Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale

The walk description is based on a small free car park near to the museum (SJ 693026), but if you don't mind paying it might be more convenient to use the museum car park.

By Car:

From the M54 Junction 4 take the turn A464 to Bridgnorth and the Ironbridge Gorge then go straight on at the Naird roundabout then left at the Randlay Roundabout onto the A442. Ignore the turn to Stirchley then  veer left, keeping on the A442 to Bridgnorth. Stay in the left hand lane and go left to Shifnal A4169.

Then follow the signs for ‘Blists Hill Museums’ , taking  the 4^th exit at the first roundabout, going under the road you’ve just left, then at the next roundabout the 2^nd exit , then at the next one 2^nd again .

Go to the bottom of the hill where you turn left at the triangular junction and after 100m go up the ramp on the left marked with a small blue ‘P’. For the main China Museum car park keep on over the hump-back bridge then after 200m  turn right into the museum.

By Public Transport:

At the time of writing Ironbridge town is served by ARRIVA buses 88,88A, 99 and 99A from Telford bus station to Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock, giving an hourly service, and the two-hourly service 96 from Telford to Shrewsbury. There are no buses on Sunday.

[1]  Leave the car park at the end opposite where you drove in. Straight ahead of you is the bottom end of the Hay Inclined Plane (A), which joined the upper and lower portions of the Shropshire Canal. The road is narrow here and there is no pavement. Cross carefully and go down the steps to the canal. Go left along the canal to the Coalport China Museum (B) and the Youth Hostel. There are toilets in the Youth Hostel.

Cross the footbridge by the museum building and go straight on to the road (Coalport High Street). Cross over and take the path directly opposite to reach Coalport Village Hall. Go right then to the far right hand corner of the overflow car park where there is a path leading to the Silkin Way (C). There is a fingerpost there. Take the Sutton Hill direction through a wicket gate then left and diagonally uphill through scrubland. Go through a second gate and past a ‘Monarchs Way’ waymark (D) to a third gate. Go right past a derelict building with a tall chimney and along the security fence marking the boundary of Blists Hill Museum. Shortly afterwards you will see the two canal basins forming the top of the Hay Inclined Plane. The building with the tall chimney, which you have just passed, was the winding house.

[2]  Keep to the main track, emerging in a sloping grassy area with an old house on the hilltop to your right.  Go sharp left back into the trees and follow the post-and-wire museum boundary fence rightwards. On your left through the fence you will see first the canal, with a stop lock, then later on the Victorian Village (E) with its replica pit head gear and the Museum Car Park. At the end of the fence turn left down to the museum entrance on Legge’s  Way.

There are toilets here.

[3]  Go left downhill to the footbridge over the road which is underneath the Lee Dingle bridge (F). Cross the footbridge then turn right uphill for forty metres to the driveway of the ‘All Nations Inn’ (G). Turn left up the driveway to the car park. Go through the gap in the fence on the left by the end of the Lee Dingle Bridge not the waymarked path with the handrail, which is the line of the Meadowpit Colliery Tramway. Go right along the fence line then ahead on a muddy path through the woods (Lee Dingle). You pass a birch grove then the path forks at an indistinct junction, with a stream bed on the left. Either way is OK. Follow the ferny stream bed up two steps, passing a garden fence on your right, then veer left across the stream bed and climb past a stile onto a surfaced path by houses. 

[4]  Go left along the fence line.  After 200m go sharp right, following the fence uphill. You reach a path junction where you go right through trees. The path bends right to a fingerpost. Take the right hand (Ironbridge) path through beech trees alongside a wire fence which overlooks the Severn. You eventually get a first glimpse of the pink cooling towers of Ironbridge power station (H). You then emerge into Lloyds Meadow and follow the path straight ahead towards the power station, passing one hedge line with a waymark. The path enters trees again at a four-way fingerpost. This is 'The Crostan' which is formed of old mine waste and contains some fine line trees and rare heath land. Take the left (Wesley Road) turn.  Go down a steepish woodland path, ignoring a right turn to Benthall View. After 18 steps down go left through a squeeze stile then down another 18 steps to the driveway of ‘Springfield’. Go down the steep drive to the road junction with a sign ‘Lloyds Coppice / The Crostan’. Ignore the sign, turning right along Wesley Road  caution – no pavement.

[5]  Turn first right up Jockey Bank.

There are two pubs here, the ‘Golden Ball’ and the ‘Horse and Jockey’. The Golden Ball is supposedly the oldest licenced pub in Ironbridge, its first licence being in 1728.

