The Development of Telecoms - Leicester
The Leicester area is about 1,300 square miles in extent and covers the County of Leicestershire and parts of eight surrounding counties. It is a pleasant and gently undulating country-side; in fact, hunting country. The famous Quorn, Pytchley, Belvoir, Cottesmore and Ferney hunts are still a regular feature of this east Midlands country-side.
The City of Leicester dates back to pre-Roman days being one of the five Danish Burhs and it was an important station in Roman times. The battlefields of Bosworth and Naseby are within the boundaries of the area and Cardinal Wolsey died in the old Abbey at Leicester. Ashby de la Zouch awakens memories of Ivanhoe and was the scene of the imprisonment of Mary, Queen of Scots. The ruins of Lady Jane Grey's home still stand in Bradgate Park in Leicester and there is also the incomparable Belvoir Castle, a majestic spectacle set on a hill which catches the imagination.
More recently, there is one of the oldest tunnels in the country, built by Stephenson, at Glenfield and the second rail road in England from West Bridge to Swannington. The first railway excursion was from Leicester to Loughborough. Among the notable men born in the county were Robert Herrick, Lord Macaulay and Latimer, Bishop of Worcester.
The area's industries and products are diverse, ranging from brewing to textiles and from heavy engineering to plastic toys and optical glass. Loughborough has literally sent its name ringing round the world by its famous bells and carillons. The county's granite is famous and everyone knows the association of Leicester with the hosiery trade. It may not be so well known that nearly all the boot and shoe machinery used in this country is made here and that most of the women's shoes manufactured in Britain are made in Leicester.
Leicester is served in the main by automatic exchanges of the Siemens No. 16 type opened in 1926. Burton-on-Trent is notable in the telephone world for its Bypath automatic system opened in April 1932, which is to be replaced by standard equipment in a few years' time.
The area contains 109 exchanges with 57,500 exchange connections and 92,150 stations. The total staff (excluding telephonists) is 1,100.
