Madeley is recorded in the Domesday Book, having been founded before the 8th century. Historically, Madeley's industrial activity has largely been in mining, and later, manufacturing, which is still a large employer in the town, along with service industries. Parts of the parish fall within the UNESCOWorld Heritage Site of Ironbridge Gorge, the site of The Iron Bridge, and a key area in the development of Industry.
History
The settlement of Madeley is recorded as far back as the Domesday Book. The town was founded prior to the 8th century, and subsequently became a market town in the 13th century.
Mining of coal began before 1322, and the extraction of ironstone had begun by 1540.[3]
In 1645, during the English Civil War, the town was home to a garrison of Royalist soldiers. The post was abandoned after the fall of Shrewsbury, and two months later Parliamentary forces occupied the parish church.[3] After the Battle of Worcester in 1651, King Charles II hid in a barn adjoining Upper House in Church Street.[4]
In the 17th century, Madeley was a small market town, but local tradesmen began to specialise, working in the river trade and in mining. In the 18th century, the north end of The Iron Bridge was built between Madeley Wood and Broseley and the settlement of Ironbridge grew by it, which took some of the commercial trade away from the old town of Madeley, including its market.
Nevertheless, as an important part of the Coalbrookdale Coalfield, Madeley was home to nearly 100 known and named pits in the old Madeley parish with coal mining continuing until the early 1900s.[5] In 1864, the Brick Kiln Leasow mine, mined for ironstone that was used to feed the furnaces at Blists Hill, witnessed a tragic accident that claimed the lives of nine miners. The victims are remembered today as the Nine Men of Madeley.[6]
Madeley Court Gatehouse
In the 1970s, significant construction of new housing and recreation areas was undertaken by the Dawley Development Corporation, later known as the Telford Development Corporation, as part of the development of Telford New Town.[3]
Madeley is located within the civil parish and ward of the same name. The ward is within the Telfordconstituency, which since the May 2024 general election has been represented by Labour MP, Shaun Davies.
Madeley Town Council covers the town of Madeley and the neighbouring residential areas of Sutton Hill and Woodside, plus the industrial areas of Halesfield and Tweedale.[8] There are four electoral wards, namely, Academy[9] (which elects one councillor), Cuckoo Oak[10] (five councillors), Madeley Village[11] (five councillors) and Woodside[12] (six councillors).[13] Following the 2023 local government election, at which all seats were uncontested, the composition of Madeley Town Council was 14 Labour councillors and one Independent with two seats vacant.[14]
The town is administered at borough level by Telford and Wrekinunitary authority, and is represented as part of the Madeley and Sutton Hill ward by 2 Labour and 1 Conservative councillor.
The parish of Madeley formerly incorporated Ironbridge, which has since become part of the new parish of The Gorge.
