Newstead
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Newstead
Newestead | |
|---|---|
Capital city | |
 Flag | |
| Etymology: From newe (“new”) and stead (“city”) | |
| Country | Borland |
| Yend | Midlands |
| First mention | 1524 |
| Boroughs | Seven districts
|
| Government | |
| • Body | Newstead Steadcouncil |
| • Mayor | Yana Eaman (Centrum) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 516 km2 (199 sq mi) |
| Dimensions | |
| • Length | 29.75 km (18.49 mi) |
| • Width | 28.34 km (17.61 mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 1,150,000 |
| • Density | 2,200/km2 (5,800/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Newsteader |
| Postal code | List of postal codes
|
| Area code | 010 |
| Website | www |
Newstead (/ˈnjuːˌstɛd/ (locally [ˈnjyːˌstɛːd]); Borish: Newestead [ˈnøː(ə)ˌstɛːd]) is the capital city of Borland. With a population of 1.15 million within city limits, it is the biggest city in the country, often being described as a primate city. The city is located in the Midlands yend, on both sides of the River Leith, just around 25 kilometres north from where it meets the River Aire in the suburb of Brigge.
Compared to some other major cities of Borland, such as Outhall or Olham, and some settlements in its peripheries (Lewen, Manham etc.) or even settlements now within city limits (such as Boilen), Newstead itself is relatively young, having been founded only in 1524. It was chosen as the new administrative centre of Borland under Estmerish rule in 1804, replacing Outhall as the Borish capital. During the 19th century, Newstead became one of the centres of industrialization in Borland alongside Stunhill and Westhaven, having grown to just under 500,000 people by 1900. In the years leading up to the Great War, Newstead was a major centre of the Borish independence movement, with frequent riots starting in the late 1910s and continuing into the 1920s; Two larger-scale uprisings happened in 1923 and 1925. During the War, the city was a centre of Borish resistance, especially in areas to the east of the River Leith, resulting in the partial destruction of the city.
In 1936, Newstead became the capital city of a sovereign Borland. Reconstruction most notably saw the removal of remaining industrial areas from the central city as well as the construction of a new government district and of the University of Newstead.
Newstead is the political centre of Borland, housing the Parlament, most ministries, all embassies of foreign nations and the highest court, amongst others. The city also is one of the main cultural centres of the country, being home to several cultural institutions, many museums, theatres and operas, as well as housing most of the Borish film industry.
Due to its central location and high population, Newstead has grown to a major economic centre and centre of infrastructure. The motorways A1, A2 and A4 run through the city, connecting Newstead to Outhall (and further to Azmara), to Westhaven, to Stunhill (and beyond to Finstria) and to Newstead International Airport. Furthermore, the city lies on the crossroads of most major railway lines in Borland and is an important station on the Euclostar network.
History
The first mention of Newstead (as neue ſtade “new city”) dates to 1524, although the city likely is older. However, several settlements which have since been incorporated into Newstead are even older than the city itself. Examples for this include Boilen, now a quarter in the north-east of Newstead, settled as early as the 1000s, Brimme and Brimsbrook (Borish: Brimmensbaak), both of which having been founded in the early 14th century, and Towen (earlier called Towne), founded in the late 15th century.
For much of its history, Newstead remained a rather small town, only getting town rights in the early 17th century, several centuries after other towns in the region, such as Boilen, Yestmore, Brigge or Lewen.
Industrial revolution
By 1800, the population of Newstead had narrowly surpassed 10,000 for the first time. The city gained traction with the construction of a river port in 1803. By 1810, numerous factories, especially in the textile industry, had been built on the opposite bank of the River Leith in what is now the Eastend and the government district, with the city reaching a population of 25,000 by 1812.
The first railway line being built in Borland was a connection from Newstead to Lewen in 18XX, which was later extended to Outhall (in 18XX) and finally all the way into Azmara (by 18XX), with a line to Stunhill following shortly, being completed by 18XX. The construction of a railway line to Westhaven in 18XX made the river port largely obsolete and cemented the position of Newstead as the most important part of the railway network in Borland.
By 1830, Newstead had grown to over 50,000 people. In 1831, several towns and villages such as Brimme, Foxhall or Westhall were incorporated into Newstead, with the towns of Yestmore, Cald and Newham following in 1832 and Richeshall (Borish: Rÿkshall) following in 1835. Much to the dismay of local authorities and many residents, the city of Boilen was incorporated into Newstead in 1849, bringing the population of Newstead up to 100,000 and making it the largest city in Borland.
In 1850, the capital of Borland was moved from Outhall to Newstead, which was seen as much closer to Estmere proper both culturally and geographically.
Until the Great War
By the turn of the century, Newstead reached a population of 500,000 — in large part due to migration from rural areas of Borland, although Estmerish people now formed a substantial portion of the population, especially among the elite.
