TOWNS MADE TO ORDER,

Northern Advocate, 26 April 1921, Page 4

TOWNS MADE TO ORDER,

NOTABLE EXAMPLE'S.

Town s are usually born, not madeThe train-ferry port of Richborough on the Kent coast, which has recently passed under civilian control, is, however, an exception ,to the general l ule.

'Situated between Pegweli Bay and the site it now occupies was barren land up till a few yeaz's back. Then the 'Government took it over, and planted a ready-made seaport town on the marshes, with docks and wharves complete, the whole occupying an area between three and four square miles.'

Amongst the few other English towns that have been thu>3 made to order, perhaps the next most notable example is S'wmdon. During the building of the Great Western Railway the two engineers engaged in its construction, Mezcrs Brunei and Gooch, looked out for a site for locqmotive works, and after a picnic lunch they marked out the future Swindon.

;Sa!ltaire, Crewe and Middelsbrough were similarly made to order; as was also Port Sunlight, on tjie Mersey.

Two European capitals, Petrograd and Madrid, were- likewise built to order, the one by Peter the Great, the other by Philip ILs the Spanish consort of our Queen Mary, who chose the lofty site because of the asthma from which he suffered. 'Similarly Singapore was the deliberate creation of Sir Stamford Raffle^.