Bear left to the Madeley Road.  On your left is the Madeley Wood Old Methodist Chapel (I), now the Ironbridge Business Centre. Ahead of you is its impressive replacement. Carefully  cross Madeley Road and turn left towards the John W Fletcher Memorial School (J). Opposite the school  turn right up Belmont Road. 30m up on the left is the birthplace of Billy Wright of Wolverhampton Wanderers (K). Keep straight on, ignoring the left fork (Hillside). 40m further on, at a right turn (Belmont Rd) is the old workhouse (L). Keep on past the Crown Inn to the junction with Lincoln Hill. Cross and go right past the traffic calmer then turn sharp left along the waymarked drive of ‘Limeburners’. After 30m go right through a gap between bushes and follow an undulating muddy path through trees to a path junction with a finger post.

[6]  Go left to the Rotunda (M). There’s  a  viewing platform here with an impressive view over the river to the Iron Bridge and an information board.  There used to be limestone mines here, which are now filled in.

Return to the fingerpost and this time keep on up to the right to Church Road. Pass a sculpture made of a tree stump then cross Church Road into a lane – careful – blind bends.  Follow the lane to the boundary of the cemetery then go left then through a gate into a grassed area. Follow the path along the left hand hedge line, ignoring a left turn into the wood and a right fork to where the path curves right. Here go left through a gate back into Dale Coppice. Follow the well-made path round to the right past the site of the Doric Temple.  At the fingerpost keep straight on for Woodside C.B.D. Go down 30 steps then bear left to the next signpost where you take the Wellington Road direction past a steel-fenced water tank and down  40 more steps to emerge on Church Road at the Chapel (N).

[7]  Cross the road then go right to the junction and cross Wellington Road. Be careful in both these moves – there are blind bends and no pavement on Church Road. Straight ahead of you is a factory building bearing the legend ‘Coalbrookdale, Founded 1709’. This is pert of the Coalbrookdale Company’s works, now Aga-Rayburn (O). Also you will find a Coalbrookdale Company Jubilee lamp post of 1897. Go right along Wellington Rd a few metres then down the ramp into the yard of the museum. The building with the clock tower is The Museum of Iron and 'Enginuity' (P). Go to the right of this and cross a grassed area to reach a cast-iron Coalbrookdale fountain. There is a toilet here and benches which are useful for picnics. Continue to the glass ‘tent’ containing the original furnace where the first iron in the world smelted using coke was made (Q).  Leave the grassed area by climbing the steps on the left of the  glass 'tent' and take the exit under the right hand end of the viaduct and turn right up Darby Road for a few metres to the road junction.

Cross over carefully for a good view of Upper Furnace Pool and the brick tunnels which used to take the water to work the bellows of the old furnaces. Then follow the pavement uphill past the Darby houses (R) (or go up the steep ramp opposite to the houses themselves). At the top end of the houses there is a cast-iron fingerpost pointing across the road to the Quaker Burial Ground. This is where some of the Darbys are buried.

[8]  To extend the walk away from the town, continue a few metres past the fingerpost and go right through a metal gate onto a lane - The Ropewalk (S) - marked by a wooden fingerpost, cast pillar and information board. Behind the wall is the Sunniside Deer Park laid out by the Darbys, with fine beeches and limes. Continue through a field gate into Ropewalk Meadow which has rare plant species then  ignore two left turns, following the sign to Lydebrook,  and leave the meadow by another gate. Ignore the right turn into Loamhole Dingle and follow the track to where it ends at a gap in a fence. Here there is a boardwalk. Go down 4 steps then up 47 more, following a wooded valley to a point where there is a gap in the steps and a waymark pointing left. Go left on a level woodland path which quickly deteriorates. After 200m leave the wood by a stile into a meadow.

Go up the meadow, aiming for a metal gate on prominent white posts 20m to the left of Leasows Farm. Go though the gate and turn left down the farm drive, then at the end turn left down the lane (Coalbrookdale Road) which crosses the A4168 just to your right.  The lane initially curves left then goes round sharp right and left hand bends.  Careful – narrow road with blind bends.

Eighty metres after the second bend, which is under power lines, turn right through a wide gap in the hedge. Go downhill across a field towards the power station (H).  Go through the gate in the hedge then follow the left hand hedge line down through three fields to a pair of metal gates marked by a four-way fingerpost. Keep on down the hedge line to a wooden gate giving access to a path through a coppice which leads through a gate and past a pair of fine cottages - note the asymmetrical placement of the doors, the quirky garden walls and what appear to be cast iron lintels - to the railway crossing. Cross over carefully – trains may still be running and go down the lane (Strethill Road) to Buildwas Road. Note the Valley Hotel opposite (T), which was once the home of the Maw family, of whom more later. Cross the road and turn left towards the town past Dale End Park (U). Continue from [9].

