Tag: Transport

• A day from London

  

  Leave Charing Cross at dawn and travel for twelve hours. In 1750 that reached 5% of Great Britain; in the 1830s 19%; by rail in 1850 at least 47%; in 1910 at least 72%; today 97%. I rebuilt five eras of roads and railways to map the edge of the day.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Britain, cities, Georgian, history, London, Present day, railways, Roads, Transport, UK, Victorian

• What Britain drives: makes, models and colours, county by county

  

  I read all 42,728,066 MOT tests from 2025 to map the most popular car makes, models and colours in every county and postcode area. The average British car is a blue Ford Fiesta, Scotland prefers white, and Shetland loves Toyotas.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories, Games & other interests

  Britain, Ireland, population, Present day, Scotland, Transport, UK

• The turnpike towns: did the turnpike make the town grow?

  

  England’s 1,245 turnpike trusts were founded in a rush in the 1750s and 1760s, and 10,927 of their milestones and toll houses are still recorded. But did the towns on the turnpikes grow faster? Not that I can see.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories

  Britain, cities, England, Georgian, history, industry, OpenStreetMap, Roads, Towns and cities, Transport, Wikidata

• Did Beeching Kill Your Town?

  

  3,331 railway stations closed in Britain between 1955 and 1975, and 643 towns in England and Wales lost every one. Size for size, they are a little poorer and more car-bound today, but they did not fall off a cliff.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories

  Census, cities, history, industry, Persistence test, population, Poverty and wealth, Present day, railways, Transport, Twentieth century, UK

• Canal Mania: Did the Canal Towns Boom, and Do They Still Lead?

  

  England’s canal towns grew about 4.0 times over between 1801 and 1861. But they were rising before the canals came, and today they are bigger, not richer.

  Tristan Hotham

  Data stories

  Britain, Census, cities, England, Georgian, history, industry, Persistence test, Poverty and wealth, Present day, Towns and cities, Transport