IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Aqueduct Road, TELFORD, TF3 1BY

One of a number of loco wheels set into the ground at points along the Silkin Way, which was designated as a long-distance (well 13 miles, anyway) path through the middle of Telford new town in the 1970s. The name is in honour of John (Lord) Silkin, Minister for Planning and Local Government in the Labour government of the mid 1970s.

The Silkin Way was designated as a north-south footpath, bridleway and cycleway in the 1970s, at a time when much of the development of Telford New Town was in progress. It runs for roughly 13 miles from Coalport in Image to Bratton in Image, often following former railway lines or canal routes. The name refers to Lord (John) Silkin, who was the Labour government Minister for Public Works and also Minister for Planning & Local Government in the early 1970s.

A Banks's pub in Aqueduct village

The Silkin Way is a 13-mile through-route connecting north to south Telford; in this southern section, it mostly follows the line of the former Coalport Branch of the London & Northwest Railway, but this short stretch is a diversion from that original route.

The aqueduct is now a bridge carrying the Silkin Way footpath. But it was originally built around 1788 as an Accommodation Bridge, to take the Shropshire Canal Navigation (a tub-boat canal) over a track; the canal was subsequently converted in the late 1850s to the Coalport Branch Line of the London & North West Railway, which then closed in 1960 and is now the Silkin Way. The bridge was Grade II listed https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101377111-canal-aqueduct-at-national-grid-reference-695-057-dawley-hamlets#.YWXfLxrMLIU & https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1377111 in 1993, and restored in 2001.

The playground and the entrance to the school (reception towards the right of the picture), taken from between the barriers that allow access to the school. The school opened in 1974, is non-demoninational and is for 5-9 year olds.