{{Short description|Former parish in Shropshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Use British English|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox UK place | official_name = Wombridge | civil_parish = Oakengates | country = England | region = West Midlands | coordinates = {{coord|display=title|format=dms|52.701413|-2.458878|region:GB_type:city}} | os_grid_reference = | post_town = | postcode_area = | postcode_district = | dial_code = | unitary_england = Telford and Wrekin | lieutenancy_england = Shropshire | hide_services = | population = | population_ref = | area_total_km2 = | static_image = The former Parish Hall of Wombridge - geograph.org.uk - 2309258.jpg | static_image_caption = The former 1935 parish hall | website = }} '''Wombridge''' (alternatively '''Wambridge'''{{sfn|Wright|1837|p=716|loc=Wombridge}}) is a settlement in the civil parish of Oakengates, in the Telford and Wrekin district of the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England.{{sfn|Lewis|1835|loc=Wombridge}}{{sfn|Hulbert|1837|pp=133,142|loc=Wellington Division}}{{sfn|Wright|1837|p=716|loc=Wombridge}} It is {{convert|4|mile|km}} east of Wellington, {{convert|2|mile|km}} northeast of Telford, {{sfn|Hulbert|1837|p=157|loc=Wombridge}} and {{convert|16|mile|km}} from Shrewsbury,{{sfn|Cassey|1871|p=401|loc=Wombridge}} covering {{convert|699|acre|ha}}.{{sfn|Cassey|1871|p=401|loc=Wombridge}} It was former a parish in the Wellington Division of the hundred of Bradford South.
In in 1898, Shropshire County Council (via the Local Government Board) added the parish to Oakengates Urban District,{{sfn|LGB|1898|p=283}}{{sfn|de Soissons|1991|p=35}} which in its turn was replaced by the town of Telford, that was built as a new town in the 1960s.{{efn|The statutory instrument was ''The Dawley New Town (Designation) Amendment (Telford) Order 1968''.{{sfn|LG|1968|p=13433}}}}{{sfn|Newman|Pevsner|Watson|2006|p=622}}
It is now an area in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, with a parish church and an eponymous primary school.
== History == It was the location of Wombridge Priory, Wombridge Colliery, and the Wombridge Iron Works.{{cn|date=January 2025}}
It contained the junction of the Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and Marquess of Stafford canals and through it passed Watling Street and the Great Holyhead Road.{{sfn|Lewis|1835|loc=Wombridge}}{{sfn|Wright|1837|p=716|loc=Wombridge}} The Shrewsbury Canal had a double inclined plane there, with a steam engine for drawing boats upwards, extending {{convert|223|yard|m}} for a vertical rise of {{convert|75|ft|m}}.{{sfn|LE|1829|p=27}}
It was {{convert|148|mile|km}} by coach road from London, with letters delivered from there by 7:30 am in 1852.{{sfn|Clarke|1852|p=1009|loc=Wombrige}}
Wombridge Parish Council ceased to exist in 1898, Shropshire County Council (via the Local Government Board) abolishing it and replacing it with Oakengates Urban District,{{sfn|LGB|1898|p=283}}{{sfn|de Soissons|1991|p=35}} which in its turn was replaced by the town of Telford, that was built as a new town in the 1960s.{{efn|The statutory instrument was ''The Dawley New Town (Designation) Amendment (Telford) Order 1968''.{{sfn|LG|1968|p=13433}}}}{{sfn|Newman|Pevsner|Watson|2006|p=622}}
Wombridge Parish Council had expressed their objection to the merger on the grounds that Wombridge people would be made to pay for the new sewage systems in the rest of the urban district,{{sfn|TSR|1898|p=77}} the existing one at Oakengates being either ineffective or outright non-existent in parts of the parish{{sfn|de Soissons|1991|p=35}} and the one at Lilleshall using open ditches that passed through older housing.{{sfn|de Soissons|1991|p=35}} Because of this objection an inquiry had to be held,{{sfn|LGB|1898|p=xxxi}} at Oakengates on 19 January 1898,{{sfn|TSR|1898|p=77}} wherefrom the Board concluded (in its report on several such inquiries) that "no sufficient grounds had been shown which would justify us in overruling the action of the County Councils".{{sfn|LGB|1898|p=xxxi}}