Otherwise go to the left of the 1960s house opposite and up 38 steps to the burial ground (V). Continue past the entrance to a gateway across the path. Ignore the path ahead that leads to an arboretum which at the time of writing is in the process of restoration (W). Instead, follow the permissive path down to the left past the backs of the Darby houses, then past an iron gate and continue along a permissive path past a cottage to return to Darby Road. Go through the last arch on the right of the viaduct (signed Coach Road) which brings you back to the Museum of Iron . Retrace your steps up the ramp to Wellington Road, this time keeping on down the road. On your right is the Coalbrookdale (Aga Rayburn) factory (O). On you left, at no. 43, amongst rows of worker's cottages is the Foundry Masters House (X), with its quaint chimneys. Behind this is Holy Trinity Church (Y). Where the road splits to form Dale Road and Paradise are the Youth Hostel (Z), once a workers institute, and the iron war memorial. Keep right down Dale Road past an old mill, now a care home, then the timber-framed Rose Cottage, then on the right Trinity Hall - the Church Hall for Trinity Church. You eventually come to a mini-roundabout where you cross over and go left into Ironbridge town centre.

[9]  Walk along The Wharfage, past the large factory buildings, now the Merrythought Village, and the teddy bear shop (AA). Keep on past the car park (with toilet) opposite the one-time ‘Old Rodney’ pub , with lettering just visible on its frontage. Next is the Museum of the Gorge (AB) which was a riverside warehouse built as a fake castle. On the quayside note the primitive tramway rails cut into the brickwork, which are submerged when the river is in flood. Keep on past the attractive buildings of Ironbridge, noting the cast-iron kerbs and a set of lime kilns opposite which used the limestone from the mines mentioned earlier.  Eventually you reach the Iron Bridge itself (AC). Opposite is the Tontine Hotel (AD).

[10]  Cross over the bridge and go past the toll house then turn left into the car park at the cast-iron fingerpost opposite Benthall Edge picnic site. Walk straight through to the other end of the car park, where you keep on down the Severn Way (AE), which is a path along the line of what was the Severn Valley Railway. You pass an information board on the Bedlam Furnaces (AF) which are visible on the other side of the rive - in winter at least. Go under a road bridge and a footbridge then cross over a street in the centre of Coalford village. On the right is the Coalford Methodist Chapel (AG). To your left is the modern steel  Jackfield  river bridge (AH), but this is not visible unless you leave the trackbed by the Chapel  and go back under the bridge you’ve just crossed.

Follow the trackbed past an old loading bank on the right to a restored level crossing, which, unusually, used to span 3 tracks. Now continue along the road, Lloyds Head, past the fine Calcutts House (AI) then left along Church Road past Jackfield School (AJ) to the Jackfield Tile Museum (AK).

Note the cast iron kerbs in front of the main entrance marked ‘Calcutts Foundry Jackfield’  and the writing on the side wall of the factory ‘Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. Jackfield Encaustic & Decorative Tile Works’.

[11]  Now continue down Church Road, crossing the line of the old railway, which is now Salthouse Road. The first cottage on the left is the old railway crossing keeper’s cottage. The second is the ‘Severn Trow’ (AL). Go past St Mary the Virgin church (AM) and at the end of the road go left down a muddy woodland path to the riverbank. Follow the path, emerging on the driveway of the ’Half Moon’ pub. Go left to the pub then follow the path along the right hand side of the building, past the backs of cottages to where you may feel a sense of déjà vu – you’ve reached Maw’s Tile Factory (AN), which is now a craft centre.

Go right then left into the main entrance. Refreshments and toilets are available here. Go through the yard and past some buildings on the riverside then turn right onto Salthouse Road. If the centre is closed for any reason keep on at the main entrance then turn left onto the road. Note the old grindstones by the back entrance.

Go left as far as the railway bridge, then left down Ferry Road to the ‘Boat Inn’ and the river Severn.

Note the flood heights on the pub door, and the memorial tree.

Cross the river by the memorial bridge (AO). Keep on up the steps and cross the road - carefully – blind bend - to return to the car park.

