IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Kingston Road, TELFORD, TF2 7HT

These cottages, probably originally intended for canal workers, stood close to the bridge carrying Teagues Bridge Lane (now renamed Wombridge Road) over the tub-boat canal from the top of Trench Inclined Plane to the collieries at Donnington Wood and other places. They were demolished soon after this photograph was taken in 1967.

Named for the Teagues Bridge which formerly crossed the canal here Image An extensive history of the canals (& railways) of the area is available at http://www.telford.org.uk/ and neatly maps the route of the canals throughout the district.

The Bridge Inn, Wombridge Rd, Wrockwardine Wood, named after the Teagues Bridge that used to cross the canal that existed in this area.

A lot of change has taken place here since this 1963 photograph. All the buildings in the foreground have gone, (also the old Bridge Inn which was just out of shot to the left) to be replaced by modern houses. And the road, which had just been widened here, is now called Wombridge Road. Note the complete absence of traffic.

Church Road, Wrockwardine Wood, Telford looking North, from the side of the churchyard.

This photograph shows the remains of one of the original bridges over the Shropshire High Level canal system that once existed in this area. The lane passing over the bridge was called Teagues Bridge Lane, but is now a motor road and renamed Wombridge Road in about 1965. The boats using this canal were tub boats, about 20ft x 6ft 3ins in dimension, and they worked in 'gangs' of four, carrying coal. Travelling west, the loaded boats would then work down the Trench inclined plane, at the foot of which the coal was trans-shipped into narrow boats. The area of this photograph is now completely built over with modern housing.

An OS cutmark on the boundary wall of no 253, Wombridge Road; originally levelled at 92.708m above Ordnance Datum Newlyn.

What could be an attractive street scene, at this recent development at Church Road, Wrockwardine Wood, Telford, is blighted by the accursed wheelie bins. Why,Oh,Why do they not make provision for the storage of these bins when they design new property?

The child here is standing on the deck of a former canal bridge. The canal has been filled in, although had I got here about five years earlier it would probably have still been in water. This was the Wombridge Canal, opened in 1788, which extended westwards from the previously isolated Donnington Wood Canal to Wombridge, and later about 1795 was connected by the Trench Inclined Plane to the Shrewsbury Canal at Trench Lock. The canal here was used by tub boats, measuring about 20ft x 6ft, and with capacity for about 8 tons of coal. The main traffic was coal, westwards from the collieries at Donnington Wood to Shrewsbury. At Trench Lock, the cargo was transferred from the tub boats into special 'narrow' narrowboats for onward shipment to Shrewsbury. Unfortunately the zombies of the Telford New Town development agency ignored all the rich industrial heritage in this area, and it has now all disappeared submerged in a sea of mediocrity.