The civil parish continued to exist as an urban parish until 1 April 1934 when it was abolished and merged with Oakengates.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10367748|title=Relationships and changes Wombridge (Parish) through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=2 October 2025}}</ref> In 1931 the parish had a population of 3405.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10367748/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Wombridge through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=2 October 2025}}</ref>
=== Schools and religious buildings === thumb|alt=A church with tower among trees|Wombridge Parish Church, seen in 2006 It is served by schools in neighbouring Oakengates, Telford and Wellington.{{sfn|Cassey|1871|p=401|loc=Wombridge}}
The parish church was the church of St Mary and St Leonard,{{sfn|Lewis|1835|loc=Wombridge}}{{sfn|Hulbert|1837|p=157|loc=Wombridge}} near to which were the remains of a Augustinian priory that had been founded during the reign of Henry I by William Fitz-Alan and later dissolved.{{sfn|Lewis|1835|loc=Wombridge}}{{sfn|Hulbert|1837|p=157|loc=Wombridge}} The parish curacy in 1837 amounted to a {{GBP|800}} royal bounty and a {{GBP|1200}} parliamentary grant.{{sfn|Hulbert|1837|p=157|loc=Wombridge}} The Churchyard holds eight graves which are in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/43389/wombridge-ss-mary-and-leonard-churchyard/ | website = Commonwealth War Graves Commission | title =Wombridge (Ss. Mary and Leonard) | access-date= 9 February 2025}}</ref>
=== Iron Works === {{expand section|date=January 2025}} The Wombridge Iron Works was established in 1818.{{sfn|Lewis|1835|loc=Wombridge}} The Wombridge Iron Company mined iron and coal.{{sfn|Cassey|1871|p=401|loc=Wombridge}} It produced puddled wire reels, screw and fencing rods, sheet iron for corrugating and galvanization, charcoal sheets, and tack sheets.{{sfn|Wright|1870|p=255}} In 1865 at a meeting of the Mechanical Engineers' Society of Birmingham, Henry Bennett of the Iron Company presented a description of the construction and operation of his new mechanized puddling machine, recording a coal usage for puddled iron of {{convert|28|Lcwt/LT|Mg/Mg}} in the single furnace and to {{convert|17|Lcwt/LT|Mg/Mg}} in the double furnace, when employing the machine.{{sfn|Daddow|Bannan|1866|p=628}}{{sfn|Salmon|1864a|p=92}}{{sfn|Salmon|1864b|p=350}}
The soil comprised sand and stiff clay.{{sfn|Cassey|1871|p=401|loc=Wombridge}} Industrial water supply came from three reservoirs, the Wombridge Pool, the Middle Pool, and the Trench Pool.{{sfn|LGB|1910|p=6}}
The iron works was connected by rail to the Stafford line via the Coalport Branch Line, originally via a Wombridge Branch from the sidings at Trench, but in the 1870s shortened to direct access from the Coalport Branch.{{sfn|Clarke|2016|pp=165–166}} Also in the 1870s the iron works went from producing pig iron to making wrought iron, and gained a forge, ten puddling furnaces, and three rolling mills.{{sfn|Clarke|2016|pp=165–166}} In 1912 a set of railway sidings for the Wombridge Ballast Tip, which the Wombridge Pool had been converted into by that time, was added; which moved around as the tip filled and eventually were removed sometime between 1937 and 1940, which local railway historian David Clarke believes is when the tip became full.{{sfn|Clarke|2016|p=166}}
Prior to the Iron Works, in the 17th century there had been water-powered iron smelting of iron ore from the colliery.{{sfn|Trinder|1996|p=122}}{{sfn|Stanford|1980|p=252}}