For a description of all the mines and quarries which used to pock-mark the area see the Shropshire Caving and Mining Club Newsletter  'Below' from 1997 to 2001 at http://www.shropshirecmc.org.uk/below/1997_3w.pdf

(A) The Hay Inclined Plane. The Shropshire Canal (built 1792 closed 1944) and its branches served the Ironbridge and (what is now) Telford areas, linking Coalport with Pave Lane near Newport. Via connections it reached Shrewsbury and Newport (Shropshire).

 It was essentially a local operation, using box-shaped tub boats 20 feet long with a load capacity of 5 tons to serve the hundreds of small mines, quarries, foundries, ironworks, potteries and other industries in the area. The short boats allowed the use of inclined planes rather than locks to get up and down slopes. There were, in fact, seven of these on the system.

On the Hay incline twin railway tracks were laid on the incline. The tub boats ascended and descended the inclined plane on wheeled cradles which ran on the rails and were connected by a rope to partially balance the load. A small steam engine was provided to drive the winding drums. This was of Heslop's design, a twin-cylindered rotative beam engine, to a design patented in 1790. The remains of the brick boiler house and winding mechanism may be seen at the top of the incline.

At the bottom of the incline the rails went underwater allowing the cradle to become submerged and the tub boat to either float free or be floated into position. At the top of the incline the rails also started under water then climbed a short slope out of the water to the top of the incline.

At the bottom of the incline a short stretch of canal served the Coalport china factory and extended to a large transhipment warehouse which was built overhanging the river Severn. There was no exit for the tub boats onto the river. The warehouse was later converted for use by the railway.

For a very full description of the Shropshire canal system see www.Shropshirecanals.co.uk

(B) The Coalport China Museum & Coalport Youth Hostel. The museum presents the history of Coalport China, a manufacturer of fine English chinaware which was based on the site between 1795 and 1926. Production moved to Staffordshire in 1926, and, although the Coalport name was retained as a brand, the company subsequently became part of the world famous Wedgwood group.

 As well as original examples of historic china, there are also demonstrations of traditional ceramic techniques and original industrial buildings including kilns to fire the pottery. The collections include the official National Collections of Caughley and Coalport china.

There is a hands-on workshop area where painting activities are provided and ceramic activities in the school holidays.

The original John Rose building of 1795 is now a Youth Hostel and café

For a visit see www.visitironbridge.co.uk/world-heritage-site/

(C) The Silkin Way. Is a cycleway opened in 1977 from Coalport Bridge to Bratton through the centre of Telford.  A one time Member of Parliament for Peckham and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, Lewis Silkin was instrumental in the Labour Government's rebuilding policy after World War II. This included the 1949 Access to the Countryside Act and New Towns Act of 1963. As a New Town, Telford has honoured Lord Silkin by naming this long distance path after him.

Where you are standing is the trackbed of the old LNWR Hadley to Coalport branch built in 1857, linking Hadley to Coalport. The line passed the entrance to Blists Hill Ironworks and went through a tunnel and down a 1 in 31 gradient (the steepest passenger line gradient in the country) then under the Hay Inclined Plane to a terminus under Coalport Bridge. Passenger service ended in 1952 and the line closed fully in 1964. At Coalport the railway used as a goods shed the transhipment shed originally built by the Shropshire Canal  Company.

For the Silkin Way see http://greatdawley.org/dawleypress/wp-content/uploads/silkinway2009.pdf

For the railway see www.madeleylocalhistory.org/railways/index.html

(D) The Monarch’s Way. Is a 615 mile long distance footpath approximating the escape route used by Charles 2nd in 1651. It symbolises Charles’s attempt to escape into Wales across the Severn.  Finding this impracticable he stayed in King Charles’ Barn in Church Street, Madeley before retreating.

For a full description see Wikipedia and for the map of the route see www.gps-routes.co.uk.

(E) Blists Hill Victorian Town. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Blists Hill was an industrial region consisting of a brick and tile works, blast furnaces and  coal, iron and fireclay mines operated by the Madeley Wood Company.

Originally called Blists Hill Open Air Museum, opened in 1973, the town has been slowly growing ever since. The museum's buildings include those that were already part of the industrial site (e.g. the brickworks and newly built or rebuilt structures which as the museum’s name suggests are arranged in the form of a industrial village of the Victorian era.

For information on a visit see www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-attractions/blists-hill-victorian-town/

(F) Lee Dingle Bridge and the Meadowpit Colliery Tramway. Lee Dingle Bridge was built as late as 1859 to take the tramway from Meadowpit Colliery directly to Blists Hill Ironworks. The tramway went up an inclined plane at the back of the All Nations pub. There is still a footpath all along the line to the colliery (SJ 690040) and beyond. Note the cast iron details on the bridge.

