A History of Shropshire. Volume XI, 11. Telford. The Victoria History of the Counties of England

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First Edition. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. xix, 377 pages, many illustrations, maps and plans. Ex-library copy, virtually uncirculated, dust wrapper in plastic cover. Volume XI, relating to an area between the left bank of the Severn and the Weald Moors, covers most of the east Shropshire coalfield. Two parishes from the borough of Wenlock and eight from Bradford hundred contributed territory to Telford New Town and the volume opens with an account of the town's planning and growth since designation (as Dawley) in 1963. Prehistoric settlement centred on the Wrekin in the late Iron Age. Uxacona stood on Watling Street,which crosses the area. Post-Roman settlement was earliest north of Watling Street; to the south settlements were smaller in woodland cleared at a later date. Lilleshall abbey, Wombridge priory, and other monasteries nearby had large interests in the area's growth. Wenlock priory established a market at Madeley in 1269 but Wellington proved a more successful town, becoming one of Shropshire's three largest in the 18th century. The area cradled the Industrial Revolution. Seventeenth-century coal and iron works grew rapidly after the 13th-century innovations, of the Darbys of Coalbrookdale, and the Iron Bridge (opened 1780) symbolizes the area's entrepreneurial talent. From c.1850, however, and despite the growth of Oakengates, the area declined; it has been for Telford new town to reverse that decline. In the north Telford's rural surroundings comprise land sloping down to the Weald Moors; in the west the Wrekin dominates Aston, Little Wenlock, and other secluded villages. To the south the scenery and historic remains of Coalbrookdale and the Severn Gorge are now sedulously conserved. The volume includes an account of Bradford hundred..