Men like of Sir Francis Willoughby made fortunes from the extraction of coal. This allowed Willoughby to build the extravagant Wollaton Hall. One of the world's first railway lines, completed in 1604 between nearby Strelley and Wollaton, was built by Willoughby's heir, to aid transportation of the coal from his mines. Horses and other beasts of burden would pull the rows of trucks filled with coal, with the rails acting as a guide and a smoother surface than the roads of the time.