Burton upon Trent
| |
|---|---|
| Town | |
  Burton upon Trent Location withinStaffordshire | |
| Population | 76,270 (2021 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SK245225 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town (2011 census BUASD) | |
| Post town | BURTON-ON-TRENT |
| Postcode district | DE13-DE15 |
| Dialling code | 01283 |
| Police | Staffordshire |
| Fire | Staffordshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
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Burton upon Trent, also known asBurton-on-Trent or simplyBurton, is a market town in the borough ofEast Staffordshire in the county ofStaffordshire, England, close to the border withDerbyshire. At the2021 census, it had a population of 76,270. The demonym for residents of the town isBurtonian. Burton is located on theRiver Trent 11 miles (18 km) south-west ofDerby and 20 miles (32 km) south of thePeak District National Park.
Burton isknown for its brewing.[1] The town grew up aroundBurton Abbey. Burton Bridge was also the site of two battles, in1322, whenEdward II defeated the rebelEarl of Lancaster and in1643 when royalists captured the town during theFirst English Civil War.William Lord Paget and his descendants were responsible for extending the manor house within the abbey grounds and facilitating the extension of the River Trent Navigation to Burton. Burton grew into a busymarket town by the early modern period.
The town is served byBurton-on-Trent railway station. The town was also the start and terminus of the now defunctSouth Staffordshire Line which linked it toLichfield,Walsall,Dudley andStourbridge.
The name Burton upon Trent derives from the meaning "a settlement at a fortified place" along theRiver Trent and dates from the 8th century.[2]
According to the town's charter the official name of the town is Burton upon Trent.[3] However, the form 'Burton-on-Trent' is used for thepost town byRoyal Mail and forthe town's railway station.
Rykneld Street, aRoman road, ran north-east through what later became the parish of Burton, linking settlements atLetocetum (Wall), nearLichfield andDerventio (Little Chester) nearDerby.[4]
Between 666 and 669Wilfrid, the pro-Roman bishop of York, exercised episcopal functions inMercia, whose Christian king,Wulfhere, gave him land in various places, on which he establishedmonasteries. Burton was almost certainly one of the sites: the name Andresey given to an island in the river Trent near the parish church means "Andrew's isle" and refers to a church there dedicated toSt Andrew.[4] The island is associated with the legend ofSt Modwen or Modwenna, an Irish abbess.[5] It is likely that any surviving religious house would have been destroyed during theDanish incursion into the area in 874. Place names indicate Scandinavian influence, and several personal names of Scandinavian origin were still used in the area in the early 12th century.[4] In 1003 aBenedictineabbey was established[6] on a new site on the west bank of the Trent at Burton byWulfric Spott, athegn. He is known to have been buried in the abbeycloister in 1010, alongside his wife.
Burton Abbey was mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086, where it was said to control lands inAppleby Magna inLeicestershire, andMickleover,Winshill,Stapenhill,Coton in the Elms,Ca(u)ldwell (in Stapenhill Parish) andTicknall, all then inDerbyshire. The monastery was the most important in Staffordshire and by the 1530s had the highest revenue. It is known that there were frequent Royal visits to the abbey, including those byWilliam I,Henry II andEdward I. In the 12th and 13th centuries, streets were laid out off the west side of High Street, the earliest being New Street, which stretched from the abbey gates towards the line ofRyknild Street. Horninglow Street at the north end of High Street was part of a major east–west route using the bridge over the river.[7]
A royal charter was granted on 12 April 1200 byKing John to the Abbot to hold a market in Burton every Thursday.[8] This charter was later renewed byKing Henry III andKing Edward IV.[9] There were four annual fairs for trade in horses, cattle and produce: onCandlemas Day, 5 April,Holy Thursday, and 29 October (the feast of St Modwen) although as in other British towns this practice has died out.
