Squiffy

4.00 UK - 18-Jul-22 -

Swollen by the night’s rains, the River Severn flowed smoothly through the valley. Above it the delicate lattice-work arc of the bridge leapt like a salmon. Day-trippers crossed the span. The scene was reminiscent of that painted over 240 years earlier by William Williams – all that was missing was a rowboat of magnificently behatted ladies beneath us on the river. The entire scene was quaint, almost pastoral, with the river rolling below the tree-garlanded hills and the stonework of Ironbridge village’s church glowing in the late afternoon sun. Yet my thoughts turned to a different painting – Philip James de Loutherbourg’s Coalbrookdale by Night, where the heavens are lit up by the infernal flare of forge and furnace. And I was reminded that the Iron Bridge, graceful as it remains, was a product of intensive industrialisation that must have been utterly terrifying to many.

The Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site has a dual identity. The image everybody sees is the bridge itself, the world’s first to be constructed of iron. The bridge is in and of itself deserving of inscription – more so than, say, the Forth Bridge that followed 109 years later. And the village of Ironbridge remains exceptionally pretty, a lovely spot for a stroll and a bite to eat in a tea shop. But the bridge was essentially the shop window of the local ironmasters, principally Abraham Darby III. The bridge was needed to link the two sides of a river too shallow for ferries in summer and too violent in winter. But it was also largely an advertising gimmick. The bridge was built not at the most convenient place along the river but at its most dramatic. And Darby actively commissioned Williams’s painting to attract attention (in fact an engraving of the scene even made its way to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello). By demonstrating a new and ingenious way to use iron, Darby and his fellow manufacturers were touting their own wares. Because the second identity of this World Heritage Site is the expansion of industry in this part of previously rural Shropshire sparked by Darby’s grandfather (Abraham Darby I) and his use of coke rather than charcoal to smelt iron. By the time the bridge was built the area was thick with foundries, with the wider area being known as Coalbrookdale. In my eyes it would be fairer to recognise the site with a name reflecting this: Coalbrookdale and the Iron Bridge.

(Sidebar: I love the fact that the placenames in the locality are so matter-of-fact. Coal was excavated in Coalbrookdale. It was shipped down the river from Coalport. The bridge was just called The Iron Bridge and the village that grew around it was called Ironbridge. You are also only about 20 miles away from one of my favourite placenames in the UK, the mysteriously named ‘New Invention’!)

The site boundaries extend upstream and then to the north up a side valley to the smaller area now referred to as Coalbrookdale and downstream to Jackfield and Coalport and from there again to the north to Madeley. In all 4 miles of river is covered. There are a number of locations to investigate to get the most out of any visit and appreciate the industrial background to the bridge. One of my pet peeves is visiting a World Heritage Site and finding that different components are operated separately meaning that you have to pay multiple entrance fees. Happily, here the Ironbridge Museums Trust operates all the attractions. Entrance is pretty expensive, as others have mentioned, and some components are only of specialised interest so I’d advise a careful decision on what you want to (and have time to) see and pay accordingly. For those who want to see absolutely e-ve-ry-thing there are joint tickets. As we live less than two hours away we decided to get an annual family pass for £76.

Yet the most important parts of the site are free. Crossing the bridge has been free to pedestrians since 1950. The tolls charged previously can still be seen on the tollhouse (now a free exhibition / giftshop) on the south side of the bridge; I particularly like the note that tolls were payable by all, explicitly including the Royal Family. As the tolls were set in an 18th century Act of Parliament they were not subject to inflation and a pedestrian would have been charged the same half-penny in the 1940s as they would in the 1790s. It also meant some creative thinking was needed to set fares when motor vehicles – and on one occasion a circus elephant – crossed. It is a pleasant walk downstream to the remains of the Bedlam Furnaces (those depicted in de Loutherbourg’s painting and now believed to be where the iron for the bridge was cast). And 1 ½ miles uphill into Coalbrookdale you can see the remains of the original 1658 blast furnace where a 31-year-old Abraham Darby I first pioneered the use of coke over charcoal in 1709. You can see all of these for free, your only expense will be transport. Parking in Ironbridge is run by the council and yet (my other pet peeve) different carparks charge different amounts. Top tip looks to be that on the south bank right by the tollhouse which charges £1.60 for 2 hours and is free after 5pm (plenty of time for a stroll around the village though maybe a bit short for a more leisurely exploration up to Coalbrookdale, down to Bedlam and back). Car parks at other sites (including Coalbrookdale and Jackfield is free for the first 30 minutes, and then £1.00 an hour, up to a maximum of £5.00).

