Dawley is a small town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. Today, it forms part of the new town of Telford, which was originally, in 1963, going to be named 'Dawley New Town' before it was decided in 1968 to name the town 'Telford', after the engineer and road-builder Thomas Telford.

Dawley is one of the older settlements in Shropshire, being mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086). It is divided into Dawley Magna ("Great Dawley") and Little Dawley (also shown as Dawley Parva ("Little Dawley") on older maps).

Dawley was, for over three centuries, a mining town, both for coal and ironstone. Clay extraction, for local industrial-pipe factories, brickyards and the pottery industry, has been a major influence on the landscape. The mining had an important impact on the culture. The Springwell Pit Disaster in 1872 cost eight men and boys their lives.

Thomas Telford (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels.

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