While Burton's great bridge over the Trent was in poor repair by the early 16th century, it served as "a comen passage to and fro many countries to the grett releff and comfort of travellyng people", according to theabbot.[10] The bridge was the site of two battles,first in 1322 whenEdward II defeated the rebelEarl of Lancaster andalso in 1643 when theRoyalists captured the town during theFirst English Civil War.
UnderHenry VIII the abbey wasdissolved in 1539, to be refounded in 1541 as acollegiate church for a dean (who had been the last abbot) and fourprebendaries. It was again dissolved in 1545 and granted toSir William Paget. Paget began planning to expand the Manor House within the abbey precincts, known to have existed since at least 1514, into a grand mansion. To provide the materials for this project, the old abbey buildings were to be cannibalised. There were major alterations to the house over the next three centuries. Sir William died in 1563.
In 1585 it was suggested thatMary, Queen of Scots might stay at Burton whileTutbury Castle was cleaned, but it was said that it was "a ruinous house, the buildings scattered and adjoining a very poor town, full of bad neighbours".[11] The Paget family was implicated inCatholic plots againstQueen Elizabeth I, the manor house along with most of the family estates were confiscated, with the Manor House leased to Richard Almond in 1612.[12] Parts of the abbey church may have been retained forparish use, however these were demolished and replaced by a new church in 1719–1726. Some fragments remain of thechapter house nearby, but little of the rest remains. Two buildings were converted to residential use—a part known as theManor House and the formerInfirmary. The Infirmary became known as The Abbey and is now an inn.
The Paget family's lands and title were restored to them byJames I in 1604 and they owned considerable estates around Burton for over 150 years.[13] In 1699,William Lord Paget obtained anAct of Parliament to extend navigation on theRiver Trent fromNottingham up to Burton, but nothing was immediately done. In 1711 Lord Paget leased his rights toGeorge Hayne, who in 1712 opened the River Trent Navigation and constructed a wharf and other buildings in the precinct of the old abbey.[14] This led to the development of Burton as the major town forbrewing and exportingbeer, as it allowed Burton beer to be shipped toHull, and on to theBaltic Sea andPrussia, as well as toLondon, where it was being sold in 1712. A number of breweries opened in the second half of the 18th century. TheNapoleonic blockade badly affected overseas trade, leading to some consolidation and a redirection of the trade to London andLancashire via canals. When Burton brewers succeeded in replicating thepale ale produced in London, the advantage of the water's qualities, in a process namedBurtonisation allowed the development of the trade of BurtonIndia Pale Ale (an ale specially brewed to keep during the long sea voyage toIndia). New rail links toLiverpool enabled brewers to export their beer throughout theBritish Empire.
Burton came to dominate the brewing trade,[15] and at its height one quarter of all beer sold in Britain was produced here. In the second half of the 19th century, there was a growth in native breweries, supplemented by outside brewing companies moving into the town, so that over 30 breweries were recorded in 1880.[16] However at the beginning of the 20th century there was a slump in beer sales, causing many breweries to fail; the industry suffered from theLiberal government's anti-drinking attitudes. This time no new markets were found and so the number of breweries shrank by closure and consolidation from 20 in 1900 to 8 in 1928. After further mergers and buy-outs, just three main breweries remained by 1980:Bass,Ind Coope andMarston's.
Burton was home to the Peel family, who played a significant role in theIndustrial Revolution. The family home is still visible in the town as Peel House on Lichfield Street. Her MajestyQueen Elizabeth II visited the town on 3 July 2002 during herGolden Jubilee celebrations.
There are three tiers of local government covering Burton, atcounty,district andparish level:Staffordshire County Council,East Staffordshire Borough Council, and a number of parish councils covering different parts of the urban area. There is a parish called Burton which just covers the central part of the town.
