Exploring Crewe - A Guided Tour of Crewe in Cheshire

While you’re out exploring new places, don’t forget to explore what’s right under your nose. Today we take a run around my local town of Crewe in Cheshire. Prior to the 1830s Crewe was just a tiny hamlet and then the Grand Junction Railway chose it as the site for their locomotive works and so Crewe grew as an engineering hub with the Locomotive works, Coach Works, Steel Works and then later Rolls Royce made a home here.

Rail Hub

You may have just passed through on the train, it has rail links with Liverpool and Manchester, Birmingham and London and into Wales through to Holyhead. The railway arrived in 1837 along with its hotel the Crewe Arms Hotel. Queen Victoria was a regular visitor on her way to Balmoral in Scotland. They built a tunnel from the station to the hotel so she could get between the two in private.

The Four Eagles

Crewe is known for its 4 eagles which used to adorn parts of the Crewe Works. These came with scrap from the collapsed Dee Bridge at Chester but were too good to be melted down and so were kept. Two of these now reside at the Crewe Heritage Centre another stands at the entrance to the electric depot not far from the park and the fourth at Eagle Bridge Medical Centre on Dunwoody Way just yards from where the Eagle Bridge used to stand crossing the Chester Line and dividing the locomotive works on one side to the coach works on the other.

Rolls Royce and Bentley

Rolls Royce built their factory here in 1938 to help with the war effort building Merlin Engines for aircraft here. After the war they transitioned to making cars under the Rolls Royce and Bentley Badges. Many skilled craftsmen still work here today and lots famous people will have visited over the years to spec out their cars. In more recent time the brands have been divided but the factory remains to this day as the home of Bentley Motor Cars.

Lyceum Theatre

Our route takes us past the theatre, the first building dated to 1881 and was built on a disused catholic chapel. The well from the chapel is still under the stage in the current building I believe. Famous visitors to the theatre included Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin, unfortunately that building burnt down in 1910 and was replaced with the current building the following year.

Queens Park

Our route takes us through Queens Park which is beautiful. The 44 acre grade 2 listed park dating to the 1880s includes a boating lake, cafe and play area and is well worth a visit.

The Route

Our route today is just under 7 miles. Starting at the park then heading through to the Bentley factory at Pyms Lane before heading through Leighton Brook Park and on into the town centre. We pause at the Lyceum theatre, Town Hall and Heritage Centre before heading past the remains of Christchurch and the original workers houses from Crewe Works at Betley Street and on to the site of the Eagle Bridge and Crewe Works on Dunwoody Way before heading back to the park via the Valley.