=== Colliery === {{expand section|date=February 2025}} Records of coal mining in Wombridge go back at least as far as the 16th century, with a farm belonging to the coal mine that was run by the Wombridge Priory being recorded as paying an annual rent for 1536–1537 of {{GBP|5|year=1536}}.{{sfn|Galloway|1898|p=117|loc=The Sixteenth Century}} William Reynolds is recorded as recommencing open cast mining for coal and iron-stone around 1793; and a "without a beam" variant of the Newcomen steam engine is recorded as being erected in 1794.{{sfn|Galloway|1898|p=229|loc=The Eighteenth Century}}
The coal field, named Colebrook Dale Coal-Field, ranged from Wombridge to Coalport some {{convert|16|mile|km}} south, and was {{convert|2|mile|km}} wide at its broadest.{{sfn|Conybeare|Phillips|2014|p=421|loc=Coal of Coalbrook Dale}}{{sfn|NE|1879|p=679}} The coal seams worked were known in local miner's jargon as the "Chance", "Clunch", "Flint", "Little Flint", "Foot", "Fungus", "Randle", "Top", "Two-foot", and "Three-quarter" seams; several variously extending to Oakengates, Donnington, Dawley, Malin's Lee, Madeley, and Amies (near Broseley).{{sfn|Jackson|1879|pp=91–92|loc=Coal-names}}
In 1895 the colliery was registered under the Coal Mines Regulation Act as owned by Hopely Brothers of Wombridge, with pits at the Rose and Crown, the Round House, and the Water Engine.{{sfn|MIO|1895|p=260}} A miner named William Knight died there from suffocation by natural gas in an old shaft that was in the process of being closed, on 1 July 1896.{{sfn|Atkinson|1897|p=14}}{{sfn|Lyon|2013|p=111}}
The Wombridge Canal, built in 1788 a portion of which fell into disuse around 1819 and the rest of which was amalgamated into the Shrewsbury Canal, connected the mines to the furnaces and canal at Donnington Wood.{{sfn|Wood|2014|pp=}}
=== Demographics === Wombridge had a population of 1,855 in 1835,{{sfn|Lewis|1835|loc=Wombridge}} 2,057 in 1841,{{sfn|Clarke|1852|p=1009|loc=Wombrige}} 2,365 in 1851,{{sfn|Clarke|1852|p=1009|loc=Wombrige}} and 2,601 in 1861.{{sfn|Cassey|1871|p=401|loc=Wombridge}}
The 1831 census broke this down into 478 males 20-years-old or greater, 5 agricultural occupiers with employees, 9 agricultural occupiers without, 11 agricultural labourers, 92 employed in retail/trade/handicraft, 361 in non-agricultural labour, and 2 female servants.{{sfn|CO|1831|p=515}}
There were 360 houses in the parish as of 1851.{{sfn|Clarke|1852|p=1009|loc=Wombrige}}
==Wombridge today== thumb|right|alt=A suburban street with a boundary sign saying "Telford Wombridge"|A road sign identifying Wombridge, seen in 2015 Wombridge is an area in the Borough of Telford and Wrekin, north west of Telford town centre, near the A442 road, and between Hadley and Oakengates.<ref>Marked on Ordnance Survey mapping, [http://streetmap.co.uk/map?x=368996&y=311664&z=120&sv=368996,311664&st=4&mapp=map&searchp=ids seen on UK Streetmp]</ref> The Church of St Mary and St Leonard is an active church within the East Telford Benefice,<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to East Telford Benefice |url=https://easttelfordbenefice.co.uk/ |publisher=East Telford Benefice |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref> and the area is served by Wombridge Primary School, although the school's postal address is "Oakengates, Telford" rather than "Wombridge".<ref>{{cite web |title=Home |url=https://wombridgeprimary.co.uk/ |website=Wombridge Primary School |access-date=9 February 2025}}</ref>
