231,603 injuries.  Speed limits were raised by the Motor Car Act, 1903, to 20 mph from 14 mph, by the time of the Road Traffic Act, 1930 controversially all speed limits had been removed.  The 1934, Act required that new drivers should take a test before they could obtain a licence, commencing 1^st June 1935. 

Section 18, of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, saw the introduction of the law for the Pedestrian Crossing, later called Zebra cross, after the white strips were added.  

The name of which is generally attributed to James Callaghan (left), who visited a Transport and Road Research Laboratory during 1948, where the new idea for safety for the pedestrian crossing.  After seeing the black and white designs, Callaghan, remarked that it reminded him of a zebra.

The following year, 1949, a zebra crossing was experimented at 1,000 sites around the country. October 1951, the first zebra crossing was officially opened at Slough. 

One notable zebra crossing, English Heritage has given this crossing Grade II listed building status, is the crossing located at Abbey Road, London, which was made famous by the 1969 Beatles album, Abbey Road.

Abbey Road Studios (left) were founded during 1931, by the Gramophone Company, during the 1960s and 70s, the Beatles used the studios to record.  

However, the facilities of the studios, were used by Swansea musicians, including Peter Ham (right) and his band Badfinger, who recording two albums, No Dice, 1970 and Straight Up, 1971