Burton is the administrative centre for the borough ofEast Staffordshire and forms part of theBurton and Uttoxeter constituency. The localMember of Parliament (MP) is theLabour Party'sJacob Collier, who has represented the constituency since the2024 general election, winning the seat fromKate Kniveton of theConservative Party.[17]
Burton upon Trent was anancient parish, which historically straddled the boundary between Staffordshire andDerbyshire. The parish was divided into fivetownships, beingWinshill in Derbyshire, andBranston,Horninglow,Stretton and a Burton upon Trent township (covering the central part of the parish) in Staffordshire. The rural parts of the Burton township became a separate township called Burton Extra in the sixteenth century. Such townships were all reclassified ascivil parishes in 1866.[18][19]
Burton had been anancient borough from the twelfth century, giving some degree of self-government for the town, but by the seventeenth century its borough corporation had ceased to operate and its borough status lapsed, with the town being administered by the parishvestry andmanorial courts instead. More urban forms of local government returned to the town in 1779 when a body ofimprovement commissioners was established, initially just covering the Burton township. Their district was extended in 1853 to take in parts of the townships of Burton Extra and Horninglow, and again in 1878 to take in the rest of Burton Extra, more of Horninglow (including the village), parts of Branston and Winshill, and part of the neighbouring Derbyshire parish ofStapenhill.[20]
Later in 1878 the improvement commissioners' district was incorporated as amunicipal borough called Burton upon Trent.[20] When elected county councils were created in 1889 boroughs were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries, and so the Derbyshire parts of the borough (Stapenhill and Winshill) were transferred to Staffordshire.[21] Six years later theLocal Government Act 1894 said that parishes could no longer straddle borough boundaries, and so the parts of Stapenhill parish outside the borough were transferred to the neighbouring parishes ofBretby andDrakelow, the rural parts of Winshill went toNewton Solney, the rural part of Horninglow became a new parish calledOutwoods and the parts of Branston inside the borough were transferred to Burton Extra.[22] The fiveurban parishes inside the borough were then Burton upon Trent, Burton Extra, Horninglow, Stapenhill and Winshill, which were amalgamated into a single Burton upon Trent parish in 1904.[20]
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In 1891 the council was given the former St Paul's Institute and Liberal Club on King Edward Place, which had been built in 1878. They substantially extended the building to serve as their headquarters, renaming itTown Hall.[23]
Burton was elevated to become acounty borough in 1901, making it independent from Staffordshire County Council, having reached the 50,000 population required.[20] It never substantially exceeded the population of 50,000, and with a population of 50,201 in the 1971 census it was the second smallest county borough in England afterCanterbury. TheLocal Government Commission for England recommended in the 1960s that it be demoted to a non-county borough within Staffordshire, but this was not implemented. Under theLocal Government Act 1972, the town became on 1 April 1974, anunparished area in the new district ofEast Staffordshire.
The town became entirely parished on 1 April 2003, when the parishes ofAnglesey,Brizlincote,Burton,Horninglow and Eton,Shobnall,Stapenhill, andWinshill were created. Burton parish itself only covers the town centre, with the other parishes covering various suburbs.[24][25] The urban area now also extends into the adjoining parishes of Branston, Outwoods and Stretton, which had all been outside the pre-1974 county borough.[26]
Burton is about 109 miles (175 km) north west ofLondon,[27] about 30 miles north east ofBirmingham, the UK's second largest city[28] and about 23 miles east of thecounty townStafford.[29] It is at the easternmost border of the county of Staffordshire with Derbyshire, its suburbs and the course of the River Trent forming part of the county boundary. It is also near the south-eastern terminus of theTrent and Mersey Canal.Burton lies within the northern boundary of theNational Forest.[30]The town centre is on the western bank of the River Trent in a valley bottom; its average elevation is about 50 metres above sea level; the village ofWinshill and the suburb ofStapenhill rise to 130 m and 100 m respectively.[31]
Burton became a centre for the brewing industry due in part to the quality of the local water, which contains a high proportion of dissolved salts, predominantly caused by thegypsum in the surrounding hills. This allowed a greater proportion of hops, a natural preservative, to be included in the beer, thereby allowing the beer to be shipped further afield. Much of the open land within and around the town is protected from chemical treatment[citation needed] to help preserve this water quality.
