Telford

History

Early settlement in the area was thought to be on the land that sloped up from the Weald Moors (an area north of the town centre) towards the line along which the Roman Watling Street was built. Farmland surrounded three large estates in the 10th century, namely Wellington, Wrockwardine and Lilleshall. The area was the site of the 1821 Cinderloo Uprising, which saw 3,000 people protest against the lowering of wages for those working in the local coal industry. The protests resulted in the deaths of three striking colliers. The New Town was first designated on 16 January 1963 by the Conservative administration as Dawley New Town, covering of Dawley, Wenlock, Oakengates, Wellington Rural District and Shifnal Rural District. Development started, guided by the Dawley New Town Development Corporation, with the first homes on the new Sutton Hill housing estate being occupied in 1967. Initial planning and design concepts for Dawley New Town were produced by the Birmingham-based John Madin Design Group. The Minister proposed an extension of in 1968 (taking in the historic area of Ironbridge Gorge). The Dawley New Town (Designation) Amendment (Telford) Order was made on 29 November 1968, extending the New Town area by of "land lying within the urban districts of Oakengates and Wellington and the rural districts of Shifnal and Wellington". The Order also renamed the new town Telford, after the Scottish-born civil engineer Thomas Telford, who in 1787 became Surveyor of Public Works for Shropshire. Other suggested names at the time were Dawelloak and Wrekin Forest City. Most of the infrastructure was constructed from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, with the major housing and commercial development occurring over three decades up to the early 1990s when the…

Geography

Telford town centre lies about east/south-east of Shrewsbury and north-west of Wolverhampton. The town covers 7,803 hectares (30.13 square miles) and its southern and eastern parts, between the Severn Gorge and Donnington Wood, include the East Shropshire coalfield. North and north-west Telford lie beyond the coalfield's boundary fault on sandstone beds which, along with other Triassic formations, prevail over much of the North Shropshire plain. The town centre stands on a watershed, with land to the south draining towards the River Severn and to the north sloping gently down towards the Weald Moors. The town is dominated by the Wrekin, a large hill of 407 m (1335 ft), south-west of Wellington, straddling the border with the unitary Shropshire Council (before the latter's creation in 2009 the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham).

Most-observed species

• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,435
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,262
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,188
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,062
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,861
• Eurasian Magpie

  Pica pica (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,696
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,600
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,564

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2023-06-28
  2 km SE of Cheadle, United Kingdom
• M 3.6 — 2022-05-30
  2 km ESE of Prees, United Kingdom
• M 3.2 — 2022-02-21
  5 km N of Hockley, United Kingdom
• M 2.6 — 2014-10-28
  2 km NNE of Hucknall, United Kingdom
• M 2.9 — 2013-01-18
  0 km NE of Hathern, United Kingdom
• M 3.9 — 2008-10-26
  2 km N of Bromyard, United Kingdom