Crewe

Crewe, a town of Cheshire, with a great railway junction and the huge works of the London and North-Western Railway, to which it owes its present importance. It is 158 miles NW. of London, 43 SE. of Liverpool, 31 SSW. of Manchester, and 53 NW. of Birmingham. About 1840 there were only two or three houses where Crewe now stands; but since then its population has grown to 4491 in 1851, 8159 in 1861, 17,810 in 1871, 24,385 in 1881, and 28,761 in 1891—chiefly employed in the railway stations, and in the great locomotive and carriage works, which were commenced in 1843. Naturally, Crewe is not an attractive place, though the London and North-Western Company have erected a good many handsome buildings, done much in the way of sanitation, and in 1887-88 presented the town with a beautifully laid-out park of 40 acres. Crewe was incorporated in 1887. Lord Crewe's seat, Crewe Hall, by Inigo Jones, was destroyed by fire in 1866, but has been since rebuilt.