Coalbrookdale should be your next stop. Alongside the Old Furnaces you can find the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron (£10 for adults, £6.50 for children) and, next door, a children’s hands-on science museum (Enginuity - £10 for adults, £6.50 for children – actually quite informative in the displays; my son particularly liked the water table where you use dams to create power and the interactive blast furnace where you jump about to light the coke, smash the iron ore etc), both in buildings formerly part of the ironworks. The Trust also maintains two houses occupied by the Darby family and dressed up in period fashion (£6.50 / £4.25) as well as the nearby Quaker Burial Ground (half the investors in the bridge were Quakers – there is an interesting argument that in a society where traditionally the first-born sons of wealthy families pursued military careers, the second-born went into the Church of England, and any remaining sought Government jobs the Quakers, as pacifists, non-Anglicans and believers that swearing oaths of loyalty was contrary to the ten commandments were very well placed to dominate business in England in the 18th century).

The most popular site is probably Blists Hill Victorian Town (£20 for adults, £13 for children). This is a recreated town of 1900 (and hence more than a century after the Darbys built their forges and the bridge, but I suppose calling something ‘Victorian’ evokes that industrial setting to more people than calling it ‘Georgian’ which reeks of Jane Austen gentility). Blists Hill may seem quite kitschy at first glance – on entrance you can visit the town bank to exchange your modern money for old school sixpences and ha’pennies to be spent onsite and the various shops and workshops are populated by costumed craftsmen. Bringing my own kids here, 33 years after I visited on a school trip, and the cart-horses, traditional sweet shop and the fair on the village green were the main hits. And it is expensive. But it has not been fabricated out of whole cloth. There are in situ remains of the area’s industry (the Madeley Wood blast furnaces, a brick and tile works, a mine shaft and the canal), largely as ‘found landscape’, and other buildings like the butcher’s, the school and the pub, have been relocated, mostly locally, as demonstrated in the estate office on site. So actually it is half skansen, half theme park and I have a lot of love for it. Plus, the video demonstration upon entering probably gives the best feeling of all the components of just how terrifying and yet how transformative the industrialisation of the gorge would have been.

Other areas of note relate to industrial enterprises that used local-sourced clay rather than coal and iron. There is a museum devoted to china porcelain in Coalport (£10 / £6.50), one devoted to decorative tiles in Jackfield (£10 / £6.50), and one devoted to tobacco pipes across the river in Broseley (£6.50 / £4.25 - erratic opening hours, and I didn't visit). The Coalport China Museum is also the location from where tours (£3.00 / £2.00) set off to visit the ‘Tar Tunnel’; intended to provide a tunnel for the Shropshire Canal it was abandoned for that purpose when it hit a well of raw bitumen. It is no longer possible to enter the tunnel but the seeping tar can be seen from the entrance. The canal was completed instead with the Hay Inclined Plane, visible from Blists Hill, where barges were raised and lowered via funicular. I particularly enjoyed the Jackfield Tile Museum which showcased the evolving styles of ceramic tiles between the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as recreating some tiled interiors of a butcher’s, a church, a pub and Covent Garden tube station. Without the cachet of a World Heritage listing (and the income from the other locations, principally Blist’s Hill I imagine) I sincerely doubt these would have been preserved, so they are well worth a look if you have time.

Whilst very attractive and in places informative and entertaining Ironbridge Gorge is not the most awe-inspiring World Heritage Site to a modern visitor. But I like to keep in mind that back in the 1780s the bridge would have been a genuine wonder and the industrial ironworks landscape would have been truly terrifying. This is in my view the most important ‘industrial’ site on the List in the UK. The advances in the scale, speed and scope of iron manufacturing pioneered here pretty much acted as the enabler for the 18th-19th century Industrial Revolution. It is a shame that – other than the Iron Bridge – much of what the visitor today sees are either the ruins of that revolution (blast furnaces) or a reconstructed / relocated replica of what a later period would have looked like. Despite that, there is actually a surprising amount to see and do in a relatively compact area.

