Everything about Coalbrookdale totally explained
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Coalbrookdale is a side valley of the
Ironbridge Gorge in the borough of
Telford and Wrekin and
ceremonial county of
Shropshire,
England, containing a settlement of great significance in the
history of ferrous metallurgy. It is in the ancient
manor and
ecclesiastical parish of
Madeley. It was one of the birthplaces of the
Industrial Revolution. It is home to the
Ironbridge Institute, a partnership between the
University of Birmingham and the
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust offering postgraduate and professional development courses in
heritage.
Before Abraham Darby
Before the
Dissolution of the Monasteries,
Madeley and the adjacent
Little Wenlock belonged to
Much Wenlock Priory. At the Dissolution there was a
bloomsmithy called 'Caldebroke Smithy'. The manor passed about 1572 to John Brooke, who developed
coal mining in his manor on a substantial scale. His son Sir
Basil Brooke was a significant industrialist, and invested in ironworks elsewhere. It is probable that he also had ironworks at Coalbrookdale, but evidence is lacking. He also acquired an interest in the
patent for the
cementation process of making
steel in about 1615. Though forced to surrender the
patent in
1619, he continued making iron and steel until his estate was sequestrated during the
Civil War, but the works continued in use.
In
1651, the manor was leased to Francis Wolfe, the clerk of the ironworks, and he and his son operated them as tenant of (or possibly manager for) Brooke's heirs. The surviving old
blast furnace contains a cast iron lintel bearing a date, which is currently painted as 1638, but an archive photograph has been found showing it as 1658. What ironworks existed at Coalbrookdale and from precisely what dates thus remains obscure. By
1688, the ironworks were operated by Lawrence Wellington, but a few years after the furnace was occupied by Shadrach Fox. He renewed the lease in 1696, letting the Great
Forge and Plate Forge to Wellington. Some evidence may suggest that Shadrach Fox smelted iron with mineral coal, though this remains controversial. Fox was evidently an ironfounder, as he supplied round shot and grenado shells to the Board of Ordnance during the
Nine Years War, but not later than April
1703, the furnace blew up. It remained derelict until the arrival of
Abraham Darby I in 1709. However the forges remained in use. A brass works was built sometime before
1712 (possibly as early as
1706), but closed in
1714.
Industrial Revolution
In
1709,
Abraham Darby I rebuilt Coalbrookdale Furnace, and used
coke as his fuel. His business was that of an ironfounder, making cast iron pots and other goods, an activity in which he was particularly successful because of his
patented foundry method, which enabled him to produce cheaper pots than his rivals. Coalbrookdale has been claimed as the home of the world's first coke-fired
blast furnace; this isn't strictly correct, but it was the first in Europe to operate successfully for more than a few years. A second furnace was built in about 1715, but Darby died prematurely in
1717, followed quickly by his widow Mary. Iron for foundry work wasn't only produced from the blast furnaces, but also by remelting
pig iron in air furnaces, a variety of
reverberatory furnace. The works then passed to a company led by his fellow
Quaker Thomas Goldney of
Bristol and managed by Richard Ford (also a Quaker).
Abraham Darby II was brought into the business as an assistant manager when old enough. The Company also became early suppliers of
steam engine cylinders in this period.
The Company operated a forge at Coalbrookdale from
1720, but this wasn't profitable. In about
1754, renewed experiments took place with the application of coke
pig iron to the production of
bar iron in
charcoal finery forges. This proved to be a success, and led to the partners building new furnaces at
Horsehay and
Ketley. This was the beginning of a great expansion in coke ironmaking.
In
1768, the Company began to produce the first
cast iron rails for
railways. In
1778,
Abraham Darby III undertook the building of the world's first
cast iron bridge, the iconic
Iron Bridge, opened in
1780. The fame of this bridge leads many people today to associate the Industrial Revolution with the neighbouring village of
Ironbridge, but in fact most of the work was done at Coalbrookdale, as there was no settlement at Ironbridge in the eighteenth century.
In the
19th century, Coalbrookdale was noted for its decorative ironwork. It is here (for example) that the gates of
London's
Hyde Park were built. The blast furnaces were closed down, perhaps as early as the
1820s, but the foundries remained in use. The Coalbrookdale Company became part of an alliance of ironfounding companies called Light Castings Limited. This was absorbed by Allied Ironfounders Limited in 1929. This was in turn taken over by Glynwed which has since become
Aga Foodservice.
Several of Coalbrookdale's industrial heritage sites are waypoints on the
South Telford Heritage Trail, including:
Coalbrookdale Railway Station, the Quaker Burial Ground, the Darby Houses, Tea Kettle Row and the Great Western Railway Viaduct.
The Museum
In the century after the Old Blast Furnace closed, it became buried. There was a proposal for the site to be cleared and the furnace dismantled, but fortunately, it was decided to excavate and preserve it. It and a small museum were opened to celebrate 250 years of the Company in 1959. This became part of a larger project, the
Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Its Museum of Iron and the Ironbridge Institute form the sides of an open space, on another side of which is the Old Blast Furnace, now under a building to protect it from the weather. The fourth side is a viaduct carrying the railway that delivers coal to the
Ironbridge Power Station. One of the two tracks is due to be taken over by Telford Steam Railway as part of their southern extension from Horsehay. The Museum's
archaeology unit
continues to investigate the earlier history of Coalbrookdale, and has recently excavated the remains of the 17th century
cementation furnaces, near the site of the Upper (formerly Middle)
Forge.
Old Furnace
The Old Furnace began life as a typical blast furnace, but went over to
coke in
1709.
Abraham Darby I used it to cast pots, kettles and other goods. His grandson
Abraham Darby III smelted the iron here for the for
Ironbridge, the world's first iron bridge.
The lintels of the furnace bear dated inscriptions. The uppermost reads 'Abraham Darby 1778', probably recording its enlargement for casting the Iron Bridge. It is unclear whether the date on one of the lower ones should be
1638 (as it's now painted) or
1658 (as shown on an old photo. The interior profile of the furnace is typical of its period, bulging around the middle, below which the boshes taper in again so that the charge descends into a narrower and notter hearth, where the iron was molten. When Abraham Darby III enlarged the furnace, he only made the boshes wider on the front and left sides, but not on the right where doing so would have entailed moving the water wheel. The mouth of the furnace is thus off-centre.
Iron was now being made in large quantities for many customers. In the
1720s and
1730s, its main products were
cast iron cooking pots,
kettles and other domestic articles. It also cast the cylinders for
steam engines, and
pig iron for use by other
foundries. In the late
18th century, it sometimes produced structural ironwork, including for Buildwas Bridge. This was built in 1795, 2 miles up the river from the original Ironbridge. Due to advances in technology, it used only half as much cast iron despite being 30 feet (9 m) wider than the Ironbridge. The year after that, in 1796, Thomas Telford began a new project, the
Longdon aqueduct. It carried the
Shrewsbury Canal over the
River Tern and was supported by cast iron columns.
Charles Bage designed and built the world's first multi-storey cast-iron-framed mill. It used only brick and iron, with no wood, to improve its fire-resistance. In the
19th century ornamental ironwork became a speciality.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Coalbrookdale'.
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