Madeley

Madeley, a market town in the municipal borough of Wenlock, and the Wellington (Mid) parliamentary division of Shropshire, England, 159 m. N.W. from London, with stations on the London & North Western (Madeley Market) and Great Western railways (Madeley Court). Pop. of civil parish (1901), 8442. There are large ironworks, ironstone and coal are mined, and potter's clay is raised. The church of St Michael (1796) replaced a Norman building. The living was held from 1760 to 1783 by John William Fletcher or de la Flechere, a close friend of the Wesleys. The parish includes a portion of Coalbrookdale, and the towns of Ironbridge and Coalport. Ironbridge, a town picturesquely situated on the steep left bank of the Severn, adjoins Madeley on the south-west. It takes its name from the iron bridge of one span crossing the river, erected in 1779. This bridge is a remarkable work considering its date; it was probably the first erected, at any rate on so large a scale, and attracted great attention. It is the work of Abraham Darby, the third of the name, one of the famous family of iron-workers in Coalbrookdale. Here are brick and tile works and lime-kilns. There is a station (Ironbridge and Broseley) on the Great Western railway, across the river. Coalport lies also on the Severn, S. of Madeley and 2 m. S.E. of Ironbridge, with a station on the Great Western railway. It has large china works, founded at the close of the 18th century, which subsequently incorporated those of Caughley, across the Severn, and of Nantgarw in Glamorganshire.