There is some confusion as to whether Burton is in theWest Midlands or theEast Midlands, even though the entire urban centre is southwest of theRiver Dove, which forms the Derbyshire/Staffordshire boundary. Being in Staffordshire, the town officially lies within the West Midlands region. Several factors contribute to the ambiguity of the town's status. The local vernacular shares more similarities withEast Midlands English thanWest Midlands English; the town was formerly within the East Midlands Utility (electricity/gas) areas and has Derby postcodes (DE13-DE15). However, it is served by theBBC Midlands (West Midlands) region based inBirmingham and before consolidation exercises formed part of theITV Central (West) region, again based in Birmingham.
The suburbs of Winshill, Brizlincote and Stapenhill to the southeast of the town lie along a green-belt area, in place to stop uncontrolled development which could cause Burton to, in time, merge with neighbouringSwadlincote. The majority of this green belt lies in Derbyshire, with small tracts within Staffordshire.[32]
The town had an estimated population of 43,784 in the2001 Census.Stapenhill andWinshill were treated separately and together had a further population of 21,985 according to this source.[33] According to the 2001 census,[34]
In the 2021 Census, the population of Burton was recorded at 76,270.[35]
The town's ethnicity composition was recorded at:
The town's religious composition was recorded at:
For centuries brewing was Burton's major trade, and it is still an important part of its economy.
The town is currently home to eight breweries;Coors Brewers Ltd: formerly Bass Brewers Ltd, and now the UK arm ofMolson Coors Brewing Company – which producesCarling andWorthington Bitter;Marston's, Thompson and Evershed plc, bought by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries now renamedMarstons plc. The Marston's Brewery produces its own brands, draught Marston's Pedigree, draught Hobgoblin and also draughtBass under licence fromInBev.
Burton Bridge Brewery is based in Bridge Street, with six pubs in and around Burton. It produces a number of traditional beers including Bridge Bitter, Stairway to Heaven, Damson Porter and Golden Delicious. Tower Brewery is amicrobrewery off Wharf Road. Old Cottage Brewery is based in Hawkins Lane. Its beers include Oak Ale and Halcyon Daze. Black Hole Brewery is based at the Imex Centre. Gates Brewery microbrewery is in Reservoir Road.
Burton is also the corporate headquarters of the pub operatorsPunch Taverns plc andSpirit Pub Company which was brought by Greene King so doesn't have a headquarters there anymore, which were spun out of Bass in 1997. In addition, the White Shield microbrewery remains open alongside theNational Brewery Centre (formerly the Bass Museum of Brewing).[36]
A by-product of the brewing industry is theMarmite factory in the town. The original Marmite factory (now demolished) was at the corner of Cross Street and Duke Street before they moved to the current factory on Wellington Road in the 1960s. The production of Marmite has in turn generated the production ofBovril. Both are owned by multinational companyUnilever.[37][38]
Burton is also home toCAMRA's National Breweriana Auction that takes place each October in the Town Hall.
Eatough's (sometimes Etough's) was a shoemaking firm from Leicestershire that opened a factory in Burton Road, Branston in 1920. It was the first British shoe factory to introduce music in the workplace (1936), and washable children's sandals ('Plastisha' 1957), but it closed in 1989 as a result of competition from cheap imports.
Briggs of Burton (formerly S. Briggs & Co.) is a Burton-based brewery and process engineering company established in 1732 by Samuel Briggs. Famous for its manufacturing innovation and craftsmanship across the world, Briggs moved from its works in New Street to Derby Street having taken over its rival Robert Morton DG in 1988.[39] The former site is now occupied by the Octagon Shopping Centre.
Established in 1740,Thornewill and Warham was a metal hardware and industrial metalwork manufacturer, later an engineering company that became a notable producer of steam engines and railway locomotives. It also constructed two footbridges across the River Trent in Burton. It too was acquired by S. Briggs & Co, in 1929.