Starting in the 1890s and continuing through the 1900s and 1910s, Newstead grew into a major cultural centre, the quarter of the Westend and the area around Westgate in particular taking the place held by cities like Outhall before, further shifting Borish high culture towards Estmerish, although a rebirth of Borish as a distinct cultural identity started around the same time, with Newstead becoming one of its centres.
The period of more or less continuous economic growth came to a sudden halt during the Great Collapse of 1913, causing many of the cityʼs companies bankrupt and many others forced to fire employees. At the height of the crisis, unemployment rates reached 37%, although they varied greatly inbetween different quarters, with over 60% in the Eastend and the Northend compared to just short of 20% in the central city and to 15% in Withelake. The lack of help from the central government saw the growth of Borish nationalism, but also the general view that Estmerish authorities did not care about the interests of Newstead, and, by extension, Borland.
By the late 1910s, the Borish nationalism and discontent with Estmerish rule had gained traction especially among the lower classes, but also amongst a large portion of the middle class, culminating in the 1923 and 1925 Newstead uprisings.
Great War and Independence
Widespread discontentment with Estmerish rule saw large-scale public disobedience in the early months of the Great War. This was especially seen in the refusal of many men to be conscripted, with estimates ranging as low as only one fifth of men joining the Estmerish armed forces in some quarters.
As the War went on, the municipal council of Newstead joined other Borish cities in refusing to execute Estmerish orders, with several attempts at creating a sovereign Borish government. For a brief period of time before the Gaullican invasion into Borland, Newstead was the administrative centre of a de facto independent Borland.
During the Gaullican invasion, the Battle over Newstead saw some of the greatest destructions of the Great War seen anywhere in Borland, with the industrial areas in the city centre and the former river port being especially hit. The Gaullican occupation itself saw little acceptance within the public, with Newstead becoming a major centre of various Borish resistance movements. The detonation of bridges and railways, the bombings and assassinations of Gaullican military personell by the Borish resistance sought to make the occupation as difficult and costly as possible. Furthermore, collaborators who were caught by Borish nationalists often faced severe punishments. The liberation of Newstead by the Weranian army took place between the Xth X and the Xth X 19XX.
With Borland being brought back under Estmerish rule, Newstead once again became one of the main centres of the Borish independence movement. During the independence referendum, 67% of Newsteaders voted in favour of Independence, with especially high numbers in working class neighbourhoods.
Since Independence
The late 1930s saw the challenge of rebuilding the city, as large portions of the cityʼs infrastructure, ranging from roads and bridges over railways and the tramway network to the canalization and power grid, had been destroyed during the Great War.
Geography
Newstead is located on both sides of the River Leith, a tributary of the River Aire which it feeds into at Twyerwey (Twÿerwegh) in Brigge, just 25 kilometres south of the city centre of Newstead and just over three kilometres from the southern city limits.
Politics
Local Politics
Administrative Divisions
Newstead is divided into seven districts: Centre (Centrum), Northend-Leithside (Norþend-Liëþerside), Boilen (Boilen), Teltaw (Teltaw), Yestmore-Cald (Yestmaar-Cald), Southside-Withelake (Suiþside-Wiþenlaak) and Spandaw (Spandaw). These also correspond to the postal codes from 0101 to 0107.
Economy
Industry
Tourism
Transport
Almost all public transit in Newstead is operated by Newstead City Transit (Borish: Newesteader Stadtransit, whence its acronym: NST), a municipally-owned company founded in 1920 as “Newstead Transport” and then rebranded after Borish independence. The remainder is mostly served by the municipal transit companies of surrounding cities, with a few lines being serviced by the National Railways of Borland (Borish: Rÿksbanen op Borland). Via their daughter company Regiobus, National Railways also operates intercity busses.
All mass transport services in and around Newstead — with the notable exceptions of international rail services and privately-operated intercity busses — are included in the national fare, meaning, ticket prices are the same as in other Borish cities. Initially, there were only paper tickets, with various types of plastic card tickets being introduced in 1993 and from 2004 onward, although paper tickets are still relatively widely used. In 2013, digital tickets were introduced.
Roadways
Newstead forms the centre of the motorway network of Borland, with the A1, the A2 and the A4 running through the city, connecting it to Yulleigh, Outhall and Azmara in the north, to Ledge, Olham, Westhaven and Estmere in the south, to Stunhill and through to Finstria and Burgh and thus into Werania to the west and to the airport and Newdune to the east. The A2 and A1 form a circular route through the outskirts of Newstead.
Railways
Lying on the cross of major north–south and east–west railway lines, Newstead is the centre of the Borish railway network. Newstead Central Station in particular is served by all but one of the eight national railway lines of Borland and by numerous regional trains, whilst also being the terminus of most Newstead’s S-trains and a station of the Euclostar network.
