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Telford
Telford is a new town in the ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. It is administratively located in the West Midlands region, and is now by far the largest town in Shropshire, being the residence for some 130,000 people.
Understand
[edit]Telford was formed in the 1960s and 1970s as a new town, bringing together a number of existing mining villages, farms and market towns, each with their own unique history. The town itself is named after the pioneering civil engineer Thomas Telford. As the town has developed, the areas between these towns have become increasingly filled. The resulting town is virtually one large conurbation from Wellington to Shifnal and from Donnington to Madely. As a result of the new town's component towns, Telford has several distinct centres, although the Telford Shopping Centre and Telford Town Park area is the de facto administrative centre of the entire town.
History
[edit]Telford has a rich history, and when considering the areas of Coalport and Ironbridge, played a pivotal role in the industrial revolution. Telford thus carries the tagline "The birthplace of industry" which captions many signs within the town. It was in the historic Ironbridge gorge area that techniques for mass-producing iron were first developed, and the world's first bridge made of iron was constructed across the river Severn in 1779. The eponymous Iron bridge in Ironbridge is internationally recognised as a 
UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are a total of 10 museums in the Ironbridge gorge area which detail everything from the industrial processes that first mass-produced iron to the production of the internationally acclaimed Coalport china. Goods such a Coalport China or iron were typically loaded on to boats in the nearby river Severn, transported down the river to Bristol and then exported all across the British Empire.
Historically, Telford and the surrounding area was dominated by iron and coal mines, which have since all closed down. In the year 1821, The Cinderloo Uprising occurred, which resulted in the strike and protesting of over 3,000 mine workers. The strike was eventually put down by the South Shropshire Yeomanry, and the ringleaders were pressed into hard labour or hanged.
Get in
[edit]By car
[edit]It is linked to the West Midlands conurbation by the M54 motorway; it has four exits labelled Telford East, Telford Centre, Telford West and Wellington. The town is also serviced north-south by the A442 Queensway (locally known as the Eastern Primary or EP). The A5, which runs from London to Holyhead, Wales, runs directly through Telford.
By train
[edit]- Wikivoyage has a guide to Rail travel in Great Britain
1 Telford Central station. Situated on the Birmingham International (Birmingham Airport and the NEC) → Birmingham New Street → Wolverhampton → Shrewsbury line. Frequent services to surrounding areas. 
Between Telford Central Station and Shrewsbury, there are two stations, named Wellington and Oakengates. These areas are considered part of Telford, although are much older than Telford itself.
By bus
[edit]Telford can also be accessed by bus from many nearby areas. The Telford bus station has regular buses to and from Shrewsbury (X5), Bridgnorth (8), and Wolverhampton. From Telford itself, many buses run within it - see below section.
Get around
[edit]
By car
[edit]The M54 motorway and A5 main route pass through Telford giving access from North Wales, the South, East and North East. The A49 passes nearby to give access from the North West, the South West and South Wales. Telford is known for having many roundabouts, (in excess of 120) which may seem jarring to voyagers from places where they are less common.
By train
[edit]A train line runs between the main Telford train station and Wellington, via Oakengates (tourists should be aware that not every train stops at Oakengates and will thus travel though the station without slowing down).
By bus
[edit]There are buses that run throughout Telford - most notably, the 4 (Leegomery-Wellington-Telford Center-Madeley). As of 2023, there are two bus providers that provide buses in Telford: Arriva and the Telford and Wrekin Council (whose buses start from the number 100). Most built-up areas have buses running between them, but service frequency is reduced on Sundays and will usually finish entirely by early evening. Some areas have no bus service at all on a Sunday. Since covid, some bus services have been cancelled. The disused bus shelters remain in place, but the information board displaying timetable information has been removed. If you are planning to travel by bus, it is advisable that you check timetables online for the most current and up-to-date information.
By bicycle
[edit]Telford has many separated cycle paths which can make getting around by bicycle a viable option, however voyagers should be aware of the fact that Telford is very hilly in parts, and it is not uncommon to undergo an elevation change of greater than 100m to get to different parts of the town. The Ironbridge gorge in particular is located in a valley surrounded by steep inclines.
The Silkin way is a separated walking / cycling route that goes from Apley to Coalport, via Telford town park. The route is cycle friendly and offers a route where cyclists will not encounter many cars, which makes it an attractive option for many people. While this route is generally very safe during the day, voyagers should be mindful of broken glass from bottles (a seemingly ubiquitous problem) as well as travelling the route at night. While this route is used by hundreds of people every day, the secluded and separated nature of the route can provide ample opportunity for opportunistic criminals. Although rare, there have been recorded instances of muggings, assaults, bicycle thefts and sexual assaults against cyclists and pedestrians who have used this route alone at night.
