Donnington, Telford

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other places named Donnington, see: Donnington

Donnington: A former mining village in Shropshire which was formerly under the Duke of Sutherland Estate. It was a significant industrial centre where "Walker's works" (C&W Walker Ltd) produced compoments of gasometers and ship's engines. The Clock Tower restaurant commemmorates the landmark Walker's Clock.

Donnington now forms part of the new town of Telford in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England.

MOD Donnington is a military base of the British Army, although not a major one. It was announced in 2005 that the base would close in 2007.Formerly the supply depot was one of the largest military stores in Europe. It was damaged by a huge fire in the early 1980's.

At one time the MOD depot was rail connected by a branch to Wellington. Earlier, Donnington had a railway station on the line that connected Stafford and Shrewsbury (pre-"Beeching"). When this closed part of the railway formation was converted to a cycle/footpath and several miles of dual carriage way road (with European Commission assistance). More recently a decision has been made to create a rail/road inter-modal depot at Donnington and as a result a significant amount of preparatory work has gone into relocating a cycle/footpath from the former railway formation. It is said that the railway line may be used for transporting nuclear waste to be stored underground at this former storage area for military equipment, generally known as "The Dump".

Following WWII Donnington became home to a number of Eastern Europeans, including Poles, Czechs and Yugoslavs. There is a small Serbian Orthodox Church in the area, near the former Coal Wharf which was the rail link for the Granville Colliery, Shropshire's last coal mine.

Donnington is home to a small amateur dramatics company "The Little Theatre".

The original article about Donnington would seem to have been contributed by the British Army. Additional information has been supplied by local civilians.

External Link