SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES.
There were at least three alehouses in 1543 and
from 1590, when they harboured illegal gaming
and card playing, to 1619. (fn. 32) By 1753 there were 10
licensed premises and the number fluctuated between 7 and 11 throughout the late 18th and early
19th century. (fn. 33) Among the alehouses that existed
by the later 18th century were the Wicket near the
parish church (later the Old Wicket as distinct
from the New Wicket near St. Leonard's church),
the Dun Cow at Dawley Green, and the Finger on
the Wellington-Worcester turnpike. Most early
19th-century alehouses lay along the major roads
in the populous central part of the parish. There
were three at Dawley Bank and at least four at
Dawley Green in 1817. (fn. 34) After the relaxation of
licensing laws the number of taverns increased
and many beerhouses were opened throughout
the parish. In 1851 there were 22 taverns and 15
beerhouses and by 1879, although the number of
public houses remained stable, the number of
beer retailers had increased to 28. Seventeen
public houses and all but two of the beer retailers
were in Great Dawley; Malinslee had one beerhouse only. By the late 1970s there were 18 pubs,
inns, or licensed hotels in the area of the ancient
parish, about half of them in and around central
Dawley. The Ironmaster was opened in Telford
town centre c. 1980. (fn. 35)
Controlling drink and drunkenness was difficult. In the 1790s there were unlicensed
alesellers in Dawley, (fn. 36) and in 1820 the parish
meeting circulated handbills, stating the laws
against drunkenness, and appointed someone to
superintend the conduct of alehouse keepers and
their customers. (fn. 37) The strength of Methodism in
the area was associated with the growth of a
temperance movement in the late 19th century (fn. 38)
and there was an Anglican mission to combat
drunkenness in the Dawley Bank area in 1882. (fn. 39)
Dawley's wake was held on All Saints' Day in
the early 18th century. (fn. 40) The wakes were last
recorded in 1873, when they were held at the end
of September. (fn. 41) There was a bull ring at Dawley
Bank in the early 19th century (fn. 42) and cock fighting
is said to have lingered on in Dawley until the
20th century. (fn. 43) Both horse and foot racing took
place at Dawley Green in 1843. (fn. 44) By 1863 the
annual livestock fair, held in June at Dawley
Green, had become an important social event.
The 'pleasure fair', as it came to be known, was
recorded until 1895, and was followed by sports
and games in 1876. Circuses regularly visited
Dawley Green in the later 19th century. (fn. 45)
The Dawley Sunday Schools' Demonstration,
held on August bank holiday Monday, began in
1876 (fn. 46) and was a notable annual event for nearly a
century. Pupils and teachers from Sunday schools
throughout Dawley walked in procession carrying
banners, to converge on a field at the corner of
King Street and Meadow Road, where an openair service was held. The groups then returned to
their own chapels for tea and sports. (fn. 47) The form of
the demonstration probably derived from Primitive Methodist processions to preaching places,
recorded in the area in the 1850s, (fn. 48) and from
annual Sunday school treats, which included
processions in 1875. (fn. 49) In 1878 c. 2,500 children
and c. 300 teachers from 15 nonconformist Sunday schools took part. (fn. 50) Later Anglican Sunday
schools also participated. By the 1930s a flower
show was held in the town park on the same day.
After the Second World War the processions met
on the playing fields at Doseley Road. (fn. 51) The
demonstration declined in size in the 1960s as
several Methodist chapels closed, and it last took
place c. 1974. (fn. 52)
Numerous friendly and provident societies
were recorded in Dawley after registration was
introduced in 1794. (fn. 53) Many met in alehouses (fn. 54) but
some sectarian societies met in chapels. (fn. 55) Some
ironmasters encouraged the societies: in the early
19th century I. H. Browne and the Botfield
brothers contributed to Malinslee Club, (fn. 56) possibly
the friendly society formed in 1797 and held at
Old Park Office (fn. 57) or that which met in 1835 at
Lawley Bank. (fn. 58) The Coalbrookdale Co. established a medical and educational fund, to which
its employees contributed, in the earlier 19th
century. (fn. 59) A lodge of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows (Manchester Unity), formed in
1856, survived in 1937. (fn. 60) There was a branch of
the Shropshire Provident Society 1853-1945. (fn. 61)
A library and reading room in High Street,
recorded from 1856, was known by 1870 as the
Literary Institute. (fn. 62) It was managed by a committee, whose secretary was latterly the headmaster
of Langley Board School, and it contained c.