== Footnotes == {{notelist}} == References == {{reflist|20em}} === Bibliography === {{refbegin}} * {{cite encyclopaedia|article=Wombridge|encyclopaedia=A Topographical Dictionary of England|volume=4|author1-first=Samuel|author1-last=Lewis|year=1835|edition=3rd|location=London|publisher=S. Lewis & Co}} * {{cite book|chapter=The Hundred of Bradford South|title=The History and Antiquities of Shrewsbury|volume=2|author1-first=Charles|author1-last=Hulbert|location=London|publisher=H. Washbourne|year=1837}} * {{cite book|title=Edward Cassey and Co.'s History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Shropshire|location=Shrewsbury|publisher=Edward Cassey and Co.|year=1871|ref={{harvid|Cassey|1871}}}} * {{cite book|title=The British Gazetteer, Political, Commercial, Ecclesiastical, and Historical|volume=3|author1-first=benjamin|author1-last=Clarke|location=London|publisher=H. G. Collins|year=1852}} * {{cite book|title=A New and Comprehensive Gazetteer|volume=4|author1-first=George Newenham|author1-last=Wright|location=London|publisher=Thomas Kelly|year=1837}} * {{cite book|title=List of Mines in Great Britain and the Isle of Man|author=Her Majesty's Inspectors of Mines|location=London|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|year=1895|ref={{harvid|MIO|1895}}}} * {{cite book|title=Mines and Quarries, (Dist. 10) Reports for the North Staffordshire District|year=1897|author1-first=J. N.|author1-last=Atkinson|location=London|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office}} * {{cite book|title=Annals of Coal Mining and the Coal Trade|volume=1|author1-first=Robert Lindsay|author1-last=Galloway|publisher=Colliery Guardian|year=1898}} * {{cite book|title=Shropshire Word-book: A Glossary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Etc., Used in the County|volume=1|author1-first=Georgina Frederica|author1-last=Jackson|location=London|publisher=Trübner & Company|year=1879}} * {{cite book|title=A Grim Almanac of Shropshire|author1-first=Samantha|author1-last=Lyon|publisher=The History Press|year=2013|isbn=9780752489445|chapter=July}} * {{cite book|title=Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales|series=Cambridge Library Collection – Earth Science|author1-first=W. D.|author1-last=Conybeare|author2-first=William|author2-last=Phillips|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=9781108075107|chapter=Coal, and associated beds}} * {{cite encyclopaedia|encyclopaedia=The national encyclopædia. Library edition.|volume=4|location=London|publisher=William McKenzie|year=1879|article=Coal-fields|ref={{harvid|NE|1879}}}} * {{cite book|title=Abstract of the Answers and Returns Made Pursuant to an Act Passed in the Eleventh Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George IV, Intituled, "An Act for Taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and of the Increase Or Diminution Thereof"|volume=1|date=1831-04-02|series=House of Commons Reports and papers|publisher=Great Britain Census Office|ref={{harvid|CO|1831}}}} * {{cite encyclopaedia|encyclopaedia=The London Encyclopaedia|volume=12|location=London|publisher=Thomas Tegg|year=1829|article=Inland navigation|ref={{harvid|LE|1829}}}} * {{cite book|chapter=Iron manufacturers and merchants|title=The 'Handbook' to the manufacturers & exporters of Great Britain|editor1-first=George Taylor|editor1-last=Wright|year=1870|location=London|publisher=Albion Chambers}} * {{cite book|title=Abandoned & Vanished Canals of England|author1-first=Andy|author1-last=Wood|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|year=2014|isbn=9781445639277|chapter=Wombridge Canal}} * {{cite book|title=Reports to the Local Government Board on Public Health and Medical Matters|author=Local Government Board|location=London|publisher=H. M. Stationery Office|year=1910|ref={{harvid|LGB|1910}}}} * {{cite book|title=Railways of Telford|author1-first=David|author1-last=Clarke|publisher=Crowood|year=2016|isbn=9781785000959|chapter=The Coalport Branch}} * {{cite book|title=The Industrial Archaeology of Shropshire|author1-first=Barrie Stuart|author1-last=Trinder|publisher=Phillimore|year=1996|isbn=9780850339895}} * {{cite book|title=The Archaeology of the Welsh Marches|volume=2|series=Collins archaeology|author1-first=S. C.