By foot
[edit]Despite being quite spaced out, most of Telford is connected by good quality footpaths, making traversing most of the town by foot a viable, albeit time-consuming option. It is possible to walk directly from the Telford central train station to the shopping centre, the Southwater restaurants and the town park via a series of connected paths and bridges that do not require a pedestrian to walk alongside a road at any point. From the town park, it is entirely possible to walk along the Silkin way all the way to coalport.
See
[edit]
Telford has a long history (see Understand section). As a result there are many attractions including the remains of a Bronze Age fort, Roman ruins, medieval markets, examples of Victorian industry and living, and the new town created nearly 40 years ago.
- 1 Boscobel House and The Royal Oak, Brewood, Bishop's Wood, ST19 9AR (12 miles east of Telford), ☏ +44 1902 850244. adults £6.20, children £3.70, concessions £5.60.
- 2 Exotic Zoo, Lakeside Plant Centre, Priorslee, TF2 9UR, ☏ +44 1952 371570. 11AM-4PM.
- 3 Hoo Farm, Hoo, TF6 6DJ, ☏ +44 1952 677917. 8 Feb-24 Dec: 10AM-5PM.
- 4 The Wrekin. A local hill and landmark, with the remains of a Bronze Age fort on it. Found just southwest of Wellington.
- 5 Ironbridge. The place where the industrial revolution started and a World Heritage Site as a result of the first ever Iron Bridge being built there. There are many museums around Ironbridge. They are centred on the industrial revolution and Coalport china business, and are well worth a visit.
- 6 Wellington. A pleasant market town with a market dating back to 1244. The market is open on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The National Trust's Sunnycroft house is a good example of how local Victorian gentry lived.
- 7 Sunnycroft, ☏ +44 1952 242884. Victorian villa overseen by the National Trust.
- 7 Sunnycroft, ☏ +44 1952 242884. Victorian villa overseen by the National Trust.
- 8 Blists Hill Museum, Madeley. A living history museum and reconstructed Victorian town.
Do
[edit]- 1 Telford Steam Railway, The Old Loco Shed, Bridge Rd, Horsehay, TF4 3UH, ☏ +44 1952 503880.
- 2 AFC Telford United, New Bucks Head, Watling St, Wellington, TF1 2TU, ☏ +44 1952 640064.
- 3 Telford Town Park. 170 hectares (420 acres) public park which has some historical remains including the Norman Malinslee Chapel, and the 209 ft (64 m) Stirchley Chimney built in 1873. Part of the park is a 62 hectares (150 acres) local nature reserve and there are also flower beds.
- Odeon, Telford Shopping Centre, Forge Gate, TF3 4NE, ☏ +44 333 014 4501.
- Cineworld, Telford Shopping Centre, Southwater Square, St Quentin Gate, TF3 4HS, ☏ +44 871 200-2000.
- Telford Ice Rink is within the shopping centre. Telford Tigers play ice hockey here Sept-March in the National League, England's second tier.
- Wellington Orbit, 1 Station Road, ☏ +44 1952 743377.
- Comic Midlands celebrates comic heroes and is held in September.
Buy
[edit]Telford's town centre is the commercial centre of the town and is home to the largest indoor shopping centre in Shropshire. The various towns engulfed by Telford have their own commercial centres, which are far smaller than the Telford Shopping Centre.
- 1 Telford Shopping Centre, TF3 4BX, ☏ +44 1952 230032. Features Sports Direct, JD Sports, Next, Wilko, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyd's, TSB, Halifax, M&S, House of Fraser (former Beatties), Druckers, ASDA, The Entertainer, Primark.
- Wellington Market, 11 Market St, Wellington, Telford TF1 1DT. Tu Th F 9AM-4PM, Sa 9AM-4:30PM. Contains various cafes and shops, with a nice friendly atmosphere.
- Wellington Centre. Wellington's center contains a lot of shops, about half of which can be called chains rather than local.
Eat
[edit]- 1 The Clock Tower, Donnington Wood Way, Donnington, TF2 8LE, ☏ +44 1952 677568. M-F 6:30AM-10:30AM, noon-11PM; Sa Su 7AM-11AM, noon-10:30AM.
- Café Giardino, Telford Shopping Centre, 203 Dean St, TF3 4BT.
- 2 The Fox, Pave Lane, Chetwynd Aston, Newport, TF10 9LQ, ☏ +44 1952 815940.
- 3 Hundred House Hotel, Bridgnorth Rd, Norton (Ironbridge Gorge), TF11 9EE, ☏ +44 1952 580240.
Drink
[edit]- 1 The Thomas Botfield, Central Square, Telford Shopping Centre, TF3 4BW, ☏ +44 1952 292672.