3,000 volumes by 1900. It seems to have closed c.
1907. (fn. 63) A second reading room, on Bank Road,
known as the Dawley Bank Institute, was recorded from 1909 to 1917. (fn. 64) Dawley was the only
urban district to be served by the county library
service established in 1925. The county opened a
local library centre in the town c. 1927. (fn. 65) A
full-time, professionally staffed branch library,
the first in the county service, was opened at
Dawley in 1949. (fn. 66) The original premises, the
former Congregational chapel off High Street, (fn. 67)
were replaced by a prefabricated building in King
Street in 1973. (fn. 68)
A public park and recreation ground was
opened in 1901 on a 2-a. site between Dawley
National School and George Street, given to the
town by W. S. Kenyon-Slaney and H. C.
Simpson. (fn. 69) Tennis courts and a bowling green
were made there in 1922. (fn. 70) Part of the site had
previously been a cricket ground, apparently
given to the parish in the mid 19th century. In
1886 R. C. Wanstall, vicar of Dawley Magna,
proposed, apparently in vain, that it be levelled
and converted into a recreation ground by the
unemployed. (fn. 71) Similar schemes to provide recreation grounds by using the unemployed were put
into effect between the World Wars. Part of Horse
Leasow, a site levelled in 1927, was used as a
children's playground, (fn. 72) and a pit mound at Dawley Bank was levelled and converted into a playing
field c. 1930 under the direction of Edward Parry,
vicar of Malinslee. (fn. 73)
The first hall for social purposes was the Town
Hall in New Street, built as a temperance hall in
1873. (fn. 74) It passed to the urban district council and
was let for public meetings, concerts, and dances
in the 1920s. (fn. 75) After the Second World War users
included Roman Catholic and nonconformist
groups. (fn. 76) After the First World War the Memorial
Recreation Hall in King Street was built. (fn. 77) In
1928, when the building was used by the Dawley
Child Welfare Society and as a school clinic,
management passed from the War Memorial
Committee to the U.D.C. (fn. 78) In 1980 the premises
were used by Dawley Social Club. The former
Congregational chapel off High Street was used as
an assembly room in the early 20th century. (fn. 79)
In 1913 the Town Hall was occupied by the
Royal Windsor Variety and Picture Palace. (fn. 80) It did
not survive the First World War. The first
purpose-built cinema was the Cosy cinema in
Burton Street, which opened c. 1921 (fn. 81) and closed
in 1956. (fn. 82) The Royal cinema, King Street, opened
c. 1938 (fn. 83) and closed as a cinema in 1961, (fn. 84) but
bingo was played there nightly in 1980. A playhouse in New Street, recorded in 1929, (fn. 85) was
evidently short-lived.
The only newspaper produced exclusively for
the Dawley area was the Dawley Observer (from
1968 the Telford Observer), founded by a young
journalist on the designation of the new town in
1963. Published from a terraced house in Chapel
Street, it appeared weekly until 1972. (fn. 86)
A strip of open land, centring on the Randlay
valley along the ancient boundary between Dawley and Stirchley, was designated as a central
town park for the new town in 1971; by 1980 it
included a sports complex, exhibition area, openair theatre, and tram line. (fn. 87) At Hinkshay, at the
southern end of the park, a field-study area was
opened in 1970. (fn. 88) Telford Horsehay Steam Trust
was founded in 1975 to preserve steam locomotives. It rapidly acquired several. (fn. 89)