A market has been held on Thursdays in Burton since a charter was granted to the abbot by King John[8] on 12 April 1200. Burton today has an indoor and an outdoor market, which are owned by East Staffordshire Borough Council.[40] In 2011 the council contracted out responsibility for market stall rentals to private letting agency Quarterbridge.[41][42] The Market Hall was built in 1883 from designs by Dixon & Moxon ofBarnsley and opens from Tuesday to Saturday.[43] A fish market was added to the hall in 1925.[44] The outdoor market is held every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8.30am until 4pm.[43]
TheCoopers Square shopping centre is the principal shopping area, opened in 1970 bythe Princess Alexandra but since considerably upgraded with a roof being added in the mid-1990s. The older Riverside Shopping Centre (known as Bargates) is now demolished.
An additional shopping centre isThe Octagon Shopping Centre on New Street, constructed in the mid-1980s. There is another, much smaller shopping centre,Burton Place Shopping Centre, which was built in 1986 and originally known as Worthington Walk. Also located in the town centre isMiddleway Retail Park, which includes aCineworld multiplex cinema,Mecca Bingo,Matalan and restaurants, includingBella Italia andNando's.[45]
In 2005 a report by theNew Economics Foundation rated Burton at 13.3 out of 60 for "individuality", putting it in the top tenclone towns in England, because of the large number ofchain stores in the town centre.[46] Since then events such as a French market have been organised to bring more footfall into the town centre.
Media services include theBurton Mail,BBC Radio Derby, andCapital Mid-Counties.
Due to Burton's relative location in the centre of England and its transport links which allow easy access to Birmingham (the second largest UK city), Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and other locations, there are a significant number of warehouses based in Burton (and nearbyFradley Park).
Notable businesses with distribution centres and warehouses includeB&Q,Boots,Hobbycraft,Holland & Barrett,DHL,Waterstones,Clipper andAmazon.
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The main venue for live theatre and other performing and visual arts isThe Brewhouse,[47] which is run by East Staffordshire Council.[48] During the 1970s and 1980s a number of well known rock bands appeared at the76 Club nightclub in Burton, includingDire Straits andthe Sex Pistols.Bloodstock Open Air is an annual festival ofheavy metal music, which takes place in August and has been held atCatton Hall inWalton-on-Trent, 8 miles south-west of Burton since 2005.[49]
Burton Operatic Society is a musical theatre company based in Burton and produces two productions each year. The town was also home to the Burton School of Speech and Drama on Guild Street where many professional and amateur actors and actresses learned their craft. Following the closure of the school in July 1984, its in-house amateur company, the Little Theatre Players, continued life as an independent amateur drama company called The Little Theatre Company. LTC currently stages at least four productions a year in the town: two plays, a musical and a youth production.
Burton has one of the oldestamateur radio clubs in the UK. It was formed in 1919, although there were enthusiasts of wireless telegraphy in Burton well before theFirst World War. One of the founder members of the club was F. V. A. Smith, call sign XSR, (X = experimental station). Smith was licensed on 3 July 1914 and one month later, he received a message from theMarconispark transmitter atPoldhu in Cornwall, being sent to London, on the eve of the outbreak of war. The message, which has survived and is in the present club archives, was announcing the mobilisation of Russian, French and Belgian troops.
TheStatutes Fair takes place in the town every year on the first Monday and Tuesday after Michaelmas (29 September). This is usually on the first Monday/Tuesday in October but can occasionally fall on 30 September/1 October as in 2002. The fair occupies the Market Place and parts of High Street, New Street and Lichfield Street for two days.
The localSea Cadet unit is TS (Training Ship)Modwena alongside the River Trent and road bridge. The town'sAir Training Corps unit is No 351 (Burton-upon-Trent) Squadron.[50] The localArmy Reserve unit is F (Fire Support) Company, 4Mercian Regiment, an infantry unit at Coltman House Army Reserve Centre, Hawkins Lane; the unit was formerly a volunteer brigade of theNorth Staffordshire Regiment.
