In the twelfth century the Abbots of Burton began to produce beer; the dissolution of the Abbey in the sixteenth century saw inns and alehouses appear, many selling beer brewed on site. The first recognizable brewery was Benjamin Printon's, established on Horninglow Street c. 1708. By 1780 there were thirteen, many exporting their ale to the Baltic and all using the water taken from wells deep under the town. By the 1820s a new market had opened up: India, Allsopp's, Bass and Salt's quickly began to export India Pale Ale. The Trent & Mersey Canal, built in 1774/75, allowed further expansion, but it was the coming of the railway in 1839 that led to massive growth - by 1888 there were thirty-one breweries employing over 8,000 men producing over three millions barrels a year. In this collection of over 200 images, local author and historian Terry Garner illustrates the history of this famous East Staffordshire town and provides a fascinating insight into the many lost breweries that made Burton-on-Trent the brewing capital of the world.