Ironbridge Gorge, cradle of industry

Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, is considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. In this narrow valley of the River Severn, at the beginning of the 18th century, iron was smelted with coke for the first time, and in 1779 the world's first large cast-iron bridge was built, the Iron Bridge, which gives the village its name. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986, the gorge is home to ten museums that tell how the modern industrial world was born. It lies within the borough of Telford.

History

The valley had everything industry needed: coal, iron ore, limestone, clay and a navigable river. In 1709, at Coalbrookdale, the Quaker ironmaster Abraham Darby I succeeded in smelting iron using coke, made from coal, instead of charcoal, which was becoming scarce and expensive. It was a turning point: iron became plentiful and cheap, and was used to build steam engines, rails, cooking pots, bridges and, later, ships. His grandson, Abraham Darby III, built the Iron Bridge between 1777 and 1779, a spectacular advertisement for the skills of the valley's foundries.

In the 19th century industry moved elsewhere and the gorge declined. Since 1967 the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust has restored furnaces, factories, houses and railways, turning the whole valley into a museum spread across the landscape.

What to see

The Iron Bridge

The bridge, with a single span of about 30 metres, was assembled using carpentry techniques, with joints and wedges instead of bolts. Today it is pedestrian-only and free to cross; a major restoration completed in 2018 returned the cast iron to its original red-brown colour. On the south bank stands the old tollhouse with a small exhibition. The best view is from the riverbank, early in the morning or at sunset.

Blists Hill Victorian Town

Blists Hill is a reconstructed open-air Victorian town, with streets, shops, a bank where you can change your pounds into old pennies, a chemist's, a working foundry, a pub, a school and a fish and chip shop cooking as in the 19th century. Costumed characters explain trades and daily life.

The Museum of Iron and Coalbrookdale

At Coalbrookdale you can visit the Museum of Iron, with Darby's Old Furnace, protected under a glass canopy, and a collection of decorative cast-iron objects made by the Coalbrookdale Company, famous in the 19th century for gates, fountains and statues. Nearby are the Darby Houses, the homes of the Quaker ironmaster family.

The other museums

• Coalport China Museum, in the old bottle kilns of a porcelain factory.
• Jackfield Tile Museum, with the decorative Victorian tiles made here and shipped throughout the Empire.
• The Tar Tunnel, a tunnel whose walls still ooze natural bitumen.
• Enginuity, an interactive centre for children on engineering and technology.
• The Museum of the Gorge, with a large model of the valley in 1796.

Practical information

With the Annual Passport you can enter all the museums for a year; it already pays off if you visit two or three. Some of the smaller museums only open in season. Opening times and prices are on the Trust's website.

Getting there

• By train: to Telford Central, then bus or taxi (about 15 minutes); from Birmingham to Telford in about 40 minutes.
• By car: from the M54, junction 4 or 6; pay car parks in the gorge.
• By air: Birmingham Airport is about an hour away.

Nearby

• The Wrekin hill and the town of Much Wenlock, home of the Wenlock Olympian Games.
• Shrewsbury, with its timber-framed houses, and Ludlow.
• See also Telford, the Industrial Revolution and the UNESCO sites of the United Kingdom.

Tips

• How long: a full day for the bridge, Blists Hill and Coalbrookdale; two days to see everything.
• When to go: April to October, when all the museums are open.
• A tip: start at Blists Hill in the morning and go down to the bridge in the late afternoon, once the groups have left.

Ironbridge Gorge on the map

Nearby