- 2 The William Withering, 43–45 New St, Wellington, TF1 1LU, ☏ +44 1952 642800.
Sleep
[edit]- 1 Hadley Park House Hotel, Hadley Park, TF1 6QJ, ☏ +44 1952 677269, fax: +44 1952 676938, [email protected]. Doubles: £85/100 (F-Sa/Su-Th).
- 2 International Hotel Telford, St Quentin Gate, TF3 4EA, ☏ +44 1952 521600. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 11:45AM. With 101 bedrooms over 4 floors. Doubles: £45.
- 3 Ramada Hotel (formerly Grays Hotel), Forge Gate, TF3 4NA, ☏ +44 1952 425000. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 11:45AM. £55.
- 4 Holiday Inn Telford / Ironbridge (Holiday Inn Telford), The International Centre, St Quentin Gate, TF3 4EH, ☏ +44 1952 527000. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 11:45AM. from £75.
- 5 Mercure Telford Madeley Court Hotel, Castlefields Way, Madeley (From the M54 exit at Junction 4 and take the second exit at the roundabout and proceed along the A464 to Telford (not Shifnal). At the next roundabout take the second exit and follow to Randlay Interchange Roundabout. Take the first exit - the slip road will lead you down onto the A442 dual carriageway. Continue on this road (do not turn off for Madeley / Kidderminster A442) until it narrows into a single lane (A4169). Follow this to the Castlefields Roundabout and take the very first exit - B4373 - the hotel drive is located about 200 metres on the left), ☏ +44 1952 680068. The Mercure Telford Madeley Court Hotel is a 16th-century manor house steeped in history offering both the facilities of a modern hotel and the ambience of a beautiful manor house in countryside surroundings. From £41.30.
Stay safe
[edit]Telford is generally a very safe place to visit. Being a large town, you are unlikely to experience many of the problems you would anticipate in a city like London or Birmingham. In the main areas of interest to tourists such as the town centre or the Ironbridge gorge, you are very unlikely to encounter any problems day or night. The town centre area has its own security force that are quick to respond to any trouble. Beggars and visibly homeless people are usually promptly ejected from the area and may even receive a ban from returning. Violence has been known to occur, but that is usually in pubs or bars between heavily intoxicated people.
Crimes such as pickpocketing are not a known issue in the town but it is still advisable that you should take care of your valuables and do not leave them unattended. If you park your car, make sure that no valuables are on display as opportunistic break-ins have been known to occur. If you want to visit some of the council estates such as Brookside, Woodside, Stirchley, Radley, and Sutton Hill, it is advisable to not carry around valuables, particularly at night. These areas have absolutely no points of interest for a tourist, but the Silkin way does pass through many of them.
Outside of touristed areas, there are some places where one should exercise additional caution. Areas such as Woodside, which sits just beyond the top of Ironbridge hill, were historically infamous for property crime, although the area has significantly improved as a result of investment and regeneration schemes of the past few decades. As a result, the area is not as bad as its reputation but it is still a cause for concern.
Other areas that should be generally be avoided by tourists Include Stirchley, Randley and Brookside. These areas have no points of interest for tourists and suffer from issues that stem from deprivation and poverty. If you are not local and enter a pub in one of these areas, you can expect to be heckled or questioned. Many of these pubs have a reputation as 'working man's pubs' and if you are well dressed or speak with an accent perceived to be not local or fancy, expect for this to be viewed negatively and commented on. Xenophobic, and homophobic comments have been known to occur from patrons and it is extremely ill advised to respond to these people negatively because everyone else in the pub likely knows them and would be more than willing to back them up should violence occur.
Dawley high street can get a bit dodgy after dark. Groups of teenagers in tracksuits have been known to hang around after dark drinking, smoking and using illicit drugs. These groups have been known to shout at, heckle and intimidate people who are walking alone, particularly women. It is advised that you just ignore these groups and proceed to your intended destination as quickly as possible.
Oakengates High Street is home to many pubs that are frequented almost exclusively by locals. If you aren't local that fact will be painfully obvious to the usual patrons who may well pass comment on this fact, although they usually mean no harm. As night falls, particularly on the weekend, these pubs have been known to get particularly rowdy and noisy and sometimes violent. If you do find yourself in a physical altercation, be aware that most of the regular patrons will know each other, have been drinking there together for many years and would likely assist each other, regardless of who was originally at fault.
If an emergency does occur, you should dial the number 999, and ask for Police, ambulance or fire service depending on the nature of the emergency. Due to the somewhat rapid expansion of the town, and the lack of increase in funding for emergency services, both the Police service and the Ambulance service may well have long response times due to their resources being spread thinly.
