Madeley Shropshire Family History Guide

Status: Ancient Parish

Alternative names: Madeley-Market

Parish church: All Saints

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1645
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1638

Nonconformists include:

Adjacent Parishes

Historical Descriptions

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

MADELEY, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Salop. The town stands on the Wellington and Severn Junction railway, adjacent to the deflection of branches to Shiffnal and to Coalbrookdale, 1 mile N of a bend of the river Severn, 2 E by N of Ironbridge, and 6 SE by S of Wellington; belonged anciently to Wenlock abbey; got the grant of a market, under that abbey, in the time of Henry II.; is a seat of county courts; and has a post office, under Wellington, Salop, a railway station, a banking office, and a good inn. The market went into disuse, but was revived about the middle of last century; and a new market-house was then erected in Ironbridge. Fairs are held on the last Tuesday of Jan., 29 May, and the second Tuesday of Oct. The parish contains also the town and chapelry of Ironbridge, and part of the village and chapelry of Coalbrookdale. Acres, 2,809. Real property, £59,636; of which £3,159 are in mines, £150 in quarries, £35,827 in iron-works, and £291 in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 8,525; in 1861, 9,469. Houses, 1,908. The manor belongs to J. Reynolds, Esq. The scenery, notwithstanding the presence of very-extensive iron-works, is strikingly beautiful; and it derives features of interest from some works of art, particularly the famous iron bridge over the Severn. The substrata contain valuable deposits of coal, ironstone, and potters’ clay. The iron-works of Madeley-wood and Madeley-court employ about 1,500 persons; and porcelain works employ about 500. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Hereford. Value, £300. Patron, Mrs. Bartlett. The church was rebuilt in 1796; superseded a church of Norman date; is a stone edifice, in the Grecian style, with a tower; and contains a monument to Fletcher, author of “Checks to Antinomianism” and other works, who was vicar. The vicarages of Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale are separate benefices. Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels are at Madeley town; and other dissenting chapels are in other parts. A Roman Catholic chapel was built in 1853, and is in the early English style. There are large national schools, an infant school, and charities £18.

The sub-district contains also the parishes of Buildwas and Little Wenlock. Acres, 7,682. Pop., 10,733. Houses, 2,154. The district comprehends also the subdistrict of Broseley, containing the parishes of Broseley, Linley, Willey, Barrow, Benthall, and Posenball; the sub-district of Dawley, containing the parishes of Dawley Magua and Stirchley; and the sub-district of Much Wenlock, conterminate with Much-Wenlock parish. Acres, 27,951. Poor rates in 1863, £7,967. Pop. in 1851, 27,627; in 1861, 30,403. Houses, 5,980. Marriages in 1863, 206; births, 1,090, of which 119 were illegitimate; deaths, 698, of which 308 were at ages under 5 years, and 17 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,693; births, 10,105; deaths, 6,210. The places of worship, in 1851, were 17 of the Church of England, with 7,351 sittings; 1 of Independents, with 310 s.; 4 of Baptists, with 840 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 260 s.; 10 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 3,916 s.; 2 of New Connexion Methodists, with 810 s.; 9 of Primitive Methodists, with 1,112 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 445 s. The schools were 19 public dayschools, with 2,411 scholars; 28 private day-schools, with 612 s.; 31 Sunday schools, with 4,095 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 17 s. The workhouse is in Madeley parish; and, at the census of 1861, had 42 inmates.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

