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Madeley
High St, Madeley - geograph.org.uk - 729931.jpg
High Street, Madeley
Madeley is located in Shropshire
Madeley
Madeley
Population 17,935 (2001)
OS grid reference SJ697044
Civil parish
  • Madeley
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town TELFORD
Postcode district TF7
Dialling code 01952
Police West Mercia
Fire Shropshire
Ambulance West Midlands
EU Parliament West Midlands
UK Parliament
  • The Wrekin
List of places
UK
England
Shropshire
52°38′13″N 2°26′53″W / 52.637°N 2.448°W / 52.637; -2.448

Madeley is a constituent town and civil parish in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. The parish had a population of 17,935 at the 2001 census.

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 UNESCO World 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.

Sigward, a local ruler in the time of King Æthelbald of Mercia, is said to have held 3 hides of land at Madeley. Between 727 and 736 he sold his holdings to Mildburh, daughter of Merewalh, sub-king of the Magonsæte. She was the founder and first head of Wenlock Abbey. The monastery was refounded as a Cluniac priory after the Norman conquest but the manor of Madeley belonged to the church of Wenlock, throughout the Middle Ages, until the Dissolution of the monasteries. It passed to the Crown in 1540 and in 1544 was sold to Robert Broke, a prominent lawyer and politician from Claverley.

Mining of coal began before 1322, and the extraction of ironstone had begun by 1540.

The town played a role in the English Civil War, as it was home to a garrison of Royalist soldiers in 1645, although this post was abandoned after the fall of Shrewsbury. Two months later, Parliamentary forces occupied the parish church. Madeley is also home to a barn in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester in 1651.

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 Iron Bridge was built between Madeley Wood and Coalbrookdale 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.

Madeley Court - geograph.org.uk - 173588 - edited
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.

Several of Madeley's historical sites of interest are waypoints on the South Telford Heritage Trail including: Madeley Court, Madeley High Street, Jubilee House, St. Michaels Church, Madeley Windmill and the Madeley Salop Railway Station. The gatehouse to Madeley Court is a grade I listed building.

Geography

TelfordMap
Madeley shown within Telford in Maroon.

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.

Part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ironbridge Gorge falls within the Parish of Madeley. The majority of the site is within the parish of The Gorge, named for the Ironbridge Gorge, which is bridged by The Iron Bridge.

Demography

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.

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.

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. Town bus services are provided by Arriva Midlands, and a community bus service is provided.

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. 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.

Religious sites

St Michaels Church - geograph.org.uk - 722123
St Michael's Church

There are three churches in the centre of Madeley: St. Michael's, a Church of England parish church, which was designed in its present form by Thomas Telford; Madeley Baptist Church; and St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, part of the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The Fletcher Methodist Centre can be found in the town, and on the Tweedale Industrial Estate near Madeley is the Springfield Christian Fellowship.

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.

Education

There are a number of nurseries and primary schools in Madeley, and two secondary schools: Haberdashers' Abraham Darby and Madeley Academy. Haughton School, a special school for students aged five to eleven is located in the town.

Notable people

Residents of the town of Madeley have included Sir Basil Brooke of Madeley Court, who was instrumental in the Industrial Revolution. He was born in the local manor (which he later inherited) in 1576. His grandfather, Robert Broke, was a former Speaker of the House of Commons.

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. John's iron tombstone is in the parish churchyard.

Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate VC, is another former resident of the town, who earned the Victoria Cross in the First World War. He was kinsman of Colonel Sir Charles Yate, 1st Baronet, (1849–1940) British soldier and administrator in India, who retired to Madeley Hall and is buried in the parish churchyard.

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.
  • Samuel Thorp (c.1765-1838) clockmaker, born there.
  • Joseph Anstice (1808-1836), classical scholar, essayist, hymn writer, born at Madeley Wood Hall.
  • Sir Wyke Bayliss (1835–1906) British painter, author and poet, born there.
  • John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton (1844-1921), judge, Liberal politician and writer, born there.
  • Matthew Webb (1848-1883), pioneer Channel swimmer, lived in High Street in childhood before family moved to Coalbrookdale
  • Wesley Spragg (1848–1930) New Zealand butter manufacturer, exporter and temperance campaigner, born there.
  • William Dyas (1872–1940), first-class cricketer, born and died there.
  • Richard Guy (1877-1938), professional footballer for Manchester City and other teams
  • Edward Gwilliam (1877-1954) professional footballer for Wolves, born there.
  • Harold William Timperley (1890–1964) English author of local history and topographical studies.
  • Cecil Harris (1905-1949) professional footballer, goalkeeper for Hibernian and Darlington, born there.
  • Edith Mary Pargeter, (best known as Ellis Peters) OBE, BEM (1913–1995), English author of history and historical fiction, lived in Madeley from 1956 to 1995.
  • Billy Wright, CBE (1924–1994) former captain of Wolves and the England football team, attended Madeley Senior School, now Haberdashers' Abraham Darby. 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.
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