Madeley is situated in the southern part of the new town of Telford, to the north of Ironbridge and the River Severn. Coalport, a part of the parish of Madeley can be found to the west of the town, and the modern Telford Town Centre is north of the settlement. The local area has reserves of coal and ironstone.[15]
At the 2001 census, the population of the parish of Madeley was 17,935. Of this number, 8,190 were economically active, and of them, 7,477 were in employment. The ethnicity of the population was as follows: 96% of the population was found to be White, and 1.9% Asian, or Asian British. 1.3% of the population was mixed race, 0.6% Black or Black British and a further 0.2% Chinese.[17]
In terms of religion: 77% of the population are Christian, and 14.4% are of no religion. 0.7% of the population are Muslim, 0.5% are Sikh, 0.3% are Hindu, and 0.1% are Buddhist.[18]
Economy
Historically, Madeley was a mining town serving the now defunct Kemberton Colliery. It was also home to the Madeley Wood Company. By 2001, manufacturing was still a large employer in the town, with 33.1% of parish residents employed in that area. 20.7% were employed in wholesale, retail and hotels, and 11.8% in finance and business services. 5.3% of residents were unemployed.[19]
Transport
The B4373 runs through the town, and the A4169 runs along its northern edge. The nearest motorway is the M54, which connects Telford to the West Midlands conurbation and the rest of the motorway network. Most bus services are provided by Arriva Midlands, and a community bus service is provided.[20]
Near Madeley is Madeley Junction, a railway junction and its accompanying signal box. The line from this junction runs to Lightmoor Junction, and was used to carry coal to Ironbridge Power Station.[21] The nearest National Rail station to the town is Telford Central. It was also served the Coalport Branch Line from 1860 until 1952. The station remains intact and the former trackbed forms part of the Silkin Way.[22]
Mary Bosanquet Fletcher, one of the first female Methodist preachers, and John William Fletcher, her husband and fellow Methodist who was Vicar of Madeley, had a joint ministry in the parish in the 18th century.[31] John's iron tombstone is in the parish churchyard.[32]
Mary Whitehouse taught art at Madeley Modern School (now the Haberdashers' Abraham Darby) from 1960 to 1964, taking responsibility for sex education. Shocked at the moral beliefs of her pupils, she became concerned about what she and many others perceived as declining moral standards in the British media, especially in the BBC.[34]
Other notable people
John Bromley (died 1717), Anglican-turned-Roman Catholic clergyman and translator, died at Madeley.
Abraham Darby I (1677–1717), pioneering ironmaster, was tenant at Madeley Court where he died.
Richard Reynolds (1735–1816), ironmaster, owned Madeley Court and lived there from 1781 until settling in Bristol 1804.
Abraham Darby III (1750–1789), ironmaster, latter's brother-in-law and former's grandson, owned Madeley Court 1774–81.
James Glazebrook (1744–1803) English cleric, controversialist, and writer, born there.
Edith Mary Pargeter, (best known as Ellis Peters) (1913–1995), English author of history and historical fiction, lived in Madeley from 1956 to her death.[35]
Sports
Matthew Webb (1848–1883), pioneer Channel swimmer, lived in High Street in childhood before family moved to Coalbrookdale.[36]
William Dyas (1872–1940), first-class cricketer, local businessman and councillor representing Madeley on both Wenlock Borough and Shropshire County Councils, born and died there, at Upper House.[37]
Billy Wright (1924–1994) former captain of Wolves and the England football team, attended Madeley Senior School, now Haberdashers' Abraham Darby.[38] Made 490 appearances for Wolves.
Richie Woodhall (born 1968), former boxer, 1988 Summer Olympics light-middleweight bronze medal and WBC super-middleweight champion, attended Abraham Darby School, now Haberdashers' Abraham Darby.
Rob Edwards, (born 1982) former Wolves and Wales full-back, 232 appearances, 111 for Wolves, born there.
Shropshire is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England, on the border with Wales. It is bordered by Cheshire to the north-east, Staffordshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south-east, Herefordshire to the south, and the Welsh principal areas of Powys and Wrexham to the west and north-west respectively. The largest settlement is Telford, while Shrewsbury is the county town.
Ironbridge is a riverside village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, and takes its name from, The Iron Bridge, a 100-foot (30 m) cast iron bridge that was built in 1779.
Telford is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern boundary, and near the River Severn. The notable hill near the town called The Wrekin is part of the Shropshire Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. To the south of the town is the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Places around the Ironbridge Gorge area, which were developed into the town itself, are internationally recognised as being "The Birthplace of Industry" being to a large extent constructed during the Industrial Revolution on the Shropshire Coalfield. The town is the main administrative centre for Telford and Wrekin Council.
Telford and Wrekin is a borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called the Wrekin, named after a prominent hill to the west of Telford. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin", which remains part of the Shropshire ceremonial county and shares institutions such as the Fire and Rescue Service and Community Health with the rest the county.