The town's connection with the brewing industry is celebrated inThe Burton Cooper, a bronze sculpture byJames Walter Butler. It was commissioned in 1977 and depicts a local craftsman making abarrel. It originally stood opposite the market and – despite opposition from many townspeople – was moved to its present location inside theCoopers Square Shopping Centre in 1994.
TheNational Brewery Centre (previously Coors Visitor Centre & the Museum of Brewing, before that it was the Bass Museum of Brewing), which celebrated the town's brewing heritage was its biggest tourist attraction; the Centre closed in 2022 after Coors decided to move its UK headquarters to the site.Claymills Pumping Station on the north side of Burton is a restored Victorian sewage pumping station, adjacent to the modern sewage works. Until 2005/2006 one of Burton's most distinguishable landmarks wasDrakelow Power Station just south of Burton on the opposite side of the River Trent. The chimneys, boiler-house building andcooling towers have since been demolished.
The formerMagistrates' Court is a distinctiveneo-classical domed building in a commanding position facing Guild Street. It was built by Richard Kershaw to designs by Henry Beck and opened in 1909.[51]
Finney's post, part of an ornate mediaeval oak post which once stood at the corner of the Market Place and High Street, is now in theVictoria and Albert Museum in London.
TheHorninglow Street drill hall dates back to the early 19th century.[52]
The formerRitz Cinema, built in 1935 inModernist style withArt Deco interior, is in Guild Street.[53]
Burton now lies on both sides of theRiver Trent. Historically, there was just one bridge over the river,Burton old bridge (which carries theA511) and there was a small ferry that operated from "time immemorial". This was eventually replaced by theFerry Bridge. A second road crossing of the Trent isSt Peter's Bridge (which carries theA5189) was opened in 1985.[54]
TheA38, which bypasses the town, connects Burton toBirmingham andDerby. TheA444 links traffic toCoventry and theM42 motorway and theA511 links traffic toLeicester. TheA5121 carries traffic through the middle of Burton connecting to theA38,A5189 andA511 respectively. TheA5189 runs (West-East) across Burton and connects theA444 through Burton and across theRiver Trent.
The town is served byBurton-on-Trent railway station, which is accessed from the bridge on Borough Road. The station has two platforms: platform one for Derby, Nottingham and the North; platform two for Tamworth, Birmingham and the South. The station is situated on theCross Country Route between the principal cities ofDerby andBirmingham.
The station's operator isEast Midlands Railway, although none of their trains call there. All services are provided byCrossCountry, with trains betweenCardiff Central, Birmingham andNottingham, as well as longer-distance services to destinations such asBristol Temple Meads,Leeds andNewcastle. Burton is positioned at the western terminus of the abortedIvanhoe line towardsLeicester.
The station utilises thePlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving.
The town had its own municipal buses operated by Burton Corporation Transport and later East Staffordshire District Council after 1974. This was taken over byStevensons of Uttoxeter in the mid-1980s and, in turn, was absorbed byArriva Midlands in the late 1990s.
In July 2005,Midland Classic then operated the majority of buses in the town to outlying areas such as Uttoxeter,Horninglow, Edge Hill,Stapenhill,Queen's Hospital Burton, Winshill, Stretton,Abbots Bromley,Tatenhill, Wetmore, Branston, Lichfield,Ashby-de-la-Zouch andEast Midlands Airport having taken over the local depot ofArriva Midlands at Wetmore Road in August 2016.[55][56]
In August 2022, Midland Classic were acquired byRotala. The vehicles were rebranded into Diamond livery with the operations to be known asDiamond East Midlands and administered from the Tividale headquarters of Rotala.
A number of local routes are fully or part operated by Burton based Bus Link whose owner also registered the name Stevensons Bus Services.
Arriva Midlands continues to operate service X38 toDerby, jointly run withTrentbarton who also run the villager V1 and V3 services to Derby.
