History of Madeley / including Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, and Coalport

Transcribed from the 1880 Wrekin Echo Office edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
From the earliest times to the present,
WITH NOTICES OF Remarkable Events , Inventions , AND PHENOMENA, MANUFACTURES, &c.
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ILLUSTRATED
With twelve wood-cut illustrations, and photographs.
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The work will be found to contain a copious Index, and list of old family names.
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BY John Randall, F.G.S., Author of “The Severn Valley,” “Old Sports and Sportsmen,” “History of Broseley,” &c., &c.
Published at “The Wrekin Echo” Office, Madeley, Salop, 1880.
The delay which has arisen in the publication of this work since it was first announced needs some apology. It arose from two causes; one the hope that fuller information might be forthcoming on some obscure points, the other that the book is chiefly made up of matter reprinted from the Salopian and West Midland Illustrated Magazine . It is therefore, to some extent, fragmentary, and not one for which the author can hope to receive the meed of praise bestowed upon his “Severn Valley,” “Old Sports,” &c. Notwithstanding this, the author believes the work will be found to be a satisfactory compendium of historical facts connected with the parish; and now that they are known it would be a comparatively easy task to produce a more creditable literary work. Johnson says we never do anything conscientiously for the last time without sadness of heart; the only sadness here arises from the consciousness that the opportunity, however much desired, of reproducing the work in an improved form is scarcely likely to occur in the lifetime of the author.