For the full route see www.old-maps.co.uk

(G) The All Nations Inn. The All Nations, in Coalport Road (still known to most locals as Dabley Lane), is a particular favourite amongst real ale enthusiasts, having appeared in every single edition (38 to date) of the Campaign for Real Ale's Good Beer Guide. The pub was run by the Baguley family for many years. Christopher Baguley had been the main contractor for the Coalport to Hadley branch railway, responsible for all the stations except Malinslee.

See www.shiresbrewery.co.uk/All_Nations_History.pdf

(H) Ironbridge Power Station. The existing station is Ironbridge B, built 1963 to 1969. In 2012 one  generating unit was converted to run on biomass. The station is due to close in 2015, or maybe even earlier. The cooling towers were deliberately coloured using red pigment to tone with the local sandstone.

(I) Madeley Wood Old and New Methodist Chapels.  The old chapel  is an early Wesleyan Methodist chapel  erected in 1777 by John Fletcher of Madeley. The chapel has a tablet over the doorway but it is without inscription and there is a lunette in the gable above. The chapel continued in use until it was replaced by the new chapel opposite, built in 1837. Grade II listed, now a private house.

(J) John W Fletcher Memorial School. A Wesleyan Infant School (now private), this has a very interesting combination of coloured brickwork and tiles and has a plaque on the tower in Fletcher’s memory stating that he was 25 years a vicar of the parish.

For the life of John Fletcher see http://www.tf7.org.uk/about/history/fletcher/

(K) Billy Wright’s House. The birthplace of William Ambrose (Billy) Wright 1924-1994. Billy spent his whole career at Wolverhampton Wanderers. The first football player in the world to earn 100 caps, Wright also holds the record for longest unbroken run in competitive international football; he made a total of 105 appearances for England, captaining them a record 90 times. He married Joy Beverley of the Beverley sisters.

(L) The Belmont Road Workhouse. From around 1766, the poor of Madeley were "farmed" by a contractor who operated a workhouse at Madeley Wood but the parish took over direct responsibility in the 1780s. The  Belmont Road workhouse was built to the east of Ironbridge in 1796-7 at a cost of £1,000. It became overcrowded but the Board of Guardians were reluctant to replace it. Eventually, in December 1868, the Poor Law Board closed down the old workhouse and the Guardians agreed to a new building, which still exists on Beech Road.

(M) The Rotunda. The Sabbath Walks, a series of paths through the woodland around Coalbrookdale, were laid out in 1782 by Richard Reynolds, a Quaker ironmaster who was closely associated with the Darby family and the Coalbrookdale Ironworks. These provided an area where visitors, workers and their families could walk on Sundays, as an alternative to visiting public houses. They included the Rotunda (demolished 1804) and the Doric Temple, neither of which survive.

(N) Coalbrookdale Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. Built in 1885 to commemorate the centenary of the death of John Fletcher.

(O) The Coalbrookdale Company. Iron and steel were made in Coalbrookdale long before the industrial revolution, probably early in the 17th century. But it was not until Abraham Darby I rebuilt the old furnace of 1658 in 1707 and used coke to smelt iron that the industry started to grow. He first made cooking pots, but over time expanded the works to make all sorts of cast iron objects including steam engine cylinders (1722), railway rails (1767) and, of course, the first iron bridge (1779), the River Tern Aqueduct (1796), a locomotive (1802) , a steam boat (1804). The works made the patterns for the Albert Edward bridge of 1864.

Between 1917-1918 and 1939-1944, the works made munitions, bombs, grenades and gun carriages.

1946 marked the design and development of the Rayburn cooker on the Coalbrookdale site. The Aga cooker is made by the foundry, but is actually of Swedish design.

The company now has 2 units, the foundry at Coalbrookdale and a factory in Ketley, Telford, which deals more with assembly & sales.

(P) The Museum of Iron & Enginuity. The building is a Coalbrookdale Company warehouse built circa 1792, clock tower added 1843. In the grounds you can see the original Darby Furnace used to smelt iron - including that used in the construction of the famous Iron Bridge. The Museum of Iron is located in a former warehouse which contains a variety of iron history related exhibits, including a collection of fine art castings.

In an adjacent building you will find Enginuity - an interactive design and technology centre that aims to inspire and capture the imagination of everyone intrigued by the secrets of how things around them are made and how they work.

