STRICHLEY
Stirchley was formerly a farming parish with
an industrial belt along the north-west edge, but
in the 1970s it was transformed by the building of
houses as part of Telford new town. It lies on the
edge of the east Shropshire coalfield, 2 km. north
of Madeley and 5 km. west of Shifnal. The
ancient parish and township were conterminous,
forming a compact block of 840 a. (340 ha.) until
1934, when the transfer of the north-west side of
the parish to Dawley urban district reduced its
size to 568 a. (230 ha.). (fn. 13) Stirchley ceased to be a
separate administrative unit on the absorption of
the parish into Dawley U.D. in 1966. (fn. 14)
Lying in gently rolling terrain, the parish was
roughly triangular in shape. Its boundaries bore
little relationship to landform except in the northeast, where Edge brook formed part of the boundary with Shifnal, and in the north-west, where the
boundary with Dawley followed the incised Randlay valley. The parish was bisected by the Mad
brook valley, to the north-east of which a rounded
hill, rising to 158 metres, formed the highest
point in the parish. Stirchley is underlain by the
Coalport Beds of the Upper Coal Measures, on
which the extensive drift cover of boulder clay
gives rise to a heavy soil, which favoured a
pastoral economy and the retention of much
permanent grassland until the 19th century. (fn. 15)
After 1800 the productive Middle Coal Measures
beneath the Coalport Beds were mined from
shafts in the west half of the parish and clay was
quarried for brick making.
The growth of industry in the 19th century
resulted in only minor changes to the settlement
pattern and until the 1970s the parish contained
little more than the small cluster of houses near
the church west of the Mad brook valley and a
scatter of outlying farms in the east. The landscape underwent a dramatic transformation during the 1970s as extensive housing estates were
built over much of the south and east as part of
Telford new town development programme.
Stirchley village lay at the hub of a radial
pattern of roads, lanes, and paths, linking the
outlying farms to the village or giving access to
distant fields. Only the Dawley-Shifnal road,
which crossed the parish from west to east,
appears to have been of more than local importance. The ancient road pattern survived the
changes of 19th-century industrialization but was
modified substantially during the 1970s. (fn. 16)
Queensway, Telford's 'eastern primary road' linking the new residential and industrial areas between Oakengates and Madeley and providing a
through route to Bridgnorth, was built down the
eastern edge of the parish 1969-71, with a network of minor roads running from it to the
perimeters of the new housing estates in
Stirchley. (fn. 17)
The Coalport branch of the Shropshire Canal
was built along the western edge of the parish in
1788-9, the branch to Coalbrookdale leaving the
canal where it emerged from Southall Bank tunnel
in the south-west corner. (fn. 18) The tramway from
Hollinswood to the Severn at Sutton wharf, built
c. 1798 following disputes between the canal
company and coal owners, crossed Stirchley,
entering the parish at the north end and passing
by the Mad brook valley to Holmer in the southeast corner. Opened in 1799, the tramway closed
in 1815. (fn. 19) In 1860 the Coalport Branch Railway
(later L.N.W.R.) was built on the line of the
canal with a station where the Stirchley-Dawley
road crossed the line. (fn. 20) The station was closed to
passengers in 1952 and the line closed completely
in 1964. (fn. 21) In 1854 the Madeley branch of the
G.W.R. cut the south-east corner of the parish
near Holmer. (fn. 22) The G.W.R. also laid the Old
Park mineral line from Hollinswood to the Randlay valley in 1908 to serve the industries in
Stirchley. (fn. 23)
Public services came to Stirchley comparatively
early for such a small village. Mains electricity
was provided c. 1933 (fn. 24) and the village pump and
private wells were replaced by a piped water
supply c. 1947. (fn. 25)
The only building for social activities in the old
village was the parish room, opened in 1922 and
enlarged in 1928 perhaps to house the county
library book centre which opened in Stirchley in
1928. The building was burnt down and replaced
in 1935 by the brick church hall south of the
rectory. (fn. 26) From 1970 social facilities were provided in the district and local centres of the
Stirchley and Randlay housing estates. They included a youth club and sports complex at Stirchley centre and a community centre at Randlay
housed in the former Mount Pleasant farm
buildings. (fn. 27) There was a county branch library
from 1975 in Stirchley Upper School. (fn. 28)