LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES.

There was a court baron in the late 16th and earlier 17th century, of which an estreat of 1589 survives. (fn. 49) In 1255, (fn. 50) and still in 1615, (fn. 51) Lawley was partly in the leet jurisdiction of Hinstock and partly in that of Bradford hundred. In the mid 16th century one constable presented at Hinstock, and perhaps more than one in the early 17th. (fn. 52) In 1540 the inhabitants were required to make a pound for the lord of Hinstock. (fn. 53) Part of Lawley still owed suit to Hinstock in 1813. (fn. 54)

The township was in Wellington civil parish until 1894, Wellington poor-law union 1836- 1930, Wrekin highway district 1865-82, and Wellington rural sanitary district 1872-94. In 1894 the township became part of Wellington Rural C.P. and Wellington rural district. (fn. 55) Much of the southern part, including Horsehay common and Spring Village, was taken into Dawley C.P. and urban district in 1934 (fn. 56) and almost all the rest in 1966, leaving a tiny area at the northern tip in Wellington Rural C.P. (fn. 57) (renamed Ketley C.P. in 1976). (fn. 58) In 1974 the whole township became part of the district of the Wrekin. (fn. 59) In 1963 the parts in, or later added to, Dawley C.P. and U.D. were included in the designated area of Dawley new town, (fn. 60) and in 1968 the whole township was included in the designated area of Telford. (fn. 61)

From 1909 Dawley urban district council, by agreement with Wellington rural district council, supplied mains water to Lawley Bank and Horsehay Common from the U.D.C.'s Lawley Bank reservoir. (fn. 62) The system was later extended to the rest of the township, (fn. 63) reaching Newdale in 1924. (fn. 64) The R.D.C., with Dawley U.D.C., opened a small sewerage scheme at Lawley Bank in 1926. (fn. 65) In 1939 the R.D.C. completed a larger scheme serving Lawley Bank and Lawley village and opened a new disposal works at Lawley Bank. (fn. 66) The first sub-post office within the township boundary opened in Lawley village in the 1940s. (fn. 67)

Footnotes