Highley

Highley began as a rural farming community, including an entry in the Domesday Book, later becoming a significant area for stone quarrying which provided some of the stone for Worcester Cathedral. Coal mining began in the area in the Middle Ages, but in the late 19th century the village was revolutionised by coal mining with large-scale operations beginning in 1878. A period of intense housebuilding also followed, giving Highley its distinctive red-brick terraced miners' houses. In the 1930s, the mine was extended to the neighbouring village of Alveley across the River Severn and a tunnel and bridge constructed between the two. There are also historical bridging points at Bridgnorth to the…