See http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-attractions/enginuity/

(Q) The Coalbrookdale Blast Furnace. Famous for being the first place that iron was smelted by coke. This is apparently disputed, but the furnace, built in 1658 and converted by Abraham Darby I, was the first to be used successfully for a long period.

(R)  The Darby Houses and Teakettle Row. Dale House, Rosehill House and the Chestnuts are impressive 18th and 19th century houses built to accommodate successive generations of the Darby family.

In Rosehill House many of the rooms are lavishly decorated with the original furniture. Dale House includes the original wood-panelled study, where the great Quaker Ironmaster Abraham Darby III finalised his preparations and plans for the construction of the world’s first Iron bridge

In addition to the houses of the ironmasters, the Ironbridge Gorge also has some excellent examples of philanthropic workers’ housing; these provided decent accommodation, sanitation, brew houses and garden plots. Four such rows still remain in the Gorge; Tea Kettle Row dating from the 1740s, and Engine Row, Carpenter’s Row and Charity or Widow’s Row which date from the 1780s.

Tea Kettle Row, which consists of 6 terrace cottages, was built in 1745 for the workers employed by the Darbys in their Ironworks.

For a visit, see http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-attractions/darby-houses/

(S) The Rope Walk. The lane was once a tramway and then a place for winding ropes. All traces of these are long gone. The main part of this walk is along the wall of an old deer park belonging to the Darbys, where meadows and woods have been regenerated. The land has been left to grow as wildflower meadows, untouched by sprays of any kind. There are paths off the main flat walk which will lead you down to a brook or up over a hillside.

(T) The Valley Hotel. Originally Severn House, built in 1757 by George Goodwin (1719-1773) of Coalbrookdale, a Master Collier and partner in The Madeley Wood Colliery. The house then passed to Sarah Darby, the daughter of Abraham Darby II, then to the Dickenson family, and finally the Maws. It is now a hotel.

See:  http://www.thevalleyhotel.co.uk/hotel-information/history/

(U) Dale End Park.  The park was originally the gardens of the Rawdon-Smith family whose house you see at the entrance. There are lovely specimen trees, a cast iron bench made by the Coalbrookdale Company in the round garden bed area and in season a good variety of colour from the annuals and a nice selection of roses and climbers.

(V) The Quaker Burial Ground.  Abraham Darby I was buried in the Quaker Burial Grounds at Broseley in 1717. His son Abraham Darby II then acquired the land at Coalbrookdale for the Quaker “Friends”. Abraham Darby II, his wife and Abraham Darby III (builder of the Iron Bridge) are all buried here. The stones are simple and now all lean against the walls, but are hard to read. The top of the land is dominated by two American Redwood (Sequoia) trees. The last Darby to be buried in the grounds was Rebecca in 1908 and the last burial to take place was in 1982.

(W) The Arboretum. The Coalbrookdale Arboretum was created by the Darby and Goldney families, providing a peaceful setting for the Darby Houses. It is now being restored.

See the friends' site  http://coalbrookdalearboretum.wordpress.com/

(X) The Foundry Masters House. A small house which, as its name suggests was built for the master of the Coalbrookdale Foundry. Note the size of the chimneys! Now a bed and breakfast hotel.

(Y) Holy Trinity Church. After 3 generations of Darby’s being Quakers, Abraham Darby IV donated money to the town to construct this church. Built 1850-1854.The church has ironworks visible in the churchyard starting with the iron gates, gravestone surrounds, iron grave markers of varying designs, wonderful stained glass Flemish windows, ten bells in the clock tower which ring regularly, stone carvings of members of the Darby family above the carved pews, an amazing painted ceiling given by Muriel Cope-Darby in memory to her brother Lt. Morris Alfred Alexander Darby who fell in war overseas in 1915.

Since the Fourth generation of Darby’s converted to Anglicanism, they are buried in the churchyard as are the parents of Captain Mathew Webb, first man to swim the English Channel.

Z) Ironbridge Coalbrookdale  Youth Hostel.  Established 1853 by the Coalbrookdale Company as a literary and scientific institute, later a school of art. The War memorial is for The Great War 1914-1919, and the war of 1939-1945. There is a list of 170 names on the memorial which included not just residents of the area, but also workers from the foundries.

(AA) Merrythought Bears. For the full story, see Wikipedia

(AB) Museum of the Gorge.  Originally a transhipment warehouse connected to the Coalbrookdale works by a tramway running down Dale Road.

