Ken Jones Local History Day Held at Coalbrookdale on 20 April 2013
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TRANSACTIONS OF THE WREKIN LOCAL STUDIES FORUM 2013 Proceedings of the Ken Jones Local History Day held at Coalbrookdale on 20 April 2013 Wrekin Local Studies Forum TRANSACTIONS OF THE WREKIN LOCAL STUDIES FORUM 2013 Contents Editorial … … … … … … 2 Ken Jones, his life and work ~ John Powell … … 3 Holywell Lane revisited ~ Barrie Trinder … … 8 Methodism in Telford, with particular reference to Ken Jones ~ John Lenton … … 12 Coal to the Power Station: the role of the railway ~ Neil Clarke ... … 24 Copyright – WLSF and contributors Ken at the Friends of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum 40th anniversary celebrations at Blists Hill in 2009 EDITORIAL The Forum The Wrekin Local Studies Forum exists to bring together organisations and individuals interested in local studies in and around Telford & Wrekin. It is a fully constituted group that meets quarterly to share and receive information, expertise and resources and to plan joint ventures. There is currently a mailing list of over 30 contacts representing local history, family history and reminiscence groups, civic societies, museums, archives, libraries, colleges and the local authority, and of these 18 are active members. The Forum aims to promote and encourage local studies in the area by organising exhibitions, day events and conferences, working with other organisation to widen access to resources and publishing bi-annual leaflets to advertise the interests and meetings of member societies. The Transactions To further the aims of the Forum, the Transactions presents selected local studies papers resulting from talks given at member-societies’ meetings and day conferences and from research undertaken by individual members. This issue of the Transaction is devoted entirely to the proceedings of the Ken Jones Local History Day. This day conference was held at Coalbrookdale on Saturday, 20th April 2013 to celebrate the life, interests and achievements of Kenneth Bevis Jones, MBE, local historian, railway enthusiast and long-time supporter of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, who died at the age of 90 in February 2012. The event was organised by the Friends of Shropshire Archives, hosted by the Friends of Ironbridge Gorge Museum and supported by WLSF – Ken was a member of all three. Our thanks go to the speakers who have kindly provided papers for publication. Items for inclusion in the next issue of the Transactions are welcome and should be sent to the Editor, Cranleigh, Little Wenlock, TF6 5BH. Neil Clarke Ken Jones, his life and work John Powell Kenneth Bevis Jones (always known as “Ken”) was born on 25th October, 1921 at 4, The Stocking, Lightmoor, in the Parish of Little Dawley, Shropshire. He was an only child. Ken’s great- grandfather, Thomas Davies (1837-1933) had worked as a railway navvy building the line from Lightmoor down to Coalbrookdale in 1863-4. Ken’s father Cecil Thomas Jones also worked on the railway: he is described on his marriage certificate as a signal porter. Ken’s mother Dora (nee Hillidge) is described in the same document as a “motor driver”, but since the wedding took place in 1918, it is possible that this was some form of war work. It is believed that she had spent some time in domestic service. Ken attended Pool Hill School in Dawley when his father was working at Horsehay & Dawley Station, but when he was transferred to Ketley, Ken moved to Ketley Bank School. His childhood was happy and relatively uneventful. From an early age, Ken harboured the ambition – like many young boys of his generation – of becoming an engine driver. Surprisingly, despite the fact that he worked on the railway himself, Ken’s father was not keen on the idea, and tried to dissuade him, or at least to steer him towards an office job rather than one on the footplate. When he left school at the age of 14, Ken was too young to work on the railway, so he found a position as a clerk in the office at the Wrekin Foundry of James Clay (Wellington) Ltd. He described the work as decidedly uninspiring, though he enjoyed watching the trains passing on the Ketley Junction to Coalbrookdale branch, and he soon discovered that if he volunteered to run errands at the right time of day, he could also watch expresses passing on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton main line as well! Ken’s determination to join the railway was undiminished, and eventually he succeeded in persuading his father to put his name down at Wellington loco shed to be taken on as a cleaner when he reached the age of 16. After a wait of three months, Ken was finally requested to attend for a written and eyesight test on 5th February, 1938. A few weeks later, on 3rd March 1938, he had to attend a medical examination at Park