The Iron Bridge

With only two more days with Nana in town for a visit, we decided to take her to see one of the local tourist sites known as The Iron Bridge.  The Iron Bridge Gorge is home to some of the most historical iron makers in the world.

Here's a quick summary: 

The birthplace of the Industrial Revolution was the Ironbridge gorge in Shropshire . Here the world’s first iron bridge was constructed between 1777 and 1781 and spans the river Severn. During the 18th century, this area was rich with raw materials including coal, iron ore, water (which was used for both the generation of power and transportation), sand (for moulding cast iron), limestone to flux the slag in the blast-furnaces, and clay to make tiles and bricks.

This wealth of materials first attracted the attention of Abraham Darby to Coalbrookdale in 1708.  In 1709, Darby became the first person to smelt iron using coke as a fuel rather than charcoal, as was traditional. This proved to be one of the most important technological breakthrough's ever discovered. At the time, there was a significant fuel crisis in Britain. Charcoal, which was made from timber, was the only source of fuel used by the iron industry, which had resulted in large areas of deforestation. In order to fuel a single blast-furnace that produces only a few tons of iron each day, several tons of timber was needed each day.  The process meant that high-quality iron was available in quantities undreamt of using the traditional charcoal smelting. It was this process that formed the basis of the industrial revolution that would transform Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.

During Abraham Darby’s III’s lifetime, Coalbrookdale was the most famous and successful industrial area in Great Britian. Engineers and investors of renown came to visit and stand and wonder. 

Crossing the Iron Bridge was a lot of fun.  Sierra said, "This is the biggest bridge I have ever seen!" They both were a little worried that the bridge would be shaky.  They jumped on it just to be sure.  As you can see from the pictures, it is extremely picturesque.   The River Severn runs through the town.   The town was so quaint with its local shops and beautiful church.  We stopped in a local cafe for a cappucinno and some cakes.  A lovely day for all at the Iron Bridge.

We have noticed all over England that there are lots of red poppies which represents fallen soldiers in WWI.  Every city has their own memorials to the fallen soldiers.  This was a statue and garden next to the Iron Bridge.