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The Iron Bridge, Shropshire

Photo by Ann Goldsmith

The area of Ironbridge in Shropshire has long been a place of industry. It sits in the Seven Valley which was in effect a ready made mine for coal, iron ore, clay and limestone. The valley was cut around fifteen thousand years ago when a huge ice dammed lake overflowed east of the Welsh mountains. The gorge cut out by flood water made raw materials easily accessible. Coal and limestone were being quarried and mined here from the Middle Ages, and iron was being produced from the reign of Henry VIII. At this time iron was produced in small batches, with iron ore placed in pans, covered in charcoal and then blown with bellows. Charcoal was one of the few fuels which could produce the high temperature required to smelt iron. Whole forests were cleared to provide charcoal for iron smelting. Then with charcoal becoming increasingly expensive, early eighteenth century iron master Abraham Darby of Bristol began experimenting with coke, a fuel produced by baking coal at high temperatures. Darby eventually devised a way to use coke to smelt iron in large quantities. The best coal for the production of coke was mined in the area of Ironbridge in the Severn Valley, Shropshire, so that's where Darby relocated his business in 1709. The Ironbridge area then became one of the most important industrialised regions in the world during the eighteenth century.

All the industrial activity around Ironbridge meant that huge quantities of raw materials had to be transported across the river to ironworks and factories in the valley. There was only one ancient medieval bridge, two miles up stream. By 1750 there were at least six ferries operating on this stretch of the Severn. But variable river conditions, shallow in summer, deep and fast moving in winter, meant that ferry operations were not reliable. So inevitably plans were made to build a bridge. Abraham Darby III, grandson of the original Abraham Darby, was commissioned to build the new bridge. He contacted Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, a Shewsbury joiner, who provided a design for a single span constructed in iron.

While the new bridge had an urgent practical purpose, it was also built with an eye to drama and spectacle, advertising the use of cast iron, and the skill of Abraham Darby III. A site was chosen at one of the gorge's most dramatic locations, and the full circle reflected in the water was no doubt planned - although semi-circular shapes were easier for the foundry to make. In the following century Isambard Kingdom Brunel would become a master of the show business side of engineering, but he certainly had an antecedent in Abraham Darby III. A sense of drama shared by Darby and Brunel perhaps explains why it is often believed that Brunel built the Iron Bridge. The bridge was promoted by an advertising campaign, with posters depicting Darby's elegant creation in an idyllic rural landscape. Work began in November 1777, the design a modification of Pritchard's original proposal. The iron work didn't start to go up until May 1779, and was probably completed over the duration of that summer. The bridge was to be the world's first use of cast-iron structurally. This moment of change from old to new technology can actually be seen by looking at the bridge joints. They are all based on traditional carpentry methods, such as mortises, tenons and dovetails. Bolts that appear in the joints are all a product of later repairs. Following on from the media campaign preceding its building, the Iron Bridge immediately became famous. One result of the Industrial Revolution was an idealisation of a rural past. The Iron Bridge with its smooth semicircle reflected in water, and its dramatic position in a wooded gorge perhaps seemed to combine the excitement of the future, with an idealisation of a rural past. One writer was thinking along these lines in 1798 when he described "a precipitate descent to the Romantic scene of Coalbrook Dale where the River, winding between a variety of high wooded hills, is crossed by a bridge of one arch, 100ft in length and formed entirely of cast iron with strong, stone abutments... a striking effect in the landscape and a stupendous specimen of the powers of mechanism." (Quoted in The Ironbridge And Town published by Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, P 14.) Many artists' impressions were produced, placing the bridge in an idealised landscape. A painting by William Williams is the best known.

Today the Iron Bridge Gorge is almost a recreation of those original idealised engravings and paintings. The area of Ironbridge, once heavily industrialised, is today an idyllic vision of nature and industry existing together. The town of Ironbridge, virtually derelict at the beginning of the twentieth century, has been restored, and is now a quaint town of cottages amongst woods in the Severn Valley. Perhaps the Ironbridge Gorge is not so much an idealisation of the past, as vision for a future where industrialism will coexist with nature.

The old Tollhouse on the south side of the bridge now houses an exhibition about the Iron Bridge and its history.

There are a number of other museums spread along this beautiful section of the river Severn. Many of the museums continue to work, producing metal work, or glass and china items. All are either in Ironbridge or within a few minutes drive. Click on the individual links above for details. The cheapest way to visit is to buy a passport which allows access to all the Ironbridge museums.

 

Directions: The Ironbridge Gorge is on the river Severn five miles south of Telford in Shropshire. Take junction 4 from the M54 and follow the brown tourist signs. Click here for an interactive map centred on Ironbridge. Postcode TF8 7JP.

Opening Times: The Ironbridge has free public access. The Tollhouse is open weekends during the school summer holidays 10am - 5pm or by prior arrangement for groups.

Access: There is flat access onto the bridge, though the surface does slope. There is a step into the Tollhouse.

Contact:

telephone: 01952 884391

web: http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/

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