The Museum of the Gorge provides a fascinating insight into the history of the Ironbridge Gorge:

• View what life was like in the Gorge in 1796 with the help of a giant 12 metre long model. Spot a Royal carriage crossing the Iron Bridge, the cargo on a Severn Trow and a tiny figure toiling in a coalmine.
• Watch a film about the history of the Ironbridge Gorge
• Discover more using interactive computers
• Look at local iron products on display

See: http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-attractions/museum-of-the-gorge/

(AC) The Iron Bridge. Was the first arch bridge in the world to be made of cast iron, a material which was previously too expensive to use for large structures. However, the new furnace nearby lowered the cost and encouraged local engineers and architects to solve a long-standing problem of a crossing over the river.

In 1773, Thomas Farnolls Pritchard wrote to a local ironmaster, John Wilkinson of Broseley to suggest building a bridge out of cast iron. By 1775, Pritchard had finalised the plans, but he died in December 1777, only a month after work had begun. Abraham Darby III, who was the grandson of the first foundry owner and an ironmaster working at Coalbrookdale in the gorge, was commissioned to cast and build the bridge. The iron for the new bridge was cast at his foundry.  The bridge was raised in the summer of 1779, and it was opened on New Year's Day 1781.

Shares were issued to raise the £3,200 required, and Darby agreed to fund any excess. Although it had been predicted that 300 tons of iron would be needed (costing £7 a ton), in the end 379 tons were used, costing Darby and his company nearly £3,000. There would be many other costs to bear (masonry abutments, assembly, etc.), so that the project was far more expensive than first envisaged. Darby bore most of the cost overrun, and was in debt for the rest of his life.

Being the first of its sort, the construction had no precedent; the method chosen to create the structure was therefore based on carpentry Each member of the frame was cast separately, and fastenings followed those used in woodworking.

Just a few years after the construction of the bridge, cracks appeared in the masonry abutments, partly caused by ground movement. By 1802, the southern stone abutment had to be demolished and replaced with temporary wooden arches before eventually being replaced by iron arches.

In 1972, it was found that inward movement of the bridge abutments had compressed the bridge and caused the centre of the arch to rise by a few feet. A programme of major repairs took place on the foundations of the bridge, involving the creation of a reinforced concrete counter arch under the river, which resists the compressive force from the abutments.

(AD) The Tontine Hotel. A Tontine is “an annuity scheme by which several subscribers invest in a common fund out of which they receive an annuity that increases as subscribers die until the last survivor takes all”.

The idea of building a hotel here started as soon as people realised the attraction of the Iron Bridge. Those involved in the venture included Abraham Darby III, Samuel Darby, William & Richard Reynolds, John Wilkinson and  Joseph Rathbone.

The hotel opened in 1784. Inside are Victorian fireplaces with the traditional tiles of the area, photographs showing the area in different stages, with coracle men and their coracles, people standing on the river under the bridge when it froze 5th February 1917, collections of old local bottles etc.

(AE) The Severn Way and Severn Valley Railway. The Severn Way Follows the course of the Severn for more than 200 miles from its source at Plynlimon to Bristol. Locally it follows the line of the Severn Valley Railway, which used to run from Shrewsbury to Kidderminster, and is now preserved from Bridgnorth to KIdderminster .

See www.svr.co.uk

(AF) Bedlam Furnaces. The Bedlam Furnaces of 1750 were owned by the Madeley Wood company, then were taken over by Abraham Darby III of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1776.

The name Bedlam Furnaces may have originated with a painting by John Sell Cotman who painted the furnace in 1803 and titled it ‘Bedlam Furnace Near Irongate, Shropshire’. He was on tour with a fellow less well known artist called Paul Sandby Munn who also painted the same subject and titled it ‘Bedlam Furnace, Madeley Dale, Shropshire’. It was both a metaphor (the place appeared to the painters to resemble a lunatic asylum), and simultaneously a jest at the expense of John Fletcher then famous Methodist preacher.

(AG) Coalford Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. Built in 1825 for £275. Used until 1980 and now the home of the Jackfield (Elcock Reisen) Brass Band, which itself dates from 1893. The interior has been preserved in the Blists Hill Museum.

(AH) Jackfield Bridge and the Haynes Memorial Bridge. The existing steel bridge was built in 1993 by McAlpines to replace the Haynes Memorial (free) Bridge built in 1909 in reinforced concrete. A portion of the original is preserved, along with a memorial plaque.

The original bridge was built by Francois Hennebique, who patented reinforced concrete in 1892. Amongst 7000 structures his company built is included part of the Brooklands racing circuit (1906-7).

(AI) Calcutts House.  Dating from 1755. Now a B&B. Calcutts foundry was sited here until 1828. After this the site became a vast clay pit serving the needs of the several tile factories in the vicinity.

