Madeley is a constituent town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Telford and Wrekin 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. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin" ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, England. The parish had a population of 17,935 at the 2001 census. Madeley is recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, 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 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

Ironbridge Gorge 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 ...

, the site of

The Iron Bridge The Iron Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. Its success inspired the widespread use of cast iron as a st ...

, and a key area in the development of Industry.

History

The settlement of Madeley is recorded as far back as the

. The town was founded prior to the 8th century, and subsequently became a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

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 Saint Mildburh (alternatively Milburga or Milburgh) (died 23 February 727) was the Benedictine abbess of Wenlock Priory. Her feast day is 23 February. Life Mildburh was a daughter of Merewalh, King of the Mercian sub-kingdom of Magonsaete, a ...

, daughter of Merewalh, sub-king of the

Magonsæte Magonsæte was a minor sub-kingdom of the greater Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, thought to be coterminous with the Diocese of Hereford. The British territory of Pengwern was conquered by Oswiu of Northumbria in 656, while he was overlord of th ...

. She was the founder and first head of Wenlock Abbey. The monastery was refounded as a

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

after the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

but the manor of Madeley belonged to the church of Wenlock, throughout the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, 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 The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

, as it was home to a garrison of Royalist soldiers in 1645, although this post was abandoned after the fall of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

. 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 The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell d ...

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 north end of

was built between Madeley Wood and

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge. This is where iron ore was first ...

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. 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 with the victims remembered today as the Nine Men of Madeley. Madeley Court - geograph

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 The South Telford Heritage Trail is a circular, waymarked walking route that passes by forty-nine heritage sites in the English town of Telford. The route The trail begins and ends in Telford Town Park and passes through the parishes of Stirch ...

including:

Madeley Court Madeley Court is a 16th-century country house in Madeley, Shropshire, England which was originally built as a grange to the medieval Wenlock Priory. It has since been restored as a hotel. The house is ashlar built in two storeys to an L-shape ...

, Madeley High Street, Jubilee House, St Michael's Church, Madeley Windmill and the Madeley Salop Railway Station. The gatehouse to Madeley Court is a grade I listed building.

Governance

Madeley is located within the

and ward of the same name. The ward is within the Telford

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

, which is currently represented by Conservative MP Lucy Allan. In terms of local government, the town has representation in the local Town Council, Madeley Town Council, with six councillors representing the town,. However, the term "Madeley" sometimes refers in a broader sense to a larger geographical area incorporating the town of Madeley and the neighbouring areas of Sutton Hill, Sutton Heights and

Woodside Woodside may refer to: Places and buildings Australia * Woodside, South Australia, a town * Woodside, Victoria, a town Canada * Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King *Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighbo ...

, and all four fall within the boundaries of Madeley Town Council. The current composition of Madeley Town Council is 15 Labour, 1 Conservative and 1 Independent. The town is administered on the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

level by

unitary 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.

Geography

Madeley is situated in the southern part of the new town of Telford, to the north of Ironbridge and the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

. 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

of the

falls within the Parish of Madeley. The majority of the site is within the parish of The Gorge, named for the

, which is bridged by

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 White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, and 1.9% Asian, or

Asian British British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...

. 1.3% of the population was mixed race, 0.6%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

Black British Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76� ...

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 Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 0.5% are Sikh, 0.3% are

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

, and 0.1% are

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

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.

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. Near Madeley is Madeley Junction, a railway junction and its accompanying signal box. The line from this junction runs to

Lightmoor Junction Lightmoor Junction was a railway junction between Ironbridge Power Station at Buildwas and Madeley Junction in Shropshire, England. From Lightmoor Junction, a line ran towards Wellington via Doseley and Horsehay. Following the complete closure ...

, and was used to carry coal to

Ironbridge Power Station The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to a series of two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was oper ...

. 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.

Education

There are a number of nurseries and primary schools in Madeley, and two secondary schools: Haberdashers' Abraham Darby and

Madeley Academy Madeley Academy (formerly Madeley Court School) is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Madeley, Shropshire, Madeley in the English county of Shropshire. Previously a Community school (England and Wales ...

. Haughton School, a special school for students aged five to eleven is located in the town.

Religious sites

There are three churches in the centre of Madeley: St Michael's, a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

parish church in the Diocese of Hereford, which was designed in its present form by

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

; Madeley Baptist Church; and the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

St Mary's Church, part of the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The Fletcher

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

Centre can be found in the town, and on the Tweedale Industrial Estate near Madeley is the Springfield Christian Fellowship.

Notable people

Residents of the town of Madeley have included Sir Basil Brooke of Madeley Court, who was instrumental in the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. 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 Mary Bosanquet Fletcher (; 12 September 1739 – 8 December 1815) was an English preacher credited with persuading John Wesley, a founder of Methodism, to allow women to preach in public. She was born into an affluent family, but after converti ...

, one of the first female

preachers, and

John William Fletcher John William Fletcher (born Jean Guillaume de la Fléchère; 12 September 1729 – 14 August 1785) was a Swiss-born English divine and Methodist leader. Of French Huguenot stock, he was born in Nyon in Vaud, Switzerland. Fletcher emigrated to E ...

, 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 Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

Charles Allix Lavington Yate VC, is another former resident of the town, who earned the Victoria Cross in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. 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.

Mary Whitehouse Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permi ...

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.Report by Toby Neal, part of 'Great Lives' series on Midlands worthies.

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 Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883) was an English swimmer and stuntman. He is the first recorded person to swim the English Channel for sport without the use of artificial aids. In 1875, Webb swam from Dover to Calais in ...

(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 William George Dyas MBE (6 November 1872 – 14 January 1940) was an English first-class cricketer, as well as footballer, businessman and local politician in Shropshire. Early life Dyas was born in November 1872 at Madeley, Shropshire, son of ...

MBE (1872–1940), first-class cricketer, local businessman and councillor representing Madeley on both Wenlock Borough and Shropshire County Councils, 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 In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

full-back, 232 appearances, 111 for Wolves, born there.

References

External links

Madeley Parish Council
has information about local history, events, etc.
Telford Culture Zone, Council run service for local arts and events
{{authority control Telford Towns in Shropshire Ironbridge Gorge Civil parishes in Shropshire