LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Great Dawley owed
suit from 1310 or earlier (fn. 45) to the leet court of Wem
barony, held at Hinstock. The vill's presentments
there were recorded from 1478 until 1851. (fn. 46) Little
Dawley and Malinslee made suit to Bradford
hundred court in 1592, (fn. 47) the obligation originating
in their membership of Leegomery manor, which
made suit to that court in 1255. (fn. 48) Little Dawley
continued to make suit to the hundred court, at
Wellington, until the 18th century. (fn. 49)
Courts baron for Great Dawley were held only
occasionally in the 16th century. (fn. 50) One, in April
1569, was apparently the occasion of a court
dinner. Another court, probably the next, was
held in September 1571. (fn. 51) Profits were small, (fn. 52)
though the manorial bailiff accounted for a felon's
goods c. 1569. (fn. 53) No courts had been held there
within memory in 1780, when the lords of Hinstock manor held a court in Dawley in an unsuccessful attempt to claim manorial rights in the
township. (fn. 54)
Profits of Little Dawley court baron were said
to be worth 20s. a year in 1653. Records of the
court, held annually in October from the late 18th
century, survive from 1698 to 1810. (fn. 55)
At Malinslee the Eytons held courts in the 14th
and 15th centuries. Matters dealt with were mainly agricultural, but a presentment for fornication
was made in 1372. A constable's appointment was
recorded in 1406. In the 16th century Malinslee
matters were dealt with at the Eytons' court at
Eyton upon the Weald Moors. (fn. 56)
A pinfold was in need of repair in 1721. (fn. 57)
Dawley was within the jurisdiction of the
Broseley court of requests from 1782 (fn. 58) until its
abolition under the County Courts Act, 1846. (fn. 59)
Records of the parish meeting, from 1820 a
select vestry of 20 members, survive from 1806. (fn. 60)
Separate overseers were appointed for each of the
three townships by 1807. There was a salaried
assistant overseer by 1813, when a paid treasurer
was also appointed to enable the assistant overseer
to concentrate on relieving the poor. Levy of the
poor rate from Dawley's large, scattered labouring
population proved difficult. In 1807 the parish
meeting ordered that every householder who kept
a dog was liable to pay the rate, presumably in an
attempt to levy rates from the parish's numerous
cottagers. By 1813, however, many ratepayers
were in arrears and the accounts showed a 'considerable' deficit. (fn. 61) Annual expenditure on the
poor rose to £590 in 1816-17 (c. 2s. 4d. a head of
population) but fell to £119 (9d. a head) in 1819-
20. (fn. 62) After the death of Richard Lewis, the assistant overseer, in 1828 (fn. 63) relief was administered by
a vestry committee, meeting every three weeks at
the poorhouse. (fn. 64) In 1831 a total of 96 paupers,
mainly widows, received weekly pay. (fn. 65) In 1836
Dawley became part of Madeley poor-law union,
despite requests by the vestry that it should either
unite with Wellington union or remain
independent. (fn. 66)
The parish rented a cottage as a poorhouse c.
1784. (fn. 67) It was probably that in Dawley Green
Lane (later Bank Road) (fn. 68) which the overseers
bought and enlarged in 1813. (fn. 69) In the summer of
that year, before being extended, the poorhouse
contained c. 50 inmates. (fn. 70) After Dawley joined the
Madeley union the building became redundant
and was leased in 1838, (fn. 71) although a room was
rented back in 1847 as a refuge for the destitute. (fn. 72)
In 1852-3 the property was sold and the proceeds
used to buy the site of the tithe barn in the
south-west corner of Holy Trinity churchyard, on
which a building for vestry meetings and a Sunday school was erected. (fn. 73)
In the mid 19th century various methods of
organizing the maintenance of parish roads were
tried. In 1837 there were separate salaried surveyors for Great and Little Dawley townships. A
highways board of 20 members, responsible for
the whole parish, was created in 1839, but in 1843
the parish reverted to the appointment of salaried
surveyors. A second highways board, of 13 members, was created in 1850 but separate surveyors
were again appointed from 1855. In 1860 a board
was appointed with responsibility for Great Dawley township only. A successful solution was
reached in 1865 when another board, covering the
whole parish, was created. It had 20 members, 12
for Great Dawley, 4 for Little Dawley, and 4 for
Malinslee. (fn. 74)
A board of health was created at the time of the
1831-2 cholera epidemic; (fn. 75) it was probably shortlived. In 1876 Dawley became an urban sanitary
district with a board of 12 members. (fn. 76) The board
became an urban district council in 1894. (fn. 77) The
U.D.C. employed only one full-time chief officer,
a combined sanitary inspector and surveyor, until
1943. (fn. 78) Its offices were in the market hall (fn. 79) until a
house in King Street was bought as council offices
in 1935. (fn. 80) In 1966, when Madeley was merged
with Dawley urban district, the enlarged U.D.
was divided into six wards and a council of 24
members formed. (fn. 81) New offices, built on derelict
land east of High Street and known as the Civic
Centre, were opened in 1968. (fn. 82) The U.D. was
abolished in 1974; thereafter the area, not
assigned to any civil parish, coincided with eleven
urban wards of the district of the Wrekin. (fn. 83)
Dewley Urban District
Gules, three escutheons argent, the first charged with a cross of the field, the secound with a cross erminois, the third with a cross vert [Granted 1956]
The U.D.C.'s common seal was circular, 35
mm. in diameter, inscribed (roman) URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL OF DAWLEY at the circumference
and 1894 across the face. (fn. 84) Ever-Ready Ltd. secured a grant of arms for the U.D.C. in 1956. (fn. 85)
The shield's three escutcheons and the motto
Trinis catenis vinctus alluded to the parishes of
St. Luke, St. Leonard, and the Holy Trinity, and
the crest (on a wreath of the colours a demi triton
winding a conch horn and crowned with an
antique crown all or) to Capt. Webb. (fn. 86)
In 1963 the whole ancient parish, except a few
acres on the northern boundary near Hollinswood, was designated part of Dawley new town. (fn. 87)
The parts excluded were, however, embraced in
the designated area of Telford new town in 1968. (fn. 88)