Section 4 – Dawley Bank

With the establishment of a congregation of Baptists in Dawley Bank in 1817, land was set aside for a cemetery in neighbouring Lawley Bank in 1871. A prominent grave marker at the entrance is dedicated to five deacons of Dawley Baptist Church.

Exit the cemetery and continue up Cemetery Road passing Powis Place on your right. If you glance down Park Road, the white brick factory on the left is the former “Pyjama Factory” (Clifford Williams & Co Ltd), and previously the Malinslee National School.

At marker sign (40), take the footpath on your immediate right which takes you in front of the modern Baptist Church.

John Fletcher of Madeley first held services in cottages in 1817. Baptisms were conducted utilising a pool among the pit mounds. A small chapel was erected in 1846 on the site of a bull bating ring, to accommodate 200 worshippers with a Minister’s House close by. As the number of worshippers increased, a gallery was added in 1851.

In 1860, the chapel was rebuilt to accommodate up to 600 worshippers, constructed of striking blue, red, and yellow polychrome brickwork with an interior gallery. Congregations remained large until the late 1960s. The chapel was demolished in 2000 and replaced by the current chapel and community centre.

Image: Dawley Baptist Church, PH/D 1 /3 4826, courtesy of Shropshire Archives (H Griffiths)

Continue along the footpath to the front of the local shop by marker sign (41).

A number of cottages and shops formed Dawley Bank’s high street. Behind the Baptist Church stood S. Jones Grocers, which incorporated a Post Office. Nearby was a wheelwright, blacksmiths, shoemakers, and a funeral parlour.

Go downhill through the modern housing estate. At marker sign (42) is Dawley Bank Green, registered in 2007.

The first chapel was erected in 1818, later replaced by a larger building for services catering up to 400 people in 1840. Encompassed by a stone wall, the building had a three-bay rendered front with pediments based on a classic design.

The chapel was used for worship until the 1950s, after which services were transferred to the Sunday school next door. In 1963 it was occupied by Cuxson Gerrard & Co Ltd for their Dawley Works, manufacturing medical equipment. It was later converted into a garage before being demolished in 1976.

The Wesleyan Sunday School was erected in 1907, with pupils moving from the former school on Station Road in March 1908. Six dedication plaques, the Trustees of Lawley Bank School. can be seen at the foot of the frontage. They include William Owen, a former coal miner who lived on Collier’s Row, who was also known as the “Bishop of Old Park”.

Another plaque is dedicated to Reverend Samuel Parkes Cadman, who was born in Wellington in 1864. In 1895 Cadman moved to America and set up a church in Brooklyn, New York, where he preached for 35 years until his death in 1936. In 1923, Cadman pioneered the use of radios to broadcast his sermons. An area in Central Park, New York is dedicated to him.

After the school closed, it was used for worship after the adjacent chapel was demolished. Later it was used by Telford Gospel Church. Today it has been converted into private flats.

According to The History of Wesleyan Methodism at Lawley Bank by W H Barclay, published in 1858, there were several ale houses in the locality in 1798 that were “notorious for wickedness, gambling and drunkenness even on the Sabbath day”. Samuel Taylor, a Wesleyan minister, visited the village in 1800 and was so appalled he set up a chapel in a cottage called the Barnfold, determined to combat the problem by preaching to the locals.

The Bulls Head is the oldest public house in Dawley Bank, the landlords of which included W. Dunning (Victualler, 1856), Harriet Davis (1879), Benjamin Bailey (1891), and Thomas and Percy Grice (1909- 1959).

Other public houses were The Red Lion by Park Road, The Queens Head adjacent to the local shop, and The Unicorn.