House, Swindon; having passed this, he was measured for his overalls, which he took home with him in a brown paper parcel under his arm. He started as a very proud employee of the Great Western Railway on 6th April, 1938, on which date he was instructed to report to the shed foreman at Oxley Shed, Wolverhampton. Oxley was primarily a shed for freight train locomotives, but after a couple of years Ken progressed as senior cleaner to Stafford Road Shed, which provided most of the passenger locomotives for trains to Chester and Birkenhead, Bristol and the West Country, and for expresses from Wolverhampton to Paddington via Birmingham Snow Hill. Ken began to undertake firing turns on yard shunters. By this time the war had started, and working on the railways suddenly became a dangerous occupation. In later life, Ken recalled being held for hours at a time in freight loops and sidings as trains brought exhausted troops back from Dunkirk. The sight of the wounded and bedraggled soldiers, he said, led him to believe that Britain would almost certainly lose the war. In July, 1940 Ken was promoted to fireman and posted to Banbury Shed, in Oxfordshire. Again, his duties involved mainly freight trains and shunting, including the Hump Yard north of the station, which he found to be particularly boring. He stayed at Banbury for 14 months before being moved back to Wolverhampton. During this second spell there, he had his first taste of firing on an express train, when he and driver Albert Williams were unexpectedly instructed to A young Ken Jones with his mother Dora and his great-grandfather Thomas Davies, who had worked as a navvy building the Lightmoor-Coalbrookdale railway line in the 1860s. A rare picture of fireman Ken Jones (right) on the footplate. The locomotive is Hall class no. 5920 “Wycliffe Hall”. The location, and the identity of the driver, are unknown. Ken and Dorinda’s wedding at New Hadley on 21 February 1953. Ken’s mother and father are on the left, and Dorinda’s parents and sister on the right. bring a 12-coach express from Chester back to Wolverhampton hauled by “Hall” class locomotive, no. 6908 “Downham Hall”. Ken’s final railway move occurred in June, 1942, when he was transferred to Wellington Shed. From then onwards many of his trips, and certainly the turns he found most enjoyable, were over the line through Coalbrookdale and on to Much Wenlock and Craven Arms. The contrast with the large sheds at Wolverhampton could not have been greater. With a smaller workforce, there was a strong sense of camaraderie between the footplate men, and also with the signalmen, station staff, shunters and gangers – crews even developed friendships with individual passengers who lived along the line. This was Ken’s happiest time on the railways. Although the Great Western disappeared when the railways were nationalised in 1948, and control passed to the Western Region of British Railways, there were few noticeable changes to this idyllic country line, though the withdrawal of passenger services between Wenlock and Craven Arms in 1951 was in retrospect an ominous sign of things to come. Outside work, Ken’s social life revolved around the local Methodist chapels. He helped organise football teams, though he is not known to have been an active participant in sport, and he also went away on youth club outings and holidays. It was through these activities that he met Dorinda Perkins from Hadley. They fell in love, and were married at New Hadley Methodist Church on 21st February, 1953. Dorinda was particularly interested in amateur dramatics; she directed plays, and Ken appeared in a number of them, receiving favourable reviews in the local press for his convincing performances. Unfortunately, the unsocial hours of a life on the footplate, and more importantly the likelihood of being transferred away from the area where they had just set up home, persuaded Ken that he should leave the railway, and he duly finished on 3rd December, 1954. He said in later life that he never regretted the decision, and would never have changed it: nevertheless, he retained a deep interest in railways for the rest of his life, keeping in touch with many of his former workmates, and avidly reading the staff magazines passed on to him by his father, who finally retired in 1962 having clocked up 47 years service. He was dismayed by the wielding of the Beeching Axe, and took the opportunity to ride on the Wenlock – Wellington line on the last day of operation. On the last day on the Wellington – Crewe line, a former colleague invited him onto the footplate and gave him a turn on the shovel. He rode on, and filmed, some of the last steam-hauled runs of the Cambrian Coast Express. Ken’s new career was in local government, initially at Stafford, with him travelling to and fro daily by train from Hadley, and then at a later date he transferred to Oakengates.