Ironbridge is the name applied to six square miles of the gorge of the River Severn in Shropshire. Between 1715 and 1900, the area became a flourishing industrial centre due to the exploitation of its natural resources.

Ironbridge was important to the Industrial Revolution for other reasons. It was here that many technological and engineering innovations were pioneered, including the famous Iron bridge that eventually gave the area its name.

Coalbrookdale and the Industrial Revolution

What became known as the Ironbridge area had long had an industrial role. Coal was mined there from the 1500s onwards, exported down the River Severn and across Britain.

But in the early 1800s, a revolution occurred in the area — one that was industrial rather than social. New industries sprang up in the area’s main town, Coalbrookdale. Mass-producing china factories and brick and tile works became prolific. Coalbrookdale’s new factories also began to manufacture innovative new technology. They produced cylinders for the newly designed steam engines. The first high-pressure steam boiler was also produced in Coalbrookdale.

Natural resources were responsible for Coalbrookdale’s industrial revolution. As well as coal, the area around the town was rich in limestone, clay and sand — all essential to the burgeoning industrial scene. But there was one other resource that guaranteed Coalbrookdale’s reputation as the birthplace of the industrial revolution: Iron.

Abraham Darby and the Birthplace of Iron

Iron manufacturing had occurred in Britain since prehistoric times, but only as a small-scale industry. Traditionally, iron ore was smelted using charcoal — a process that required several tons of timber to smelt a few tons of iron. This resource-intensive method made iron costly to produce and so not widely utilised.

During the 18th century, the processes of manufacturing iron were revolutionised so that iron became cheap and easy to make. Instead of using timber to fuel smelting, it became possible to use coke, which produced iron much more efficiently. This, in turn, meant it was a material easily afforded by society as a whole — and especially industry.

Abraham Darby is often credited with discovering the method of smelting iron from coal. However, this is by no means certain as it took several decades to perfect the technique, and Darby’s process of coke smelting, if it existed, is lost.

But Darby did establish the successful mass production of iron in Coalbrookdale after he arrived there in 1709. The town became the main British centre of production of iron, with the Coalbrookdale company, founded by Darby, producing over a quarter of Britain’s iron until the late 19th century.

Iron was essential to the beginning of the industrial revolution. Without mass-produced iron, the technological and engineering developments of the age could not have occurred. Many of these developments were pioneered around Coalbrookdale. One of them was to lend its name to the whole area: the iron bridge.

The Iron Bridge

The growth of Coalbrookdale and its industry increased traffic along and around the River Severn. As a result, it was decided that a bridge was required to span the River Severn to help transport in the area.

The bridge was revolutionary in its design. It pioneered the use of stress iron members in its construction and consisted of a single arch to allow traffic on the river to pass through it. It was an engineering feat, and after its opening in 1781, it attracted artists, scientists and industrialists to the area, keen to study its design and the technology involved in its building.

Although it was financed by Abraham Darby III, the son of the iron pioneer, the Darbys could not claim credit for the bridge’s design. Instead, that lay with Thomas Farnolls Prichard, a Shrewsbury architect.

A new town began to grow around the bridge, which swallowed Coalbrookdale. It became known as Ironbridge. But the iron bridge’s legacy was more wide-reaching than that.

The construction methods and use of iron pioneered in the bridge were applied elsewhere in industry — for instance, the techniques used to build the bridge were applied elsewhere. Iron could be used to build taller buildings, and soon commercial mills were being built with more floors because of the technology of Ironbridge.

The Decline of Ironbridge

Ironbridge’s industrial dominance was short-lived. Competition in the iron industry came in the early 19th century from Wales and the Black Country. By the turn of the twentieth century, Ironbridge had not only been superseded but had become a declining, dilapidated area.

Industry, however, revived the area’s fortunes — or rather the history of the industry. 

Today, Ironbridge is a thriving monument to the industrial archaeology and heritage of the area. It became a UNESCO World Heritage site and many of the old industrial sites are now living museums.

Resources

Cannon, J (ed) 2002, The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford University Press: Oxford

Ironbridge: The Birthplace of Industry

Magnusson, M and Goring, R (eds) 1993, Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Chamber Sharrap Publishers.