Donnington, Telford

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Donnington shown within Telford in Sky Blue.

For other places named Donnington, see: Donnington

Donnington is a suburb of the new town of Telford. It is located in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England.

Donnington was previously a mining village 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.

MOD Donnington is a military base of the British Army, although not a major one. It was announced in 2005 that 480 MOD jobs will be lost by 2009. Formerly the supply depot was one of the largest military stores in Europe. It was damaged by a huge fire in the early 1980s. Initially the Ministry of Defence denied asbestos was present at the site, delaying the clean up for five days. An inquest jury in 2008, ruled that a woman's death was due to playing in debris from the blaze. [1]

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".