The Tuckies, Jackfield, Shropshire
| The Tuckies | |
|---|---|
 The Tuckies
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| The Tuckies shown within Shropshire | |
| OS grid reference | SJ691023 |
| Civil parish | |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | TELFORD |
| Postcode district | TF8 |
| Dialling code | 01952 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Shropshire |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | |
The Tuckies is a hamlet in the eastern part of Jackfield, lying on the south bank of the River Severn, in the Ironbridge Gorge, and opposite the village of Coalport. The purpose of this article is to capture its historical importance during the industrial revolution and provide links to the people and culture that once thrived here. The lower part of The Tuckies, in Ferry Road, is still badly affected by flooding and head-height water levels are clearly displayed in a doorway at The Boat Inn where the 1922 memorial footbridge crosses the River Severn to Coalport. The Severn Valley railway, operated by GWR, ran through The Tuckies and the original railway bridge, now forming part of the Severn Valley Way, still crosses the road there, at OS grid reference 693024.
The boundaries to The Tuckies are not well defined and may be disputed owing to 16th and 17th Century references only pointing towards the Tuckies as being the manor house, which, for the purposes of limiting information in this Encyclopedia entry, will be considered as its southern boundary. However, other references below use "The Tuckies" and "Tuckiesfield" to describe locations extending to The Werps to the east, The River Severn to the north, and Ferry Road which leads to the main part of Jackfield village, to the west.
A late 19th Century photograph pictures a row of 5 cottages at the Tuckies together with The Duke of Wellington Inn, it's brewhouse and a riverside road running between The Boat Inn and a neighbouring settlement at Werps, both just off the photograph to the right and the left respectively. Of the 5 cottages pictured, the smallest (leftmost) cottage (originally No.235) was demolished and replaced with a modern garage as part of No 234 (now Puddleduck Cottage) which was also knocked through into what was once 233. Numbers 231 & 232 have also been merged into one (becoming No.231) and so visitors to the picturesque cottages at The Tuckies today can easily be confused by 231 and 234 being next door to one another. Reference in 1851 to the Duke of Wellington being in Tuckiesfield rather than The Tuckies could originate from when Tuckies House, a mansion just south of the settlement, was split apart from it by the coming of the G.W.R. railway (now part of the Severn Valley Way) but this speculation is unproven. Tuckies House is described in more detail in its own sub section.
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Wikipedia