for the last twenty years remarkably and increasingly
rapid.During the earlier years of the present century the cotton mills of Burton were so extensive as to give employ ment to several hundred hands, but since 1849 the cotton trade has been discontinued. The demands of the brewing trade of late years, both as regards space and labour, seem to have made it difficult for any competing industry to exist. At any rate it must be admitted that at the present time the town derives all its commercial prosperity from the manufacture of ale, the recognized superiority of which is in a great measure clue to the fact that the water used in its production, and obtained from wells sunk in the neighbour hood of the breweries, is impregnated with sulphate of lime derived from the gypseous deposits of the district. The brewing trade of Burton is comparatively of recent develop ment, although the brewing of superior ale within the town was undoubtedly known as one of the features of the place in the days when the abbey flourished. The trade, as distinguished from private brewing, is reckoned to have commenced about the year 1708, and forty years later it had so extended as to have found a market at St Peters burg and the Baltic ports. In the year 1796, so flourishing had the trade become that there were then in the town no fewer than nine brewing firms. That most famous of Burton ale products known as " India Pale, " or " Bitter Beer, " was first manufactured, as a beverage suited to the climate of the East, about the year 1823, and for some years India was its only market. The favour it has since obtained at home it owes to accident. A vessel carrying some hogsheads of India pale ale was lost in the channel, and its cargo sold for the benefit of the underwriters. In this way it was that bitter beer first became known as a beverage in this country, and so rapid was its popularity, that since 1828 the pale ale trade has taken the lead in the commercial transactions of the town. The development of the Burton brewing trade generally from that date to the present time has been marvellous, but especially so since 18G2 The magnitude which it has now attained may bo inferred from the following facts and statistics. There are in all some thirty breweries in the town, the largest of which are those of Messrs Bass & Co. and of Samuel Allsopp & Sons. Last year (1875) the quantity of malt mashed in the several breweries together was 737,190 quarters, to contain which in the form of ale wonld require 2,948,701 barrels of 36 gallons each. The average price per barrel being 48s., we are enabled to set down the amount of brewing business done in the town, in one year alone, at 7,000,000. A calculation has been made by which it has been found that if all the barrels (2,948,761) of ale brewed in twelve months were put end to end in a straight line, that line would measure no less than 1535 miles. The Messrs Bass & Co. alone brew 250,000 quarters per annum; S. Allsopp & Sons alone 200,000 quarters. The business premises of the former firm cover 50 acres of freehold and 100 acres of leasehold property. Traversing these premises they have six miles of railway and six locomotives their own exclusive property. They employ over 2000 men and boys, and pay in wages to employes in Burton alone about 2000 per week. S. Allsopp & Sons have also private lines of railway, extending over 10 miles. These lines, Allsopp s and Bass s and others, as they connect with the outer railway system, intersect the town at many points. The amount paid to the several railway companies (Mid land, North Staffordshire, and London and North Western) by the several brewing firms for carriage of ale in the course of 1875 for that year alone was 517,665.
The sanitary conditions of the town has been greatly improved since the passing of " Burton-upon-Trent Act, 1853." Under this Act, the town is divided into three wards, the Burton-upon-Trent Ward, the Burton Extra Ward, and the Horninglow Ward; and the local govern ment is vested in a board of commissioners, twenty-seven in number, elected by the wards. Of public works in Burton the most notable is the New Bridge over the Trent, which was erected at a cost of 20,000, and was opened for traffic on the 22d June 1864. It is 469 yards in length, and has twenty-nine arches, supported by light but solid buttresses. The old bridge, which this one superseded, was of a curved form and extremely narrow. It had thirty- four arches, and is said to have been the longest bridge in the kingdom. The new cemetery, which occupies a plot of land 12 acres in extent, is situated in the township of Stagenhill, and was constructed at a cost of 13,000. It is divided into three parts, devoted to the separate burial of members of the Church of England, of nonconforming churches, and of the Church of Home. It contains two mortuary chapels, and the house of the registrar.
Although, in some old records, Burton is styled a borough, it is certain it was not possessed of a charter of incorpora tion, nor has it yet obtained one. The police are those of the county. About five years ago the Burton Infirmary was opened, and has since been considerably enlarged. A new post-office is being erected, of dimensions suitable to the increasing growth of the town. There are three local newspapers published weekly. On the Derbyshire side of the river, and skirting its bank is the public recreation ground. The principal banking firm is the " Burton. Uttoxcter, and Ashbourne Union Bank," established 1839.
Burton is included in the diocese of Lichfield. Besides the Church of England, which has seven places of worship, there are the following denominations represented, Pres byterian, Congregational, Wesleyan, Baptist, Free Church Methodist, Primitive Methodist, and Roman Catholic. The educational interests of the town are well cared for, there being, besides board schools, a grammar school, an endowed school, and three other schools of a voluntary character.
Commensurate with the increase of trade has been the increase of population. In 1801, when the first census was taken, it was a very little over 6000. From that year onwards to 1851 it steadily but very gradually increased. The ten years ending 1861 show the first great advance, the population being then 17,358. In 1871 it had grown to 23,748, and as the increase since then has been at ths rate of over 1000 per annum, the population cannot now (1876) be less than 30,000.
BURTSCHEID, or Borcette, a town of Prussia, in the government of Aix-la-Chapclle (Aachen), and immediately to the S.E. of that city, with which it is connected by lines of houses. It occupies the slopes of a hill on the Wormfiuss, and, like Aix-la-chapelle, is famous for its mineral springs. One of these, known as the Mill-bath spring, is the hottest of Central Europe, having a tempera ture of 155Fahr. The water is employed both externally and internally, and the establishments for its use are exten sive and convenient. The town carries on the manu facture of woollen yarn and cloth, cast-iron goods, and machinery, and possesses an important trade. Burtscheid grew up round a Benedictine monastery, founded probably in the 10th century by Gregory, son of the Greek emperor Nicephorus Phocas, and brother-in-law of Otto II. of Germany, and is said to have taken its name of Porcetttm from the number of wild swine in the neighbourhood. In the 13th century the Benedictines became defunct, and a number of nuns from the convent of St Salvatorbcrg, near Aix-la-Chapelle, entered into possession. Their establish ment continued till 1802, when it was broken up by the French. Population in 1872, 10,081.
