Town profile: spotlight on Dawley

When EastEnders actress Lauren Crace told the nation she hailed from Dawley, she unwittingly shone the spotlight on the Telford town.

Lauren, who plays Danielle Jones, told viewers she originated in the Telford suberb, generating an overnight wave of interest.

Councillor Vic Tonks, who represents the town on Telford & Wrekin Council, said Crace got people talking in the street.

He said: "The ordinary residents had a lot to say about that. But then we've had quite a few famous people with links to Dawley, so it wasn't completely out of the blue."

Dawley is, of course, one of the most historic towns in Telford & Wrekin and was mentioned in the Domesday Book.

For more than three centuries it was a mining town with engineers extracting both coal and ironstone.

Later, production changed and the material taken from the ground was clay, which was used in local industrial-pipe factories, brickyards and the pottery industry.

Though Dawley is synonymous with new development, its roots date back much further.

Councillor Tonks says: "Dawley was the original new town, but in the past few decades it has suffered by being so close to the new Telford shopping centre. It's been neglected because all of the resources have been going into Telford.

"It's a strange fact that Dawley was home to Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the Channel, yet we don't have a swimming pool here. That's symptomatic of the way the town's been left behind."

Regeneration

The town has other famous alumni: Edith Pargeter, who under her pen name of Ellis Peters wrote the Brother Cadfael novels, went to school in Dawley. Numerous roads in Aqueduct, such as Cadfael Drive and Ellis Peters Drive, are 'themed' after her.

Regeneration is on the cards, however, with major plans to revamp the town. Residents hope the scheme will renew pride and interest in the town. Councillor Tonks says: "There's a buzz about the place with regeneration in the pipeline."

Historic records show there was once a castle in Dawley, which was demolished around 1648.

The site is unknown, although the Castle Pools, on the old quarry site, and Castle Ironworks, built by the Darby family, possibly indicate the general area where it may have stood.

Prior to the landscaping, following the creation of Telford New Town, extensive ruins were detectable next to the Castle Pools and are shown on old maps as being the location of the castle. In the 1980s the whole area was buried under thick topsoil and planted with trees.

Councillor Tonks added: "The history is on every corner. A number of the buildings date back quite a long way, for instance, we're the only town in Telford with a Town Hall. That dates back to 1873.

"While a lot of other Telford towns have marched on, Dawley has kept a lot of its character and history intact.

"The people are friendly and community-minded and are together. There's a lot of original Dawley people who were born and bred here. There's a strong community togetherness with those people.

"That doesn't mean they don't welcome new people, they do, but they are proud of their roots."

That sense of community togetherness, which includes the colourful annual "Dawley Day" celebrations, was responsible for repelling a plan to introduce car parking charges in the town.

Councillor Tonks said: "When Telford & Wrekin Council said it was going to charge, we formed the Telford & Wrekin People's Association as a non-political group. We fought the council and they didn't introduce them here, we were successful."

Dawley remains steeped in history. There is still a local clay pipe factory in the adjacent Doseley village, not to mention a great many churches.

Now Councillor Tonks and others hope it can look forward to an equally bright future.