Subway
The Newstead underground (Borish: Newesteader undergrundbanen) is, apart from a single line in Westhaven, the only underground metro network in Borland. It consists of two full metro lines — the line M1 and M2 — with a length of 21.8 kilometres and 11.6 kilometres, respectively. There is also a line 020 which is referred to as metro-tram, which runs underground for about two kilometres through the Northend and under the Central Station. Combining the three lines, the Newstead underground network is at 41.8 kilometres (33.4 kilometres if the 020 is not counted), which will rise to 46.4 kilometres once the southern 020 extension will be completed.
There had already been plans for an underground railway in Newstead before the Great War, although these were not acted upon due to the outbreak of the War. After Independence, there were calls to not to rebuild the largely destroyed tramway system, but to instead build a metro. Although the tramway network was partially rebuilt, some parts of it were later closed again and replaced by the underground.
Construction on the first line began in 1942, with a line between Independence and University opening in 1949. By 1952, it was extended on both sides; to Williams Square in the north-west and to Zoological Garden in the east. In the same year, construction on the second line officially began, which opened between Yestmore and Westgate. The M1 was later extended on both sides; to Teltaw in the east and the Spandaw in the north-west. The M2 was extended southwards to Yestmore Market and, more recently, westwards to Linden Street.
Most original plans for further underground lines were dropped in the 1950s, although there have been recent pushes for an extension of the existing lines, most prominently the extension of the M2 to Cald.
Tramways
The first horse-drawn tramway line in Newstead was constructed between 1859 and 1860 and connected Northgate (close to what is now Independence station) to Hewmarket (nowadays Huymarket) via High Street. By 1880, the network had grown to twenty lines within the city, with a total of thirty-eight lines at the network’s height in 1925. Due to problems with the scale of manure from horses and a short supply of new horses due to their short lifespan, the complete electrification of the tramway network of Newstead was decided in 1892, as previous tests with individual lines between 1889 and 1891 prooved mostly successful. By 1898, the entire network had been electrified. The success of the Newstead tramway continued until the Great War, which saw great damage to both the network and rolling stock, with only partial lines in Boilen, Lewesham, Newham and Cald remaining in operation by the end of the War. Eventhough reconstruction had already progressed towards allowing approximately half of the original system to be functional again by 1938, it was decided to revisit pre-War plans to replace the tramway system with a metro system, halting significant progress being made after. As such, some lines, especially in the Eastend, were never reconstructed, whilst others (the lines to Spandaw and Teltaw or the tram lines via Linden Street) were closed down with the opening of the Newstead underground. Furthermore, a partial replacement by busses began in the 1960s.
Today, the tramway network of Newstead consists of 19 lines (20 if counting the metro-tram). The only extensions to the network since the completion of (partial) reconstruction by the 1950s were a direct line from Newham to Youngbrunn which was opened in 1998 and the metro-tram line which opened in steps between 1998 and 2021 — although it largely follows the route of tramway lines which were never reconstructed. There are plans for line extensions and new tramway lines that could help elliviate pressure off the transit network. These include the extension of lines 03, 04 and 017 around one kilometre beyond their current terminus at Newham train station into the Batteigh industrial park to ease commutes, an extension of line 019 from Yestmore/Bringer Street to its original terminus at Foxhall train station, possibly also by creating a new line 021 from Foxhall to Newham or Batteigh. Additionally, there are discussions about the reintroduction of trams to the Eastend in order to give a direct connection from the southeast to the northeast of the city which does not go through the city centre.
Busses
Newstead and its surroundings are covered by an extensive network of busses which are operated by municipal transit authorities, primarily by Newstead City Transit (NST), with some lines being operated by National Railways (Regiobus) and the municipal transit authorities of surrounding cities, such as the LMT from Lewen and Manham. The urban bus lines in Newstead are numbered from 0 upwards and can be categorized into main lines (lines 0–20), secondary lines (lines 21–50) and limited-service lines (lines 51–79). For the most part, the lines within one category share the same frequencies, although this may be distorted by the fact that many lines run partially parallel, in which case they can often be combined when looking at their frequency. Although there are some lines which are considered main lines, busses in Newstead are primarily used on lines of lesser importance as well as on interurban lines.
The first organized bus lines in Newstead date back to 1920, although general bus transit in the city predates this. Several experimental bus lines had been operated by private companies starting in the mid-1900s. Throughout the 1910s, several companies had started to operate bus lines alongside popular municipally-operated tramway routes as well as in areas of the city which were not served by trams, with as many as 50 vehicles — primarily double-deckers — being in service by 1918. In 1920, Newstead Transport started to provide bus services to previously unserved areas as well as school bus services, although it remained only a small subset of the total public transit network. Their wider application was not considered due to the low capacity of many models, low passenger comfort and reliability issues. However, motorbusses became the primary mode of transportation in Newstead during the Great War, as large parts of the tramway and railway networks were damaged.