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge, containing the River Severn in Shropshire, England. It was first formed by a glacial overflow from the long drained away Lake Lapworth, at the end of the last ice age. The deep exposure of the rocks cut through by the gorge exposed commercial deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and fireclay, which enabled the rapid economic development of the area during the early Industrial Revolution.
Coalbrookdale is a town in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
Wellington is a market town and a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It is situated 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Telford and 12 miles (19 km) east of Shrewsbury, near the western terminus of the M54 motorway. The summit of The Wrekin lies 3 miles to the southwest. Wellington’s population was 25,554 in the 2011 census.
Oakengates is a historic market town and civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. The town's parish population was recorded as 8,517 in the 2001 census.
Dawley is a former mining town and civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It was originally proposed be the main centre of the 'Dawley New Town' plan in 1963, however it was decided in 1968 to name the new town as 'Telford', after the engineer and road-builder Thomas Telford. Dawley is one of the older settlements in Shropshire, being mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086). It is divided into Dawley Magna and Little Dawley.
Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first iron bridge in the world was built in 1779 across the Severn, linking Broseley with Coalbrookdale and Madeley. This contributed to the early industrial development in the Ironbridge Gorge, which is now part of a World Heritage Site.
Telford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Shaun Davies of the Labour Party.
The Wrekin is a constituency in the House of Commons of the British Parliament, located in the county of Shropshire in the West Midlands of England. It has existed continuously since its creation by the Representation of the People Act 1918, and is named after a prominent landmark hill in the area, The Wrekin. It has been represented by the Labour and Conservative parties since the 1920s, a post held since 2005 by Conservative MP Mark Pritchard.
Horsehay is a suburban village on the western outskirts of Dawley in the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England. Horsehay lies in the Dawley Hamlets parish, and on the northern edge of the Ironbridge Gorge area.
Haberdashers' Abraham Darby Academy in Telford, Shropshire, England, is a coeducational secondary school on Ironbridge Road in Madeley which was founded in 1937. It is named after Abraham Darby III and is situated one mile from the Iron Bridge which he built in 1779. In September 2008 the school was converted to an academy through a link to Haberdashers' Adams, and was accepted by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). The school is a subsidiary of Haberdashers' Adams Grammar School in Newport. It part of the HWMAT group of schools. The new-style-academy is sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers'.
Woodside is a residential area within the civil parish of Madeley in Shropshire, England. It is also the name of an electoral ward of both Madeley Town Council and the borough of Telford and Wrekin. The population of the borough ward at the 2021 Census is given as 7,597.
The Coalbrookdale Coalfield is a coalfield in Shropshire in the English Midlands. It extends from Broseley in the south, northwards to the Boundary Fault which runs northeastwards from the vicinity of The Wrekin past Lilleshall. The former coalfield has been built on by the new town of Telford.
Brookside is a housing estate and suburb of Telford in the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England. The original settlement of Brookside is a Radburn estate built in the early 1970s as part of the development of Telford New Town and is entirely within the confines of Brookside Avenue. Significant development has taken place around the outside of Brookside Avenue since the estate was built, the majority of which is part of Stirchley Park but falls within the Brookside ward for both Telford and Wrekin Council and Stirchley and Brookside Parish Council.
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England. It is part of the United Benefice of Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge and Little Wenlock, in the Diocese of Hereford. The building is Grade II* listed.
↑ John A. Hargreaves, 'Fletcher , Mary (1739–1815)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2005 accessed 18 March 2017
↑ "Fearsome Mary and her fight to rid TV of 'filth'". Shropshire Star. 11 October 2021. pp.20, 29.Report by Toby Neal, part of 'Great Lives' series on Midlands worthies.
↑ "Great Lives: From working-class roots to literary fame". Shropshire Star. 27 December 2021. pp.20, 29.Article by Toby Neal, part of series on West Midlands worthies.
↑ "Death of Alderman W.G. Dyas – Four time Mayor of Wenlock – All-round Sportsman – Played cricket with W.G. Grace". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 19 January 1940. p.4.
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