|author1-last=Stanford|publisher=Collins|year=1980|isbn=9780002162517}} * {{cite book|title=Coal, Iron, and Oil, Or, The Practical American Miner|author1-first=Samuel Harries|author1-last=Daddow|author2-first=Benjamin|author2-last=Bannan|publisher=Benjamin Bannan|year=1866|location=Pottsville, Pennsylvania|chapter=The elaboration of iron and steel}} * {{cite magazine|magazine=The Mining and Smelting Magazine|title=Mechanical Puddling|volume=5|date=February 1864a|editor1-first=Henry Curwen|editor1-last=Salmon|location=London|publisher=The Office}} * {{cite magazine|magazine=The Mining and Smelting Magazine|title=Miscellanea|volume=6|date=December 1864b|editor1-first=Henry Curwen|editor1-last=Salmon|location=London|publisher=The Office}} * {{cite book|title=Annual Report of the Local Government Board|volume=27|author=Local Government Board (Great Britain)|publisher=H. M. Stationery Office|year=1898|ref={{harvid|LGB|1898}}}} * {{cite book|title=Telford: The Making of Shropshire's New Town|author1-first=Maurice|author1-last=de Soissons|publisher=Swan Hill|year=1991|isbn=9781853102530}} * {{cite magazine|magazine=The Sanitary Record and Journal of Sanitary and Municipal Engineering|title=Sewerage Schemes|volume=31|date=1898-01-21|location=London|publisher=The Sanitary Publishing Company|ref={{harvid|TSR|1898}}}} * {{cite journal|journal=The London Gazette|year=1968|volume=12|title=Ministry of Housing and Local Government|ref={{harvid|LG|1968}}}} * {{cite book|title=Shropshire|series=Pevsner: Buildings of England|author1-first=John|author1-last=Newman|author2-first=Nikolaus|author2-last=Pevsner|author3-first=Gavin|author3-last=Watson|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780300120837}} {{refend}} == Further reading == {{refbegin}} * {{cite book|chapter=Wombridge|publisher=Victoria County History|title=A History of the County of Shropshire|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/salop/vol11|volume=11, Telford|location=London|year=1985|pages=283–306|author1-first=A. P.|author1-last=Baggs|author2-first=D. C.|author2-last=Cox|author3-first=Jessie|author3-last=McFall|author4-first=P. A.|author4-last=Stamper|author5-first=A. J. L.|author5-last=Winchester|editor1-first=G. C.|editor1-last=Baugh|editor2-first=C. R.|editor2-last=Elrington}} * {{cite book|chapter=South Bradford Hundred|title=History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Shropshire|volume=2|author1-first=Samuel|author1-last=Bagshaw|publisher=Heritage Books|year=1995|edition=reprinted|isbn=9780788402722}} * {{cite book|chapter=The Wombridge Mines|pages=157 et seq|title=The miner's guide, being a description and illustration of a chart of sections of the prinipal mines of coal and ironstone in the counties of Stafford, Salop, Warwick, and Durham|author1-first=Thomas|author1-last=Smith|year=1836|location=Birmingham|publisher=Radclyffe and Company}} ({{Internet Archive|id=minersguidebein00smitgoog|name=The miner's guide}}) * {{cite conference|article=On puddling iron by machinery|author1-first=Henry|author1-last=Bennett|pages=298–309|title=Proceedings|year=1863|location=Birmingham|publisher=Institution of Mechanical Engineers}} * {{cite web|url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1898-07-22/debates/e683a1bc-cbb8-428c-871f-3a848352c4ed/LocalGovernmentAct1888(Salop)|work=Hansard|title=Local Government Act, 1888 (Salop)|volume=62|date=1898-07-22}} {{refend}} == See also == * Stafford–Shrewsbury line == External links == * {{cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/121150271|series=OS 25 inch England and Wales, 1841–1952|year=1882|title=Shropshire XXXVI.11}} * {{cite web|url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/101594308|series=OS Six-inch England and Wales, 1842–1952|year=1885|title=Shropshire Sheet XXXVI.SE}}
Category:Populated places in Shropshire Category:Former civil parishes in Shropshire Category:Telford