MADELEY-MARKET (All Saints), a markettown and parish, and the head of a union, within the liberties of the borough of Wenlock, S. division of Salop, 4½ miles (S. W. by W.) from Shiffnall, 15 (S. E.) from Shrewsbury, and 148 (N. W.) from London; containing 7368 inhabitants. The name of this town indicates its situation between two rivers, and the adjunct arose from the grant of a market here, in the time of Henry III., to a community of Cluniac monks at Wenlock, to whom Madeley belonged. After the disastrous battle of Worcester, in 1651, Charles II. obtained temporary shelter in a house near the church, then occupied by Mr. Wolfe, and which is still remaining. Madeley stands on rising ground, and extends to Colebrookdale, which is environed by lofty hills and hanging woods, and in which are most extensive iron-works. Across the Severn, here, is a cast-iron bridge of one arch, erected in 1779, the span of which is 100 feet 6 inches, and the height from the base line to the centre, 40 feet; the total weight of iron being 378 tons: all the principal parts were erected in three months. Part of the parish derives the name of Iron-Bridge from this stupendous undertaking. About two miles south-eastward from Madeley, at the junction of the Shropshire canal with the Severn, is Coalport, where coal is landed from the mines in the neighbourhood, and whence it is conveyed to different parts of the counties of Gloucester and Worcester. Here are likewise a porcelain manufactory, a rope-yard, timber-yard, and mill for extracting linseed-oil. A neat iron bridge was constructed across the river at this point, in 1817, instead of a former bridge of wood; and not far distant, a tunnel about one mile in length, and partially arched with brick, was begun, as a more direct conveyance for coal, but was never completed. The market of Madeley having fallen into disuse, it was revived about 1763, when a new market-house was erected near the foot of the iron bridge in Colebrook-dale: the market is on Friday; and fairs are held on January 26th, May 29th, and October 12th. The powers of the county debt-court of Madeley, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Madeley and Shiffnall.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £4. 17. 10.; net income, £241; patron, Sir J. R. Kynaston, Bart.; impropriator, Sir J. Hawley, Bart. The ancient church, which exhibited several early Norman specimens, was pulled down in 1796, when the present edifice was erected. An additional church was built in 1834, to which a district, called St. Luke’s, Iron-Bridge, was assigned in 1845; it contains 1060 sittings, 660 of which are free: the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Vicar of Madeley. There are places of worship for Wesleyans and Roman Catholics. The house of industry here was completed in 1797, at an expense of £1086, of which £806 were raised by subscription, and £235 by the sale of certain property previously held in trust for the poor. The union of Madeley comprises 12 parishes or places, containing a population of 26,253. In the different strata of coal, iron-ore, and sandstone, which abound in the neighbourhood, numerous petrifactions, with impressions of animal and vegetable substances, of various kinds, have been found. The Rev. John William Fletcher, a native of Switzerland, whose Checks to Antinomianism is a standard theological work, and whose character is so deservedly admired, was appointed to the vicarage of Madeley in 1760, and held it until his death in 1785; he was interred in the churchyard.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Records

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Directories

Madeley (with Broseley, Benthall, Dawley and Barrow) 1791

Madeley, one hundred and forty-four miles from London, fifteen from Shrewsbury, and eight from Bridgenorth, was formerly a large market-town, but was destroyed by the civil wars, and the market discontinued, until the Friday before Michaelmas-day, 1763, when a private individual (Mr. John Edmunds) encouraged a few people to renew it, and advertised it.  The market is now become more large, but the lord of the manor has removed it to the foot of the iron-bridge, two miles from the original market-place. – The old town has now only one hundred and one dwelling-houses in it, but Colebrook-dale and Madeley-wood, which are in the parish, are very large and populous, on account of their iron-founderies, they being the largest and most curious of any in the kingdom, and are carried on under a company of people called Quakers, of which Richard Reynolds, Esq. is the chief, he being lord of the manor, and owning the extensive coal-works in the said parish. The famous iron-bridge which crosses the river Severn from this parish to Benthal, in one arch of one hundred feet within, and is supposed to contain five hundred tons of iron, was cast at Colebrook-dale, and erected in the years 1779 and 1780. – In driving a foot-road pit in this parish in 1788, there gushed out a spring of native tar from several holes, one of which was as thick as a man’s thigh, and several hogsheads per day were caught for a long time, but it is now almost exhausted.  There is a navigable canal nearly completed from Kettley iron-works, through several coal-works, and through this parish, to the river Severn, about eight or nine miles; but it is of no use but to the coal and iron masters. The principal inn is the Tontine, situated at the foot of the iron-bridge.

The following is a list of the principal inhabitants:

Gentry.

Ferriday William, Esq.
Hill Thomas, Esq.
Reynolds Richard, Esq.