(AJ) Jackfield School. Built 1844, now a private house.

(AK) Jackfield Tile Museum. Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. was formed on 9 February 1872, by Yorkshire businessman Henry Powel Dunnill (1821–95). Initially based in old buildings in Jackfield, the firm relocated to this factory, known as the 'Jackfield Works', on 25 February 1874, which was designed by Charles Lynam and constructed in the Gothic Revival style with a characteristic 'long and thin' plan, enabling raw clay to enter at one end, and finished products to emerge at the other.

Craven Dunnill became well known for its encaustic tiles in imitation of medieval originals. These are tiles in which the pattern is made using different coloured  clays rather than glaze, and so are more wear-resistant in floors. The tiles were extensively used in churches, such as at Kemberton church, Chester Cathedral and Shrewsbury Cathedral. The firm also made decorative mosaic, photographic, painted, lustre, transfer-printed, and relief-moulded tiles. A small quantity of art pottery was produced by Craven Dunnill, decorated with relief-moulded patterns and lustre glazes.

Craven Dunnill moved to Bridgnorth, Shropshire as a tile distribution company after tile production ceased at their Jackfield Works in 1951. The historic Jackfield Works site was acquired by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in 1983, and part of it is now managed as the Jackfield Tile Museum, one of many museums operated by the Trust. Craven Dunnill returned to the site as Craven Dunnill Jackfield Ltd in 2001, reviving the manufacture of commercial tiles there after a gap of around fifty years.

A hideous new construction (the Fusion building) has been inserted into the original factory.

(AL) The Severn Trow. A 400 year old pub and boatman’s brothel, now a B&B (without the original features!)

For the fascinating history of the building see www.severntrow.co.uk/styled-9/styled-14/

AM) St Mary the Virgin Church. St Mary the Virgin, erected in 1863. Designed by Sir Arthur Bloomfield it is constructed of varied local brick and bears a passing resemblance to Keble College Chapel. The floors contain excellent examples of local tiles, and the sanctuary windows are claimed to be of the school of the Pre-Raphaelites. Some of the woodwork dates to the mid 1700s and was removed from an older chapel of ease. There are some exceptional examples of furniture from the 1600s.

The church is Grade II listed but is at risk. See  www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/heritage-at-risk/case-studies/church-st-mary-the-virgin

(AN) Maws Tile Factory. The Maws & Co Encaustic Tile works, which was once the largest employer in the area, was in operation from 1883-1969.  Following its closure the majority of the site was demolished. What remains today are the original office blocks, press shops and the grinding mill buildings which house the present day craft workshops and tea room.

The company was formed in 1850 by George Maw and his brother Arthur. Their father John Hornby Maw, was a surgical instrument manufacturer who made his fortune by the invention of the baby's feeding bottle.  In 1852 they relocated to the Benthall Works at Broseley  and in 1883 moved to this site at Jackfield covering five acres with every convenience in services and layout.

At the height of the tile boom the company produced over 20 million tiles a year and published lavishly printed catalogues. Maw’s “lists of persons and establishments supplied” ran to five pages and included the Royal Family, Alexander II of Russia, two maharajas, nine dukes, twelve earls, the railway companies, thirteen cathedrals, thirty-six hospitals, fifty-three public buildings, nineteen schools and colleges, and five warships.

Prestigious orders came to the Maws Company as a result of participation in international exhibitions such as the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878 and 1889 and the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. In 1867 Maws were the first company to reproduce the celebrated transparent celest or turquoise blue of the ancient Chinese enamels. For the Paris exhibition of 1878 they produced an important novelty the “rediscovered” lustre-wares. This was to become an important part of their production and many of the vases produced by the company bore this form of decoration.

At the end of the century Maw’s was the largest tile factory in the world. Art Nouveau designs were followed by unique Art Deco geometric styles. Unfortunately the recession at the end of the First World War and building restrictions and the closure of the railway in the decades following World War II were very detrimental for tile production in Jackfield and eventually the factory closed in January 1970.

See www.mawscraftcentre.co.uk/history.php

(AO) The Jackfield Memorial Bridge. The footbridge opened in 1922 as a memorial to the 26 servicemen from Jackfield and Coalport who had lost their lives in the 'Great War'. Paid for by public subscription, it replaced the old fare paying Tuckies ferryboat that linked the two communities. The new free footbridge made it much easier and safer for workers and families to commute from one side of the river to the other. The bridge was dismantled, repaired and put back in place in 2000.