On 25th AprilEvolve Bus & Coach announced that they were taking over the operation on service 1 toTutbury fromBurton upon Trent.
The motherchurch of Burton isSt Modwen's, a Georgian building which replaced the former Burton Abbey's church. OtherAnglican parish churches built to serve the expanding population include Holy Trinity,St Mark's, Winshill,St Paul's,St John the Divine, Horninglow,St Chad's,All Saints andSt Mary's, Stretton.
The Roman Catholic church in the town isSt Mary and St Modwen's Catholic Church.
There are fivemosques in Burton, threeBareilvi orSufi, oneDeobandi and oneSalafi.[57]There is aSikhGurdwara established in St Chad's Community Centre.[58]Although there was a small Jewish community in Burton in the early half of the 20th century, there is no record of asynagogue being established. There was however a close relationship with the community in Derby, whose minister acted as visiting teacher andshochet.[59]
Burton & South Derbyshire College (BSDC) is a general further education college and is situated in the town centre. It attracts approximately 13,000 students from Burton and the surrounding towns and villages. It delivers a wide range of courses for all ages including 14- to 19-year-olds, adults into part-time study, employer training and higher education. Recently a 'university centre' has been developed within the college to enable students to study on franchised higher education courses, but is not in itself a university.
TheUniversity of Wolverhampton's School of Health and Wellbeing has a presence at Burton Health Education Centre located at the Queen's Hospital, which specialises in nursing.[60]
Since the establishment ofthe Football League in 1888, Burton has been represented by four separate clubs in the League, two of which played in the league simultaneously in the 1890s.Burton Swifts became members of the Football League in 1892, and were joined byBurton Wanderers in 1894. Swifts played atPeel Croft, whilst Wanderers home ground wasDerby Turn. Wanderers left the League in 1897, and the two clubs merged to formBurton United in 1901, with the new club playing at Peel Croft. United were voted out of the Football League in 1907,[61] and folded in 1910.[62] Burton All Saints were then left as the town's main club, becomingBurton Town in 1924, but folded in 1940.[63] In 1950Burton Albion were founded. Having moved fromEton Park to thePirelli Stadium in 2005, Albion became the town's fourth Football League club in 2009 after winning theFootball Conference. The team now play inLeague 1, the third tier of theEnglish football league system, following relegation in2017–18, after two years in The Championship. Burton is also the location of theSt George's Park National Football Centre, which opened in 2012.[64]
The Burton & District Cricket League[65] has many notable clubs, including Burton Cricket Club,Dunstall Cricket Club, Abbott's Bromley, Yoxall andLichfield Cricket Club.
Burton Rugby Football Club, one of the oldestrugby union clubs in the country, was established in 1870, when it played both association and rugby football rules. It did not adopt rugby union only rules until 1876.[66]
The town is also home to the Burton Canoe Club on the banks of the River Trent. It has recently expanded and built its own clubhouse. Also along the River Trent in Burton are Burton Leander Rowing Club, which was founded in 1847 (and is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the country), andTrent Rowing Club, founded in 1863.
Burton Hockey Club[67] was established in 1899. The club promotes and supports seven men's teams, four ladies' teams, and a popular and successful youth academy. Home matches are played at Shobnall Leisure Complex in the shadows of Marstons Brewery, Shobnall Road. The club has also been recognised as working towards providing a Safe, Effective and Child Friendly club environment, and as such has been awarded the England Hockey Club's First Accreditation, (EH id: 1180).
Burton is home to the Powerhouse GymInternational All-Round Weightlifting team, which was set up in 1985 by Steve Gardner (former World All-Round Weightlifting Champion – inducted into the IAWA (UK) Hall of Fame in 2000). The club trains All-Round Weightlifters, including powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting and is affiliated to the International All-Round Weightlifting Association.[68] The Burton club hosted the 2008 IAWA World Championships.[69]
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