EPW050455 ENGLAND (1936). Joseph Sankey & Sons Ltd Castle Engineering Works and environs, Hadley, 1936

Trench Pool The source of water for the canal.

Joseph Sankey and Sons Ltd Archives: The GKN business records from the Hadley Castle site were deposited at Shropshire Records Research in 1985. System Reference: X4898. The first works was at Bilston. Joseph Sankey founded the business in 1854. In 1902 the firm was turned into a limited company with J.W. Sankey as chairman. Prior to 1910 the Hadley Castle works manufactured tram bodies eg by Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage & Wagon Co. Ltd In 1910 Joseph Sankey and Sons Ltd acquired the Castle Works, Hadley, Telford and switched all automotive related production to this site. It was here that the company also developed Sankey-Sheldon office furniture and produced agricultural implements. By 1919 the family business operated from four sites: Albert Street, Dudley which manufactured tin trays and hollow ware domestic items; The Bankfield Works, Bilston which produced steel electrical laminations; Hadley Castle Works, Wellington which produced components for the motor industry and Manor Rolling Mills, Ettingshall, Wolverhampton which produced steel sheets for the Bankfield Works. In 1929 the company was taken over by, and became a subsidiary of, John Lysaght Ltd., which was shortly afterwards acquired by G. K. N.. But Sankeys maintained its original name. The Hadley Castle Works specialized in motor vehicle wheels and bodies and expanded with the British motor industry. After the First World War additional products included chassis frames, office furniture, and washing machines. There were c. 1,500 employees in 1939. The works grew in the years 1948-60, becoming Europe's biggest manufacturer of motor vehicle wheels. From the early 1970s the wheel division suffered from falling demand and in the late 1970s the works entered a sudden decline. In January 1978 the workforce, 6,250, was the largest of any Telford firm. Four years later it had been cut to 2,550.

Trench Road

Shropshire Union Canal (Trench Branch) - disused. At Trench an inclined plane was built, which was 223 yards (204 m) long and raised boats 75 feet (23 m) up to the Wombridge Canal, from where they could travel via the Shropshire Canal southwards to the River Severn at Coalport. So from the South the canal went from Wombridge Canal, down an incline, to Trench Pool (visible in some BfA images) to run through Trench Locks to Weppenshall Junction, where it joined with the main canal linking Shrewsbury to the Shropshire Union Canal.

Hadley Junction. The branch line to the right went to Coalport - now long gone and little trace. The Telford Bypass uses two miles of the route. The line opened in 1861 and closed to passengers in 1952, fully closed 1960. The first half of the route was originally part of the Shropshire Canal which the LNWR bought in 1857 and filled in, the line opening four years later. The straight main line was the Wellington to Stafford line. Built by Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company, open 1849 - 1966. The last bit of track was lifted in 1991. There was a suggestion of reopening the line made in 2009. The line above the junction is now a cycle track.