Telford and Ironbridge, cradle of industry

Telford is a new town in Shropshire, founded in 1968 and named after the Scottish engineer Thomas Telford, but it contains one of the oldest and most symbolic places of the industrial age: the Ironbridge gorge on the River Severn, where iron was first smelted with coke in 1709 and where the world's first large cast-iron bridge was built in 1779. Today the gorge is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with ten museums that tell the story of the birth of the Industrial Revolution. The town has about 140,000 inhabitants and the borough of Telford and Wrekin about 185,000, with green residential districts, large parks and old market towns such as Wellington.

Trains from Birmingham take about 40 minutes, and from London about two and a half hours, often with a change. Birmingham Airport is about an hour away by car.

A new town in an ancient valley

Telford was created as a new town to house the growing population of the West Midlands, joining together a series of small towns and mining villages: Wellington, Oakengates, Dawley, Madeley and others. It was planned with plenty of green space, a large urban park and a modern shopping centre. The name honours Thomas Telford, the builder of bridges, canals and roads who was Shropshire's first county surveyor of public works and who worked in this very area.

Ironbridge Gorge, birthplace of the Industrial Revolution

The Ironbridge gorge is the heart of any visit. Here, in 1709, at Coalbrookdale, the ironmaster Abraham Darby I succeeded in smelting iron using coke instead of charcoal: a discovery that made it possible to produce iron in large quantities and at low cost, and is considered one of the key moments of the Industrial Revolution. The valley filled with furnaces, mines and pottery and brick works, and for a few decades it was one of the most advanced industrial areas in the world.

The Iron Bridge

The Iron Bridge, completed in 1779 by Abraham Darby III, grandson of the founder, was the world's first large bridge built of cast iron. With a single span of about 30 metres over the Severn, it was assembled using techniques borrowed from carpentry, with joints and wedges. It immediately became an attraction for travellers and painters, and it is still one of the most photographed monuments in England. You can walk across it, and on the bank stands the old tollhouse, with a small exhibition.

The gorge museums

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust runs ten museums spread along the valley, with a single ticket valid for a year. The main ones are:

• Blists Hill Victorian Town, an open-air reconstructed Victorian town, with shops, a bank, a chemist's, a foundry, a pub and costumed staff; you can change your pounds into old coins and buy bread from the period bakery.
• The Museum of Iron at Coalbrookdale, with Darby's old furnace, preserved under a glass canopy.
• Enginuity, an interactive centre on engineering and technology, ideal for children.
• The Coalport China Museum, in the old bottle kilns, and the Jackfield Tile Museum, with the decorative tiles produced here and shipped all over the world.
• The Museum of the Gorge and the Darby Houses, the homes of the Quaker ironmaster family.

Not far away are the ruins of the 12th-century Cistercian abbey of Buildwas, set in meadows along the Severn.

A day in Telford

A possible itinerary: arrive early in Ironbridge to see the bridge in the morning light and stroll along the Severn among the stone and brick houses of the village. Then visit the Museum of Iron at Coalbrookdale, where you can see Darby's old furnace. In the early afternoon go to Blists Hill, have lunch in the Victorian town and spend a few hours among the workshops and costumed characters. At sunset, if you still have energy, climb the Wrekin to enjoy the view over the Shropshire hills. A curiosity: the famous golden gates of Warrington town hall also came from the Coalbrookdale foundries.

The modern town

Telford's centre is dominated by the large Telford Centre, one of the biggest shopping centres in the country, and by the Southwater district, with restaurants, a cinema and the library. Next to it lies Telford Town Park, a vast park with lakes, woods, gardens and children's play areas, built on old quarries and mines. Wellington, the oldest market town in the area, has a fine square and a covered market.

Around Telford

• The Wrekin, Shropshire's emblematic hill, 407 metres high, with a short climb and a view that on clear days reaches as far as Wales. The poet A. E. Housman mentioned it in his collection A Shropshire Lad.
• Much Wenlock, where in 1850 the doctor William Penny Brookes founded the Wenlock Olympian Games, which inspired Pierre de Coubertin; the mascot of the London 2012 Olympics was named Wenlock after it.
• The RAF Museum at Cosford, with military and civil aircraft and a large collection devoted to the Cold War.
• Shrewsbury, the county town, a medieval town of timber-framed houses, and Ludlow, famous for its castle and its food.

Eating and drinking

Shropshire is a farming county, known for its meat, cheeses and craft beers. In Telford and Ironbridge you will find historic pubs with views over the gorge, tea rooms and modern British restaurants. At Blists Hill you can try fish and chips cooked as in the 19th century, in beef dripping.

Living in Telford

Telford has some of the lowest house prices in the Midlands, with green and well-connected neighbourhoods. The economy is based on manufacturing, logistics and services, with many international companies attracted by its position on the M54 motorway. The town has a young population and a campus of the University of Wolverhampton.

Getting there

• By train: from Birmingham in about 40 minutes to Telford Central; from London in about two and a half hours, changing at Birmingham or Wolverhampton.
• By air: Birmingham Airport is about an hour away; Manchester airport can also be reached.
• By car: the town is on the M54 motorway, which links to the M6.
• In town: there are buses from the centre to Ironbridge, but a car is more convenient for getting around the museums.

For travel around the rest of the country see trains and transport, and for other cities British cities.

Tips for your visit

• How long: at least a full day for Ironbridge and Blists Hill; two days to see the Wrekin and Much Wenlock as well.
• When to go: April to October, when all the museums are open and Blists Hill is at its liveliest.
• A tip: the annual museum ticket is already worth it if you visit two or three museums.

Telford on the map

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