Donnington, Telford
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Donnington is a village in the parish of Donnington and Muxton in the borough of
Telford and Wrekin Telford and Wrekin is a Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called the Wrekin, named after The Wrekin, a prominent hill to the ...
in
Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...
, England. The population of Donnington Ward was 6,883 at the 2011 census.


History

Before the Romans arrived in Britain the area around Donnington was a mixture of forest and open rough ground in some respects more suitable to sheep rather than humans. Further down Donnington's low lying valley, north of Donnington, the ground was marshy wetland habitat; today this has been drained for farming. This wet moorland provided protection for pre-Roman
Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
living between 300BC and 100AD near the
hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...
at the now small settlement of Wall north of Donnington. The original Donnington village was to the northeast of the current centre of Donnington. A map of Shropshire by
John Speed John Speed (1551 or 1552 – 28 July 1629) was an English cartographer, chronologer and historian of Cheshire origins.; superseding . The son of a citizen and Merchant Taylor in London,"Life of John Speed", ''The Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compe ...
from 1610 refers to Donnington as ''Dunnyton'', the ending ''ington'' meaning in Anglo Saxon "Dunny's homestead or farm". This farm was most likely leased from the Saxon Minster of St Alkmund's in
Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...
who, when the
Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
arrived, held the land around Lilleshall (according to the
Domesday Survey 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
(1086)). Following the
Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
in 1066 the land was eventually passed to Godbald, religious adviser to the Norman magnate
Roger de Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury Roger de Montgomery (died 1094), also known as Roger the Great, was the first Earl of Shrewsbury, and Earl of Arundel, in Sussex. His father was Roger de Montgomery, seigneur of Montgomery, a member of the House of Montgomery, and was probably ...
; Godbald's descendants, the Belmeis family, endowed the land in 1145 to the Christian Augustinian foundation from North East France who built Lilleshall Abbey. Over 400 years later the dissolution of the monasteries by
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
ended centuries of church dominated society and the land was purchased in 1539 by James Leveson, a
Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...
wool merchant and was then passed down his family's inheritance to eventually become part of the
Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made ...
's estate. Leveson's descendants over the centuries invested heavily in draining the sodden moors to the north of Donnington so they could be farmed and in mining coal from the Donnington Wood coalfield. Locals, mostly men, would have found work in these enterprises and at the local farms. By the early 20th century Donnington was a minor industrial centre where "Walker's works" (C&W Walker Ltd) iron works produced components of
gasometer A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is natural gas storage, stored near atmospheric pressure at room temperature, ambient temperatures. ...
s and ship's engines. The Clock Tower restaurant commemorates the landmark Walker's Clock which now sits on a road island near where "Walker's works" once was. This roundabout is just a hundred metres north from the centre of the original village of Donnington. Walker's Clock's distinctive audible blast called the workers living in Donnington and nearby to work and was a time keeper for everyone else. At the same location there was, as shown on an
Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...
map from 1833, Donnington railway station with freight and passenger connections to Wellington and
Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...
; this was closed as part of
Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...
in 1964. Only further north, at The Humbers, iron-making is thought to have taken place since the late 16th century, with the name 'Humbers' deriving from a set of water-driven ‘hammers’ which in 1580 were owned by the Duke of Sutherland's Leveson ancestors (whose Lilleshall Ironworks was one of the first blast furnaces in the West Midlands). The Hammers were located on or near the site of a mill on Lubstree Pool, which before the dissolution of the monasteries had belonged to the Canons of the nearby Lilleshall Abbey. At the original Donnington village centre there was a coal wharf linked by rail to the Granville Colliery, Shropshire's last deep coal mine. This mine tapped into the Donnington Wood coalfield (where most of the local coal and ironstone reserves are located and which once came to the surface where it was mined in the 18th century at Donnington Wood). In 1818 the Lilleshall Company began sinking a number of deep mines around Donnington Wood, extracting over 400,000 tons of coal a year from the area by 1871. This industrial heritage links the original Donnington village to the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
that Telford proudly asserts began with the first large scale smelting of iron using coke in the
Coalbrookdale 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, Shro ...
area of Telford. The current centre of Donnington, near the Parade (as in the photo here), is actually the centre of a planned village initially called New Donnington, a housing development that began in the late 1930s when the
War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...
bought land to house the workers who would be employed at the Donnington Army Ordnance Depot, which became active in 1940 and remains in use as a logistics base. The new planned town of
Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, 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 b ...
that includes Donnington was a separate planned development begun in 1963.


Today

Donnington is a ward of Telford with a long
parade of shops A shopping parade, also known as a parade of shops, suburban parade, neighbourhood parade, or just a simply a parade is a group of between five and 40 shops in one or more continuous rows, mostly being retail and serving a local customer base; in ...
down the high street. In the 21st century this has grown with an
Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...
superstore and an
Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...
supermarket added to the
Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...
supermarket that already existed. Additionally, a
Home Bargains T.J. Morris Limited (trading as Home Bargains) is a British variety store and garden centre chain founded in 1976 by Tom Morris in Liverpool, England, as Home and Bargain. History The retailer was founded by owner Tom Morris in 1976 as a sing ...
supermarket has replaced the Netto then Netto replaced Morrison's supermarket in the centre of Donnington on the site of the old pub "The Champion Jockey". The Telford International Railfreight Park (TIRF), opened in 2009 has been developed on a site formerly part of the MoD depot, given rail access by rebuilding of the former Shropshire Union Railway west towards
Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. It is expected this development will attract more light industry to the industrial estates near Donnington. Donnington is home to a small amateur dramatics company "The Little Theatre" and each year the Broadoaks playing fields play host to a
Guy Fawkes Guy Fawkes (; 13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606), also known as Guido Fawkes while fighting for the Spanish, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics involved in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He was born and educate ...
fair and
bonfire night Bonfire Night is a name given to various yearly events marked by bonfires and fireworks. These include Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) in Great Britain; All Hallows' Eve (31 October); May Eve (30 April); Midsummer Eve/Saint John's Eve (23 Jun ...
.


Notable people

* Norman Jones (1932–2013), actor mainly on TV, born in Donnington. * Barrington J. Bayley (1937–2008),
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
writer, came to live in Donnington as a child during the Second World War.


Sport

* Robbie Brightwell (1939–2022), track and field athlete who appeared in the 1964 Olympics, grew up in Donnington after his family returned to England from India. *Super Bantamweight boxer Liam Davies (born 1996) is from Donnington. He leads the division in the UK and will be looking at a world title shot in 2024/2025.


References


Bibliography

*


External links


The Little Theatre, DonningtonAlong the Moors – Donnington – C&W Walkers Ltd
{{authority control Villages in Shropshire Donnington and Muxton Telford and Wrekin