For other places named Donnington, see: Donnington

Donnington

Donnington may refer to:*Donnington, Berkshire**Donnington Castle*Donnington, Gloucestershire*Donnington, Herefordshire*Donnington, Oxfordshire**Donnington Bridge*Donnington, Shropshire, in the parish of Wroxeter and Uppington...

Donnington was not part of the new town

New town

A new town is a specific type of a planned community, or planned city, that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more ad hoc fashion. Land use conflicts are uncommon in new...

 of Telford

Telford

Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...

 but part of the already oudated Wellington Rural District which had built many council houses from the 1920s onwards. It is located in the borough of Telford and Wrekin

Telford and Wrekin

Telford and Wrekin is a unitary district with borough status in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. The district was created in 1974 as The...

 and ceremonial county

Ceremonial counties of England

The ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...

 of Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Aside from the rest of urban Telford, which is to the south west, Donnington is surrounded by fields and countryside.

The original Donnington village was to the north east of the current centre of Donnington and was under the 'Duke of Sutherland Estate'. It was a minor industrial centre where "Walker's works" (C&W Walker Ltd) produced components of gasometers and ship's engines. The Clock Tower restaurant commemorates the landmark Walker's Clock which now sits on a road island near where "Walker's works" once was & just a hundred metres from the centre of Old Donnington. Old Donnington was the location of a coal wharf linked by rail to the Granville Colliery, Shropshire's last deep coal mine. This industrial heritage links the original Donnington village to the Industrial Revolution

Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...

 that Telford proudly asserts began with the first large scale smelting of iron using coke in the Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...

 area of Telford

Telford

Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...

.

The current centre of Donnington is actually the centre of New Donnington a house development that began in the late 1930s to provide housing for the workers who would work at the then new MOD

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 Donnington British Army Depot. The farm land for the New Donnington housing estate was purchased by the MOD.

The MOD

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

 Donnington is a military base of the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 located immediately to the north of Donnington. It was once one of the largest military stores in Europe but since the end of the Cold War it has declined in both importance and size.

Recently Donnington has added an Asda

Asda

Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...

 superstore and an Aldi

ALDI

ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, doing business as ', short for "Albrecht Discount", is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany...

 supermarket to the Coop supermarket that already existed and a Morrisons

Morrisons

Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...

 supermarket has replaced the Netto

Netto

Netto is Danish/Norwegian/Swedish/Dutch/German for "net" . In most European languages the word "netto" refers to net worth or net pay.It may also refer to:...

 supermarket in the centre of Donnington on the site of the old pub "The Champion Jockey" named after Gordon Richards of Wrockwardine Wood, making Donnington one of the best food retail served suburbs in the country. The Telford International Railfreight Park

Telford International Railfreight Park

Telford International Railfreight Park is rail freight depot and construction development site located in Donnington to the north of Telford, on the former route of the Stafford to Shrewsbury Line....

 has been recently developed on a 48 acre (0.19424928 km²) site of the former MOD depot, given rail access by rebuilding 2.5 miles (4 km) of the former Shropshire Union Railway west towards Wellington

Wellington (Shropshire) railway station

Wellington railway station serves the town of Wellington, Shropshire, England. It is situated on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton Line. Trains are operated by London Midland and Arriva Trains Wales.-History:...

. It is expected this development will attract more light industry to the industrial estates near Donnington. As at 2011, the rail freight terminal, which is in Trench, near the busy Hortonwood industrial estate visited by many juggernaut-type trucks, seems to attract no trains.

Donnington is home to a small amateur dramatics company "The Little Theatre" and each year Donnington football playing fields play host to a popular free Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes

Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...

fair & bonfire night.
Saturday 12 November 2011. Bonfire and fireworks free, funfair usual funfair prices. Good, though!