World Heritage-iness: 4

Our Experience: 3.5

(Visited August 2021 to July 2022)

James Bowyer

3.00 United Kingdom - 10-Sep-21 -

The Iron Bridge is an attractive if small structure over the River Severn, which was repainted in 2018 to what historians have determined was its original red colour. Set against the background of the picturesque town of Ironbridge, the bridge is not especially impressive until you remember it is now nearly 250 years old. References to this bridge are always careful to describe it as the first ‘major’ bridge to be made from cast iron as there was apparently an abandoned attempt to construct an iron bridge in Lyon in 1755 and a successful, but much smaller, decorative iron bridge in the grounds of Kirklees Hall, Yorkshire in 1769. However, Abraham Darby’s 1779 bridge here has rightfully become one of the iconic symbols of the Industrial Revolution. Even though many larger and/or more ornate bridges have since been constructed, this has the distinction of both being amongst the first and surviving to the present day.

Not too far out the town along the road to the east are the Bedlam furnaces, also free to access although with some signs of ageing, where iron ore was smelted to make the all-important metal. There are more furnaces at the Museum of Iron, which I did not get chance to visit, and at the Blists Hill Victorian Town. The Blists Hill furnaces are newer in construction, built between 1832 and 1844, but are more striking in their huge size and better preserved than the Bedlam furnaces. These furnaces and the remains of a tile and brickworks are the only original features of the Blists Hill site, the many other buildings of the open-air museum having been painstakingly reconstructed brick-by-brick from elsewhere in the Midlands for their preservation. There are various demonstrations around Blists Hill and it is undoubtedly a valuable resource for education about Britain’s industrial history. However, whilst every effort has been made to recreate an authentic Victorian town in both exterior and interior, it feels altogether too tourist-y. This feeling is not helped by the price of admission, which costs £19 as of summer 2021. The exit from the museum passes through a room with the names of various other World Heritage Sites written on the walls and a large picture of the Pyramids of Giza, leaving the visitor to draw their own comparisons between the two sites.

My favourite parts of the site were those that, in planning my visit, I had dismissed as minor attractions. Built next to a quaint canal is the Coalport China Museum, which offers an unexpectedly fascinating insight into the elaborate porcelain that was manufactured here and even the opportunity to step inside the original 19th Century kilns. Coalport china is a well-known feature on the British TV institution of Antiques Roadshow so to see its origins was quite a treat, although I acknowledge this may be of more niche interest. There appeared to be the facilities for making your own pottery in the old workshop although this activity wasn’t running at the time of my visit. The canal at Coalport is connected to the Blists Hill site by a steep railway known as the Hay Inclined Plane, which is sadly no longer operating as it looks to have been a remarkable piece of engineering to transport material decades before steam engines became commonplace using only the gravity of a descending cart to pull the ascending cart uphill. The Jackfield Tile Museum was another surprising treat, with dioramas recreating Covent Garden tube station and a traditional English church, butchers, pub, and more demonstrating all the places tiles are used that I hadn’t considered before. Part of the building that now houses the museum is still an active site for the creation of new tiles used by local artists, some of whose work is displayed and available to purchase, which would provide a unique if heavy souvenir from a visit.

Walking from Ironbridge along the river via the Bedlam furnaces to Coalport then uphill to Blists Hill then back downhill and along the river to Jackfield before finally returning to Ironbridge was a long but rewarding day out. Sadly, there was no time left to visit the missing museums of Ironbridge: Coalbrookdale Iron Museum, home to the original blast furnace where Abraham Darby first revolutionised cast iron manufacture by using coke instead of charcoal; Enginuity, a hands-on science museum that appears to be aimed at children so not for me but a commendable endeavour; the Darby houses, the recreated family home of the man that had the Iron Bridge built; the Tar Tunnel, which is currently closed due to a build-up of toxic gases underground; and the Broseley Pipeworks, an old clay tobacco pipe factory that doesn’t sound too interesting but I thought the same about the China and Tile museums before visiting and they both proved suprisingly good. The one caveat, as most fellow reviewers have noted, is the high cost of entry to these museums. Both the China and Tile museums cost £10 to enter as individual sites and, whilst I enjoyed both, I don’t think I would have paid that much for either on its own. Instead, I had purchased the pass that covers all the museums of the area, which costs £29 as of summer 2021. This provides ‘good value’ relative to buying individual tickets but is still a hefty price and follows the irritating trend of other tourist attractions in the UK in recent years that only sell annual passes at an inflated price and have stopped offering day tickets. I do not live too far from Ironbridge so can come back to visit the missing museums and get good use out of this pass but it is of little use to those visiting from further afield. My recommendation to those not likely to want to come back twice, therefore, is to simply visit the Iron Bridge itself and the Bedlam furnaces as both are free to visit and provide a good fundamental grounding in how this gorge became one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution.

