| Madeley | |
|---|---|
| Town and civil parish | |
     From the top clockwise: Madeley High Street from theSilkin Way,Madeley Court, Jubilee Hall,Madeley Market Old Station Building and St. Michaels Church | |
  Madeley Location withinShropshire | |
| Population | 18,774 (2021 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SJ697044 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Areas of the town | List
|
| Post town | TELFORD |
| Postcode district | TF7 |
| Dialling code | 01952 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Official website |
| |
Madeley is a historicmarket town andcivil parish in the borough ofTelford and Wrekin,Shropshire, England. The parish had a population of 18,774 at the 2021 census.[1]
Madeley is recorded in theDomesday 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 theUNESCOWorld Heritage Site ofIronbridge Gorge, the site ofThe Iron Bridge, and a key area in the development of Industry.
The name Madeley is derived from theOld Englishmadalēah meaning 'Mada's wood or clearing'.[2]
The settlement of Madeley is recorded as far back as theDomesday Book. The town was founded prior to the 8th century, and subsequently became amarket town in the 13th century.
Sigward, a local ruler in the time of KingÆthelbald of Mercia, is said to have held 3 hides of land at Madeley.[3] Between 727 and 736 he sold his holdings toMildburh, daughter ofMerewalh, sub-king of theMagonsæte. She was the founder and first head ofWenlock Abbey. The monastery was refounded as aCluniacpriory after theNorman Conquest but the manor of Madeley belonged to the church of Wenlock, throughout theMiddle Ages, until thedissolution of the monasteries. It passed to the Crown in 1540 and in 1544 was sold toRobert Broke, a prominent lawyer and politician fromClaverley.
Mining of coal began before 1322, and the extraction of ironstone had begun by 1540.[4]
In 1645, during theEnglish Civil War, the town was home to a garrison of Royalist soldiers. The post was abandoned after the fall ofShrewsbury, and two months later Parliamentary forces occupied the parish church.[4] After theBattle of Worcester in 1651,King Charles II hid in a barn adjoining Upper House in Church Street.[5]
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 ofThe Iron Bridge was built between Madeley Wood andBroseley and the settlement ofIronbridge 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 theCoalbrookdale Coalfield, Madeley was home to nearly 100 known and named pits in the old Madeley parish with coal mining continuing until the early 1900s.[6] 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.[7]
In the 1970s, significant construction of new housing and recreation areas was undertaken by the Dawley Development Corporation, later known as theTelford Development Corporation, as part of the development of Telford New Town.[4]
Several of Madeley's historical sites of interest are waypoints on theSouth Telford Heritage Trail including:Madeley Court, Madeley High Street, Jubilee House,St Michael's Church, Madeley Windmill and theMadeley Salop Railway Station. The gatehouse to Madeley Court is aGrade I listed building.[8]
Madeley is located within thecivil parish and ward of the same name. The ward is within theTelfordconstituency, 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 andWoodside, plus the industrial areas of Halesfield and Tweedale.[9] There are four electoral wards, namely, Academy[10] (which elects one councillor), Cuckoo Oak[11] (five councillors), Madeley Village[12] (five councillors) and Woodside[13] (six councillors).[14] Following the 2023 local government election, at which all seats wereuncontested, the composition of Madeley Town Council was 14 Labour councillors and one Independent with two seats vacant.[15]
The town is administered atborough level byTelford 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 incorporatedIronbridge, which has since become part of the new parish ofThe Gorge.
Madeley is situated in the southern part of the new town of Telford, to the north ofIronbridge and theRiver 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 andironstone.[16]
Part of theUNESCOWorld Heritage Site of theIronbridge Gorge falls within the Parish of Madeley.[17] The majority of the site is within the parish of The Gorge, named for theIronbridge Gorge, which is bridged byThe Iron Bridge.
At the 2001 census, the population of the parish of Madeley was 17,935. Of this number, 8,190 wereeconomically active, and of them, 7,477 were in employment. The ethnicity of the population was as follows: 96% of the population was found to beWhite, and 1.9%Asian, orAsian British. 1.3% of the population wasmixed race, 0.6%Black orBlack British and a further 0.2% Chinese.[18]
In terms of religion: 77% of the population are Christian, and 14.4% are ofno religion. 0.7% of the population areMuslim, 0.5% areSikh, 0.3% areHindu, and 0.1% areBuddhist.[19]
Historically, Madeley was a mining town serving the now defunctKemberton Colliery. It was also home to theMadeley 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.[20]
The B4373 runs through the town, and theA4169 runs along its northern edge. The nearest motorway is theM54, which connects Telford to theWest Midlands conurbation and the rest of the motorway network. Most bus services are provided byArriva Midlands, and a community bus service is provided.[21]
Near Madeley is Madeley Junction, a railway junction and its accompanying signal box. The line from this junction runs toLightmoor Junction, and was used to carry coal toIronbridge Power Station.[22] The nearestNational Rail station to the town isTelford Central. It was also served theCoalport Branch Line from 1860 until 1952. The station remains intact and the former trackbed forms part of the Silkin Way.[23]
There are a number of nurseries and primary schools in Madeley,[24] and two secondary schools:Haberdashers' Abraham Darby[25] andMadeley Academy.[26] Haughton School, aspecial school for students aged five to eleven is located in the town.[27]
There are three churches in the centre of Madeley:St Michael's, aChurch of England parish church in theDiocese of Hereford, which was designed in its present form byThomas Telford;[28] MadeleyBaptist Church; and theRoman CatholicSt Mary's Church, part of theDiocese of Shrewsbury.[29][30] The FletcherMethodist Centre can be found in the town, and on the Tweedale Industrial Estate near Madeley is the Springfield Christian Fellowship.[30]
Residents of the town of Madeley have includedSir Basil Brooke (1576–1646), ofMadeley Court, who was instrumental in theIndustrial Revolution. He was born in the local manor, which he later inherited. His grandfather,Robert Broke, was a formerSpeaker of the House of Commons.[31]
Mary Bosanquet Fletcher (1739–1815), one of the first femaleMethodist preachers, andJohn William Fletcher (1729–1785), her husband and fellow Methodist who was Vicar of Madeley, had a joint ministry in the parish in the 18th century.[32] John's iron tombstone is in the parish churchyard.[33]
MajorCharles Allix Lavington Yate (1872–1914), is another former resident of the town, who earned theVictoria Cross in theFirst World War.[34] He was kinsman of ColonelSir Charles Yate, 1st Baronet, (1849–1940) British soldier and administrator in India, who retired to Madeley Hall and is buried at the churchyard atSt Michael's Church, Madeley
Mary Whitehouse (1910–2001), taught art at Madeley Modern School (now theHaberdashers' 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 theBBC.[35]
see last six lines:- His son and successor, the third Abraham Darby (1750–1791)
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