A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 11, Telford. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1985.
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'Lilleshall: Public services', in A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 11, Telford, (London, 1985) pp. 166. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/salop/vol11/p166 [accessed 27 April 2024]
PUBLIC SERVICES.
Donnington had a post office by 1851 (fn. 1) and another opened at Lilleshall c. 1880. (fn. 2) A third, at Donnington Wood, opened c. 1910. (fn. 3)
Gas was supplied to Lilleshall Old Hall and Donnington by 1870 from the Midland Iron Works. (fn. 4) By 1879 the works was connected to Lilleshall village (fn. 5) and by 1909, as the Lilleshall Gas Co., to Donnington Wood. (fn. 6) The gas company was taken over by the Wellington (Salop) Gas Co. in 1939. (fn. 7) Electricity was available to Lilleshall and Donnington Wood by 1941. (fn. 8)
An isolation hospital was built near the canal at Donnington Wood c. 1878 by Wellington rural sanitary authority. (fn. 9) It was last used c. 1884 and replaced c. 1902 by another nearby, (fn. 10) which was redundant by 1905. (fn. 11)
In 1899 standpipes throughout Donnington Wood were being supplied with water pumped from the Granville colliery. Mains were first laid at Lilleshall, Muxton, and Donnington in 1906 from the duke of Sutherland's new works at Lilleshall (with a reservoir at Lilleshall Hill). (fn. 12) Mains at Donnington Wood were laid in the period 1908-9 from the duke's new works at Hilton in Sheriffhales parish (with a reservoir at Redhill). (fn. 13)
Sewerage of some sort was laid at Donnington Wood in 1905 by the Lilleshall Co. (fn. 14) In 1939 main sewerage was provided at Muxton and Donnington, with a new sewage works at Donnington. (fn. 15) Lilleshall village was first connected to that system in the 1960s, (fn. 16) having previously had small disposal works serving council estates and a few other properties. (fn. 17) Donnington sewage works was later superseded by the Rushmoor works (in Wrockwardine) opened 1975. (fn. 18)
Part of Donnington Wood Farm was converted into a fire station in 1941. (fn. 19) In 1945 Wellington rural district council opened its ambulance station there; (fn. 20) it was run by a joint committee of the R.D.C. and Dawley and Oakengates urban district councils from 1946 (fn. 21) to 1948, when it passed to the county council. (fn. 22) In 1980 the site was occupied by a recently built health centre and new ambulance station. (fn. 23)
A police sub-station opened in Wellington Road, Donnington, in 1943. (fn. 24)