IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Mount Side, TELFORD, TF1 5HH

Clearly not an incline in itself, as it's more or less level. But it appears to take its name from the nearby Image which lies immediately to the NW (ie directly behind me in this photo). The houses here look like they were built in the 1960s or early 1970s, which would tie in with the most active period of development of Telford New Town, during which much of the former industrial archeology of the area was lost.

Possibly the first successfully-operated and commercially viable Inclined Plane in the UK, built around 1788 as a means of lowering tub boats from the Ketley Canal Image to a long-vanished foundry just to the NW of this point. The boats carried coal and ironstone to the foundry, and were lowered on L-shaped rails with a braking system managed via a windlass at the top of the plane. There seems to be very little (reliable) documented evidence of the exact route of the incline, and if any trace remained 'on the ground' into the 20th century it has been removed by a combination of garden landscaping in the grounds of Hillside Farm on the left here, plus the efforts of Telford Development Corporation from the 1960s onwards. However, a combination of detective work using the best available old maps that we can find, plus some local knowledge from the long-term residents of the farm, suggest that the centre of this photo (ie through the car and the brick outbuilding behind it) tracks the most probable line of the incline. At the top of the garden there is a fence, immediately behind which lies the road bearing the name Image

Roughly 20 yards inside Image lies this well-built chamber, which is about 15 or 18 feet high. It's immediately under the back garden of Hillside Farm. To the left of the point I took this picture (which is looking more or less directly upwards) there's another arm of the tunnel which apparently leads to a further identical chamber a little further on, before heading onwards in the direction of Ketley Hall. All very mysterious at the moment.

Right outside the rear of Hillside Farm lies this tunnel entrance - roughly 2'6" wide and 3' high. It heads off in an easterly direction for maybe 20 yards, then opens up into a high chamber Image, from which it then takes a more northerly direction towards Ketley Hall, although local knowledge suggests that the far end of it has long since been closed off. Purpose and original use are unknown, but it is neatly brick-lined throughout (albeit a bit dirty on the floor) and 'feels old' in the sense that it's probably 18th century or thereabouts. Given that the whole area was heavily mined for coal, ironstone and various other minerals in the 18th & 19th centuries, it's quite likely to have been some sort of drain for a nearby mine. It also lies very close to the site of the former Ketley Canal Incline, all surface trace of which has now vanished. The Blists Hill Museum staff have investigated it in the past, but I have not tracked down their conclusions yet.

The cars & nearest houses here are on Woodside Close, whilst the white house beyond is Hillside Farm, and dates from around 1800. The centre-line of the photo follows, as closely as I can ascertain, the line of the Ketley Incline. This was the country's first commercially-operated Inclined Plane, built around 1788 as a means of lowering tub boats from the Ketley Canal to a long-vanished foundry just to the NW of this point. The boats carried coal and ironstone to the foundry, and were lowered on L-shaped rails with a braking system managed via a windlass at the top of the plane. Nothing remains visible at ground level of the incline, all surface signs having been removed by subsequent building works over the years, although there may be some underground traces which could be found by careful archaeology. The trustees of the Blists Hill Museum have apparently shown interest in some tunnels Image that lie beneath the garden of Hillside Farm, although whether these are associated with the incline is unknown.

A remarkable survivor in the middle of the Telford New Town. Ketley Hall dates from the mid-late 18th century, and was at one time occupied by the Reynolds family; they were early ironmasters and ran a foundry nearby, along with a canal and inclined plane for the tub-boats which supplied coal & ironstone into said foundry. The house was Grade II listed https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101038628-ketley-hall-ketley#.YZgfXNDP3IU & https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1038628 in 1971. (The rather flash cars were visiting for a function at the hall, but I didn't feel I could ask them to move for the photo)

If Image isn't the exact route of the one-time Ketley Incline, then this wooded slope is another possibility (it's just offshot to the left of that picture, in the trees behind the white farmhouse). This fairly steep slope lies immediately uphill of Image, but local information suggests that the pool is not what I have speculated.

Looking down the Red Lees footpath that runs from Red Lake to Ketley. The old bridge abutments used to carry a tramway across to the coal spoil heaps, now all overgrown.

This disused church hall was home to many local groups, including the amateur dramatic group, the Red Lake Strollers. The old school building - the slate-roofed building at the far end - needed work to make it safe, and the decision was made some years ago that the site was worth more than the income the building was raising for the church. It closed but the site has not yet attracted a developer and in the current (2009) state of the property market, seems unlikely to. Red Lake Strollers moved to Holy Trinity church hall on the old A5, then folded. Holy Trinity church hall has now closed and is also for sale as a development site.