Physic.

Bromwich – , Surgeon & Apothecary
Wright B. Surgeon and Apothecary

Traders.

Baker John, Mercer, Draper, & Grocer
Edmunds John, Printer & Booksetter
Ford Rd. British-oil and Nail Maker
Goodwin William, Coal-master and Timber-merchant
Hatton Henry, Timber-merchant
Horton William, Timber-merchant
Miller Thomas, Mercer, Draper, and Grocer
Wright Benjamin, Mercer, Draper & Grocer

Broseley is parted from Madeley by the river Severn on the south-west, and is a very populous parish, coals and iron being its chief manufactories.  The iron-founderys are carried on by William Banks and John Onions, Esqrs. of  Benthall, where they another foundery.  John Wilkinson, Esq. has also an iron-foundery in this parish, and Alexander Brodie, Esq. another.  The Earl of Dundonald has likewise upwards of fifty stills here for extracting mineral tar from the pit-coals.  Here is also a manufacture of glazed tobacco-pipes. – In 1711 a burning-spring was discovered here, the most remarkable indeed of which any particular description remains upon record.  The following account of this spring was given by the Rev. Mr. Mason, Woodwarden professor at Cambridge, dated February 18, 1746.  “The well for four or five feet deep is six or seven feet wide; within that is another less hole of like depth dug in the clay, in the bottom whereof is placed a cylindric earthen vessel, of about four or five inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken off, and the sides will fixed in the clay rammed close about it.  Within the pot is brown water, thick as puddle, continually forced up with a violent motion beyond that of boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noise, rising or falling by fits five or six inches; but there was no appearance of any vapour rising, which perhaps might have been visible, had not the sun shone so bright.  Upon putting a candle down at the end of a stick, at about a quarter of a yard distance, it took fire, darting and flashing after a very violent manner for about half a yard high, much in the manner of spirits in a lamp, but with great agitation.  It was said, that a tea-kettle has been made to boil in about nine minutes time, and that it had been left burning for forty-eight hours without any sensible diminution.  It was extinguished by putting a wet mop upon it; which must be kept there for a little time, otherwise it would not go out.  Upon removal of the mop there arises a sulphureous smoke lasting about a minute, and yet the water is cold to the touch.”  In 1755, this well totally disappeared by the sinking of a coal-pit in its neighbourhood. – The cause of the inflammable property of such waters, is with great probability supposed to be their mixture with petroleum, which is one of the most inflammable substances in nature, and has the property of burning on the surface of water. – The principal inn in Broseley is the Lion. – The following is a list of the principal inhabitants.

Gentry.

Blakeway Edward, Esq.
Stephens John, Esq.
Wilkinson John, Esq.

Physic.

Boden Daniel, Surgeon and Apothecary
Corbett John, Surgeon and Apothecary
Thursfield W. Surgeon and Apothecary
Wyke Abr. Surgeon and Apothecary

Traders, &c.

Baker Jeremiah, Mercer and Draper
Hartshorne William, Watchmaker
James John, Mercer and Draper
Prestwick Elias, Liquor-merchant

Benthall, the next adjoining parish west, had two large earthenware manufactories, one of which is carried on by Mr. John Bell, and the other by John Thursfield, a Quaker.

The parish of Dawley, which is situated north of Madeley, has tow large coal and iron works, one of which belongs to Messrs. Francis and John Humphrey, and the other to Isaac Hawkins Brown, Esq. of Bagsore, and Mr. Thomas Botfield, of this place.  Here is also an iron-furnace and several forges, belonging to William Reynolds, Esq.

Barrow, which is one mile east of Broseley, has a large porcelain manufactory, which is carried on by Thomas Turner, Esq. under the name of the Shropshire Porcelain Manufactory.

Source: Universal British Directory 1791

Administration

  • County: Shropshire
  • Civil Registration District: Madeley
  • Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Hereford (Episcopal Consistory)
  • Diocese: Hereford
  • Rural Deanery: Wenlock
  • Poor Law Union: Madeley
  • Hundred: Much Wenlock Borough
  • Province: Canterbury