Great Dawley was crossed from north-west to south-east by the main Wellington-Worcester (and Bridgnorth) road, turnpiked 1764. (fn. 17) In 1752 the road entered the parish at Dawley Bank and ran by Dawley Green Lane (later Bank Road and King Street), Dun Cow Bank (New Street), and Finger Lane to Southall. (fn. 18) By the early 19th century it had been diverted from Lawley by Ball's Hill, near Heath Hill, to Dawley Green. (fn. 19) The parish's commercial centre grew up at the junction between the old and new routes at Dawley Green, the road through the settlement being known at High Street by 1851. (fn. 20) A second major route was the Wellington-Coalbrookdale turnpike, opened c. 1817. (fn. 21) Across the south-west corner of the parish it was made by improving a road that followed parts of the former Horsehay-Coalbrookdale waggonway. (fn. 22) The stretch along Loamhole dingle was known as Jigger's Bank, at the foot of which was a tollhouse. (fn. 23) The Wellington-Worcester turnpike was diverted to follow the new road, a new section being built c. 1827 from the older route at Ball's Hill to the new road at Lawley. (fn. 24)
From: 'Dawley: Communications', A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 11: Telford (1985), pp. 106-107. URL:
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=18087 Date accessed: 08 January 2011.