InfoBritain
Custom Search
The Museum of the Gorge is located on the river Severn close to Shropshire's famous Iron Bridge. This museum is housed in a former single storey warehouse, used in the nineteenth century by the Coalbrookdale Company. Today it contains a large model of the three mile stretch of the Ironbridge Gorge between Coalport China Works and Dale End, as it would have appeared in 1796. There is also an exhibition covering the whole history of the Gorge. The Gorge itself, and its geology are crucial to the revolutionary industrial activity that grew up within it. 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 produced what is virtually a ready made mine, giving easy access to raw materials. Coal and limestone were being quarried and mined here from the Middle Ages, and iron was being produced from the reign of Henry VIII. Then in the early eighteenth century, iron master Abraham Darby of Bristol became convinced that he could produce iron more cheaply by changing the way it was made. Iron was being 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 temperatures high enough to smelt iron. Whole forests were cleared to provide fuel for this process. With charcoal becoming increasingly expensive, Abraham Darby began experimenting with coke, a fuel produced by baking coal at high temperatures. Darby thought that coke could be used instead of charcoal in the smelting of iron ore. The best coal for the production of coke was mined in the area of Coalbrookdale. So that's where he relocated in 1709, and this is where his revolutionary process of producing iron was finally made to work.
Directions: Exit the M54 at junctions 4 or 6, and then follow signs for Ironbridge Gorge. The Museum of the Gorge is close to the Iron Bridge. Click here for an interactive map centred on Ironbridge. Postcode TF8 7NH
Opening Times: Open daily, all year 10am - 5pm.
Access: Level access throughout. Adapted toilet facilities (RADAR key required) are provided. Wheelchair loan is available.
Contact:
telephone: 01952 433424
web site: http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/