was a British mining entrepreneur who built the first documented railway. Between October 1603 and October 1604, Beaumont built a two-mile wooden wagon-way from his mining concessions near Strelley, from the north west of Nottingham down to Wollaton. A wagon-way is a track with wooden or iron rails built to move wagons of coal easily. This is the earliest railway known to have been built in Britain, and it allowed for year round mining of coal. Prior to the construction of wagon-ways, coal mines had to close down during the winter due to impassable road conditions.