If in the worst case you do end up in the Accident and Emergency department at the local hospital (The Princess royal) you can expect a long wait before you are seen by a doctor. Despite government targets to see all A&E patients within 4 hours, it is not unheard of for patients to wait for 12 or even 20 hours to be seen by a doctor. Repeated investigations have placed the hospital trust in special measures and they have received fines for the poor standard of care given. If you do receive poor care do not comment on this to staff members at the hospital, whom themselves are likely aware of the problems and are doing their best with the resources available to them. Your comments will not be viewed as an objective critique of the system but rather an attack of them personally, and you may receive worse treatment as a result! If you want to be heard, lodge an official complaint with the hospital after your treatment has ended.
Respect
[edit]Telford has a somewhat confused identity. It is essentially a large town consisting of many smaller towns and villages that were connected by roads and houses built between them to create a larger urban area. The whole area, and some outer lying areas are governed by ‘Telford and Wrekin’ council. However, these are two different parliamentary constituencies of ‘Telford’, and ‘Wrekin’ which elect their own members of parliament. As even locals disagree what is and is not included in Telford, it is best to simply agree with whomever you are talking to at the time.
Telford has a (not entirely deserved) reputation of being a working-class town that housed the overspill of the nearby cities of Wolverhampton and Birmingham. While it is true that many people in Telford do commute to these cities for work, comments of this nature will not be appreciated.
Some people who live in the area governed by Telford and Wrekin council will dogmatically insist that they do not live in Telford, but rather live in Ironbridge, Newport, Wellington, Madely, Apley or some other part of the greater urban area which in their view is not part of Telford. The reason for this is that these places existed long before Telford was founded formally, and many of them have a better reputation than the town of Telford as a whole. If this does occur, simply apologize and do not imply that they live in Telford again and no issues are likely to arise.
Yet more confusion occurs with areas Such as The Rock, Old Park, Lawley, and even large parts of the Town Centre being referred to as Overdale on certain map services. To a local these areas would definitely not be considered part of Overdale, which refers only to a specific small area of Telford a few miles away from the town centre. If you end up referring to some area as Overdale and are corrected by a local, simply apologize and agree with them rather than trying to engage in a debate.
Telford has its own football team, but many football fans choose to support other larger, better funded teams associated with nearby cities such as Wolverhampton, Birmingham City or Aston Villa. If you wear a shirt supporting one of these teams and happen to run into a group of people that support one of the other teams then some aggravation may occur, particularly if alcohol is involved.
The NHS hospital trust, particularly the Princess Royal Hospital, is the largest employer in the town. Almost everyone in Telford has a friend or family member that works there, or has had their life saved by their staff. As such, despite the well documented failures of the hospital trust, local people will be very quick to defend the hospital and its staff, and may even do so aggressively if pressed on the issue. This was further exasperated by government plans in the late 2010’s to close the A&E, which resulted in many people passionately rallying to save the department from closure. Nurses and doctors at the hospital are lionised as heroes, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, and however fact based your critique may or may not be, it is best you keep these opinions to yourself.
A report uncovered widespread child ‘grooming’ and sexual exploitation that has occurred in the town over several decades. It is unknown how many victims have been abused by these crimes but it could be over 1,000 by some estimates. This is a highly emotive issue in the town as many people know victims personally and deem the police and government response to be highly inadequate. To make matters worse, this issue has been pounced upon by anti-immigration activists who have used this as an issue to forward their own agenda. The result of this has been heightened ethnic tensions in some parts of the town and the whole subject is best avoided entirely.
Politically, the town had historically been labour leaning, however the 2010s saw major conservative victories in the Telford constituency. A large portion of Telford’s population were pro-Brexit and the population voted to leave the EU in the referendum and this view is still widely held to this day. A not insignificant proportion of the population express anti-immigration views, although such views are unlikely to be targeted against you as an individual tourist. The Topics of immigration and Brexit are both highly divisive and are best avoided entirely.
Go next
[edit]Map of places with Wikivoyage articles nearby
- Shrewsbury (via the M54 then A5) - Pleasant county town of Shropshire
- Birmingham – Britain's second largest city and capital of the Midlands
- Wellington
- Shifnal – Lots of pubs and good restaurants, situated just on the outskirts of Telford with rail links to Telford Central and Wellington.
- Ironbridge –
UNESCO World Heritage Site with 10 main attractions (and a few others) including the world's first cast-iron bridge. The Malt House has live music every Thursday night, as well as a restaurant and bar overlooking the River.
| Routes through Telford |
Shrewsbury ← merges with  ← | W  E | → Shifnal → Birmingham |
| Shrewsbury ← | W  E | → Weston-under-Lizard → Cannock |
| END ← | N  S | → Ironbridge → Bridgnorth |
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