Thursday 15 September 2011

Victory Road

My personal challenge for this round of Miss Jenny Matlock's alphabe-Thursday is to post about a location within the borders of my own county of Derbyshire, UK, for each letter of the alphabet.
Look for the letter, to see where I am.


V is for Victory Road.

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During this round of Alphabe-Thursday, I've posted about the city of Derby twice; once to show you the pleasant and (in parts) historic area of Littleover and once to show the multi-ethnic face of the city in Normanton. What I haven't done is show you anything of how Derby survives economically, so I'm going to rectify that now by taking you to Victory Road and the biggest employer in Derby: Rolls Royce.


Where better to begin than with Sir Frederick Henry Royce himself?

Born in 1863, Henry Royce was the engineer who designed and produced the world famous Rolls-Royce motor car. In Derby, however, he is best remembered for his own design of the aero-engine because that is what Rolls-Royce Derby is famous for producing, with engines and maintenance contracts being sold worldwide for both commercial and military aircraft.

Derby is the home of Rolls-Royce aero engines.


Sir Henry stands close to the end of Victory Road, near the junction with Moor Lane, outside the Derby Headquarters of the firm.


Interestingly, a friend who works for Rolls-Royce once commented that you can always tell a Derby Rolls Royce engineer apart from those who work in branches of the company elsewhere in the world. Derby is unique in referring to the firm as 'Royces'. Elsewhere, it is known as 'Rolls'.




Stretching down as far as Merrill Way at this end of Victory Road.


Sir Henry lived by the motto, "Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble".


Victory Road is less than a mile long and heading away from town, beginning at the Outer Ring Road and curving towards the neighbourhood of Sinfin. The industry is mostly packed into the three quarters of the road furthest from the city centre. This photo is looking in towards central Derby...


...and up here, there is another small industrial estate known as Victory Park. There are still units under construction, suitable mainly for light industry or commerce.


 
Continuing on, we reach the city end of the road, which now climbs quite steeply towards the Outer Ring Road. Here the industry gives way to houses. Mostly, these were once Council owned, but now many have been bought out by their tenants. It's a busy place to live though, sandwiched between the constant activity of Rolls Royce and the equally constant traffic of the main road.


At the moment, it's also full of holes. Pipes for water, pipes for drains, cables for communications, and electricity, but the new ones here are being laid by the gas board.

They're always digging something up!!

Before we finish completely, I'll have one more Derby post to give you a little more flavour of the city.

But right now, I need to find somewhere beginning with W.

20 comments:

  1. Funny that you should post this, as this week I saw a Rolls-Royce in town. They are really quite rare over here,and this one was an old one. Very elegant.

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  2. Now that is VERY cool! Rolls Royce! It's the car that everyone I know associates with high-class, super expensive, rare, amazingly well-built, luxury car. And it's being built in Derbyshire, how cool is that? I don't know *anything* about cars but I do know that one time a relative of mine had the opportunity to be chauffeured in one and it was the biggest gossip in my family for weeks.

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  3. Rolls Royce is such a beautiful car. I love what you told us about it and showed photo's of the city that houses it.

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  4. I do like these little visits! We had a big RR area but sadly it has declined now with the move away of the aircraft manufacturing.

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  5. I used to cut through here regularly on my journey from Wolverhampton to Lincoln to see my parents, so it brought back mnemories. I think you have done such an excellent job H - honestly I think you should publish a little booklet on going round Derbyshire by alphabet. It has been so interesting.

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  6. You already know my love of the way such projects based on some enforced serendipity can throw up the most interesting information. Your alphabet tour is a perfect example of this. I have missed a couple of letters so I need to backtrack a little.

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  7. Thanks for this tour of the hometown of the Royces! I think I'm going to start calling them that, too. =>

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  8. The homes there always look so nice and quaint, even right next to an industrial area. Thank you for the photos, it was interesting.

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  9. How interesting I didn't know that Rolls Royce came from Derby ! I just learned that General Motors started in Oxford when I was there. I am becoming more and more intelligent !

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  10. Well done! an interesting story! How about Whaley Bridge next?

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  11. Well, did you pick out your new Rolls Royce while you were there? A very interesting post!!

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  12. are those brick houses? It makes them look so pretty, when the rest of the area looks so modern! I'm totally surprised. Must be a busy place. And how many workers have Rolls (my way of saying it)? {:-D

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  13. This was a very clever idea for this session of Alphabe-Thursday. And I enjoyed this week's very much.

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  14. I knew Rolls-Royce makes airplane engines, but I did not know it was in Derby. Neither did I know anything about the man behind the car and engines. I certainly approve of Sir Frederick Henry Royce's motto. I've never called the company anything but the full name, but now I wonder who/what is Rolls.

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  15. Wow and wow and wow! What a spectacular place. I'd love to drop in to ask if anyone owing a Royce would mind giving me a ride around the block.

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  16. Haven't thought of them for years. I remember seeing one when, as a child, I lived with an aunt and uncle in So CAL. It was in a glass enclosed showroom and had glitter in the paint that made it sparkle (this was at night) That image stuck in my little mind for a long time...
    Thanks for the history.

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  17. What an interesting account. I now have some interesting facts tucked away for use on a rainy day.

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  18. What a fascinating link this week. I'm going to send this along to my son and husband...they will really enjoy reading this particular post!

    Thanks for sharing your travels with us!

    I really enjoy seeing where you're going to take us next!

    A+

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