The role of busses remained high after the War, although the reconstruction of tram and railway lines as well as the construction of the Newstead underground saw busses gradually diminish in importance until the 50s. With many bus lines being replaced by other modes of transit, spare busses were used to probide new services as well as regular bus services to surrounding towns.
In 1950, the bus, tramway and underground lines were integrated into a single fare zone, with the suburban railways following in 1951. In 1956, the steadcouncil voted in favour of replacing all tramway services with busses, although this plan was never fully realized due to policy changing less than a decade later in 1964. Although individual bus lines have been replaced with trams once again, busses remain an important part of Newstead’s public transportation system, having been the primary mode used in expanding services over the past decades.
Before independence, most vehicles used in Newstead were double-decker busses with a red livery, with all busses purchased after independence having a beige or beige-brown livery. The beige-green and beige-brown liveries are now seen primarilyon historic busses, as the livery was, again, changed in 1990, when a red-white-red livery (based on the flag of Newstead) alongside an alternative with a yellow strip (based on the flag of Borland) were introduced. Additionally, operators other than the NST typically have their own liveries.
Starting in the 1940s, only single-decker busses were purchased, with almost all double-deckers being retired by 1960, when a brief rennaissance of double-decker busses began as their higher capacity was valued. However, this job was taken over by articulated busses in the 1980s, with double-decker busses being phased out from regular service until 1995 for the most part, with some double-decker busses being used for replacement service as late as the mid-2000s. Today, roughly one third of the city’s busses are articulated busses, running primarily on the frequent main lines. Additionally, all busses with the exception of busses running on interurban lines are low-entry busses, complementing the mostly high-floor tramway network. Since 2010, the NST has begun to introduce hybrid and electric battery busses, although progress has been slow and the vast majority of busses (upwards of 95%) still are diesel-powered as of 2021.
Operated by the National Railways as Regiobus, Newstead Central is the terminus of numerous intercity bus lines, connecting the city primarily to rural communities and towns without a train station, although many lines terminate in larger cities, such as Yulleigh or Stunhill. In addition, there are some private operators connecting Newstead to other major cities within and outside of Borland, often at a higher cost, but providing luxuries not usually provided by its public counterpart, such as on-board toilets, wi-fi and overall greater comfort.
Waterways
During several points in the cityʼs history, there had been ferry services across the River Leith. These include a ferry between Leithside and Lewesham in the north of the city between 1850 and 1899, when a bridge was opened, and a ferry between both sides of the river in the aftermath of the Great War, during the course of which most bridges were destroyed.
Between 1950 and 1970 and later between 1983 and 2006, there was a recreational ferry line starting at Newham and going north to Leithside, with several stops on both sides of the river. It featured an on-board restaurant and music.
In 1803, a port on the River Leith was constructed for the transportation of goods. It was temporarily closed between 1913 and 1915 due to the Great Collapse, which saw the need for goods transport drop significantly. After attempts at reopening between 1916 and 1927, it was closed for good only days after the outbreak of the Great War, during which it was heavily damaged. Although there were plans to rebuild it after the War, it was instead decided to construct a new port further south at Battey, although it too has mostly closed in the 1970s as well.
Airports
Newstead is primarily served by the Newstead International Aeroport in Easfell, which is linked directly to the city centre via a railway line which largely functions as a shuttle service. However, it is not uncommon for airlines to advertize flights to the Stunhill/Berlaw International Aeroport in Trent or, more rarely, to Westhaven International Airport as “Newstead”.
Demographics
Ethnic Groups
Languages
Religion
Healthcare
Culture
Sister Cities
Newstead is twinned with a number of cities around the world.
Aalmsted, Azmara, 1941
Outhall, Borland, 1950
Yndyk, Alsland, 1952- Yulleigh, Borland, 1954
Rimso, Scovern, 1964
Northern Midlands Cooperation Agreement
To foster inter-municipal cooperation within the Newstead-Lewen conurbation, the cities of Newstead, Lewen and Manham formalized the Northern Midlands Cooperation Agreement in 1943, with Muilenham and Brigge joining later that same year and the surrounding towns and counties having joined by 1946. The agreement sees cities cooperating more closely and even sharing parts of their services, including, but not limited to public transportation and utilities. The following cities are part of the cooperation:
- Lewen, 1943 (founding)
- Manham, 1943 (founding)
- Brigge, 1943
- Muilenham, 1943
- Townswey, 1944
- Fellham, 1944
- Cry of Eastfell, 1945
- Cry of Torpen, 1946
- Cry of Remslare, 1946
- Garthwhyle, 1946 (part of the Cry of the Northwestern Midlands since 1970)
Other Relations
Besides twin cities, Newstead also maintains agreements of friendship and cooperation with other cities.