Doncaster
{{infobox UK place| |country = |longitude= -1.According to the 2001 census the urban sub-area of Doncaster had a population of 67,977 - together with Bentley, Armthorpe and Kirk Sandall it forms an urban area with a population of 127,851. The wider metropolitan borough has a population of around 290,000.
==Geography, demographics and the A1(M) and M18 motorways, and is within 20 minutes of the key M1 and M62 motorways. Doncaster is also an important railway town, serving the East Coast Mainline.
Despite some local opposition, over the years much of the traditional housing in the town centre has been razed. Inevitably controversial decisions in this year with private and public investment taking place. Presently central Doncaster provides a strong retail and commercial focal point and more recent developments have been carefully placed in relation to important buildings.
New developments include campus facilities for Doncaster College and the Frenchgate Interchange (a unification of bus and railway stations with the Frenchgate Centre). The extension to the shopping centre and the new bus station opened on 8 June 2006, from when all Doncaster bus routes started to use the station.
Within the region, Doncaster is being recognised an important European hub with developments such as a new international airport, Robin Hood Airport Doncaster Sheffield which opened in 2005. In addition there is the well established Doncaster International Railport facilities that link to the Channel Tunnel.
Recent leisure developments include a new community sports stadium for sports teams including Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Belles and Doncaster Lakers, which was completed in late 2006. Doncaster is home to one of the oldest and largest racecourses in the country. In 2005, Doncaster Racecourse closed temporarily to enable the re-development of the stands and facilities by Arena Leisure Plc. The new urban-i stand is now open and world-class facilities continue to be developed on site. Hotels in Doncaster are being expanded and new ones built.
History
Roman heritage
Doncaster (or DANVM as called during Roman times) is located at 53°31′N 1°8′W / 53.517°N 1.133°W - the site of a Roman fort which was built in the 1st century A.D. at the site of a crossing across the River Don. The Roman empirical command of Ninius called this fort "Caer Daun". Later the commands of Antoninus Pius and Notitia called this fort Danum, from which the town derives the Don part of its name; caster a Saxon word corrupted from the Latin original Castra, meaning a military camp. Doncaster was home to the Roman Crispinian horse garrison. The cavalry took its name from Crispus, son of Constantine the Great. Crispus, son of the Emperor, lived at Danum (Doncaster) whilst his father lived 40 miles further north at Eboracum (York). In truth, much of Doncaster's Roman past remains to be discovered.
The Doncaster garrison units are named in the Notitia Dignitatum or 'Register of Dignitaries', produced around the turn of the 5th century near the end of Roman rule in Britain. This important administrative document contains - among other things - the name of almost every military unit in the Roman empire, also the name of their respective garrison towns. The garrison unit was originally recruited from among the tribespeople living near the town of Crispiana in Upper Pannonia, near Zirc in the Bakony region of western Hungary. The fact that Doncaster is included, highlights the importance placed by the Romans on the Doncaster. The Doncaster entry is listed under the command of the Dux Britanniarum or the 'Duke of the Britons'. Doncaster provided an alternative direct land route between Lincoln and York. The main route between Lincoln and York was in fact Ermine Street which meant crossing the River Humber in boats. For obvious reasons this was not always practical and thus Doncaster became an important staging post on the Roman map.
The Roman road through Doncaster appears on two routes recorded in the Antonine Itinerary. The itinera include the same section of road between Lincoln and York, and list three stations along the route in between these two coloniae. Iter VII and Iter VIII is entitled "the route from York to London". The section below showing distances from Iter VIII.
The late 18th century to 20th century saw Doncaster emerge as an industrial centre. Using its communication links and in particular waterways Doncaster became extremely busy and saw vast migration to its centre. Underneath Doncaster lies huge natural resource by way of deep seam coal. It was coal that prompted Doncaster's exponential population growth. The waterways, River Don and Don Navigation were used to transport coal from Doncaster to the steel production centres at Rotherham, Sheffield and Scunthorpe. With coal mining came secondary and tertiary industries:- Large scale glass production soon followed using coal to fire the furnaces. Several high-quality specialist glass manufacturers remain to this day.
- A production facility for chemical polymers - hydrocarbon compounds produced from coal and oil - was built on Wheatley Hall Road and was the largest production facility of its type in Europe. It changed hands numerous times during its existence until closure (by DuPont) in the mid-1990s.
- Steel foundries, rolling mills and wire mills were built close to the railways that brought steel from Sheffield and Rotherham.
- British Ropes (now Bridon) produce wire rope, including the ropes used at coal mines to haul coal and miners, this is claimed to be the largest wire rope manufacturing plant in Europe.
| Roman town | Modern name | Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Eboraco | YORK | Start |
| Lagecio | Castleford | XXI |