Jakob Frenzel

3.00 Germany - 09-Jun-18 -

March 2018 - Oh no, we arrived in Ironbridge, but the main attraction was under renovation and wrapped in white sheets. What a pitty! Anyway we took  a walk to both sides of the bridge and tried to get a glance of the historic sites of the gorge. We had pastries, fish and chips, and there was a nice shop with a tremendous selection of gin and beer.

Hay Brook Valley we did not want to visit, due to time constraints and due to the high prize. By car we drove further up the valley to see some more factories and finally left the WHS again.

I guess we could have seen more and reap more from the  visit. But without the bridge the experience was anyway just moderate.

Nan

2.50 Germany - 30-Jul-17 -

When I stepped off the bus in Ironbridge and got my first glimpse of the bridge I was already smitten. It’s a picturesque site, embedded in a lovely river valley with the usual English countryside charm. Little points to this having been a key site in UK’s industrial revolution.

Prior to the industrial revolution the iron ore was melted using charcoal. In my line of work we would call that biomass and consider it CO2 neutral, i.e. pretty great. But charcoal was tied to sustainable (then phew!) forestry and this severely limited the volume of ore you could melt. So you couldn’t actually leverage larger production sites. Only when the switch to coal and better yet coke occurred was real growth possible. The area around Ironbridge, already a center for iron production since medieval times, offered both iron and coal and grew rapidly as a consequence.

While this is yet another of UK’s industrial sites, I had a pleasant time and I think this is a valuable site. Due to this being on the forefront of industrialization the buildings seem to have fallen out of time compared to a later industrialization site such as Völklinger Hütte. But well, with the furnaces in operation and the chimneys blowing out huge smoke clouds day and night, the area probably looked far less idyllic.

Getting In and Around

From Monday to Saturday there are regular busses connecting Telford to Ironbridge. They do not run via the train station. From the train station you have to walk to the nearby shopping center and head for the well signposted bus station on the other side of it. Right now the buses depart from Gate S (rightmost, outside), but construction work is ongoing, so this may change.

There are two different bus routes: a western one via Coalbrookdale and an eastern one via Madeley. Bring some change as they seem to be running low on coins. One way cost is around 2.60 GBP.

There are also shuttle buses. Some regularly connect the P&R parking lots to the sites. Half hourly shuttle buses run between Madeley and Coalbrookdale with stops at all the main sites. They run only on weekends and holidays. If you plan to visit on a Sunday or a holiday and are depending on public transport, your best option seems to be to go to Madeley and take the shuttle bus.

Instead of the shuttle bus you can always walk. Several nice hiking trails are set up and connect the sites. My recommendation would be to start on one side of the site (Madeley or Coalbrookdale) and then traverse it.

From Telford Station you can travel westwards to Snowdonia and Bangor. Or eastwards to Birmingham with its airport. Be advised that tickets are only sold on the Eastbound (opposite) side of the station. This nearly made me miss my connection. Fortunately, the train was running late.

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and the Gwynedd Castles are connected by the same rail line from Telford. The aqueduct is a nice addition to this site and both can be done handily in one day from Birmingham.

Things To Do

The area houses a surprising number of museums that shed some light on different aspects of the site (tiles, china, iron, ...). Prices are (typical for the UK) rather high. A day pass for all museums costs 25 GBP, a single museum 9 GBP. I went to the Iron Museum and found the presentation rather useful to make sense of the site. The building itself is also interesting and you can see the furnace that started the region’s boom. Those parts are free.

The Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open air museum that seemed rather popular with visitors. If you plan to go here, buy the combined ticket as it by itself already comes in at 19 GBP. I wasn’t into it and preferred hiking back to Ironbridge.

A unique way to experience the site is to kayak along the Severn river and beneath the bridge. There seem to be multiple operators. I only spotted this one in town.

Notes

During my visit I noticed a group of volunteers cutting brushes along the riverbank. I think it’s great sign for the value of the site in the community and I found this highly commendable.

On instagram Ian recommended trying the pork pie. I guess he was referring to Eleys (Self Acclaimed) World Famous Pork Pies. Luckily, I am not a lunch person anyhow, so it doesn’t feel as too much of miss, seeing he provided his recommendation after the visit. If you are more of lunch person, the place seems to be just across the road from the bridge.

Joel on the Road

Australia - 30-Jun-17 -

I visited this site with my wife in June 2017. We had a rental car and so were able to drive directly to the village itself. The bridge is quite impressive, though a bit smaller than I expected. Very beautifully constructed though, and the way the paths run around the gorge you can see it from most angles.

We also visited the New Bedlam blast furnaces but they were being restored and were fully fenced off. We also drove over to the museum but decided it was too expensive to fully explore. Here the large blast furnaces are in a separate building at the far end of the car park, so if it's quiet you might be able to sneak in and have a quick look. Not that we did that of course ;)

Overall it's an interesting site, but fairly typical of the UK Industrial Revolution sites. Not somewhere I'd particularly recommend going out of your way for, but a diversion to see the bridge is well worth it.

See below for my full video review!

Read more from Joel on the Road here.

Jay T

4.00 USA - 18-Dec-16 -

When I was planning a trip to Wales in 2005, I realized I would be traveling very close to Ironbridge Gorge, widely recognized as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. With my interest in world history, there was no way I could bypass this site, so I arranged for a day trip detour. The Severn River flows through the gorge, which is named for the famed Iron Bridge detailed in other reviews. I enjoyed walking over this remarkable piece of engineering, as well as viewing it from the trails on both banks of the river. Just as fascinating was the Blists Hill open-air museum, which included examples of the coal and iron mines involved in making this valley so important to the Industrial Revolution. In the early 18th century, Abraham Darby used coke, derived from coal, to fuel blast furnaces along the gorge. This created a less expensive source of cast iron and revolutionized the iron-making industry. Blast furnaces from the Madeley Wood Company are still on display at Blists Hill, and I was impressed by their conservation. Blists Hill also offers examples of a Victorian-era town, which I enjoyed exploring. I highly recommend this site for anyone with any interest in technological innovations in world history.

Logistics: An automobile is probably the easiest way to arrive at Ironbridge Gorge, as well as to navigate to the

multiple museums. There is also a train station at Telford, to the north of the gorge.

Clyde

2.50 Malta - 11-Jul-16 -

I visited this WHS in June 2016. Arriving from South Wales by car, I drove through several rural roads to get to Ironbrige. I parked at the pay and display car park next to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum (worth visiting) which is just a short walk away from the symbol of Industrial Revolution. Although there is a National Heritage sign just in front of the bridge, hidden just behind it in a corner with a dustbin strapped to the railings in front of it (not impressed at all!!!) was the official UNESCO plaque. Just a small trivia; apparently in 1987, the UK company in charge of producing the UNESCO plaques for the UK WH sites inscribed in 1986, made a mistake and all these signs have the same mistake "inscribed in 1987" or "1987" instead of 1986. In fact, the manager at Caernafon Castle in Wales (who told me about this!) removed the sign which is now hidden in the castle's multimedia room until new plaques arrive. Anyhow, apart from the several museums and a pleasant walk by the river just below the old tollhouse, there isn't much to entertain a longer visit. The village itself is very touristy and although I tried Eley's world famous hand raised pork pies (the small ones are more than enough!), I very much preferred Eley's hot pastries which I ate on the bench just opposite while enjoying the view. Considering the link with Blaenavon's industrial heritage for example, I think it would have made much more sense in terms of OUV to have one WHS inscription in the UK linked to the industrial heritage of iron production which would include both sites.

Tom Livesey

United Kingdom - 05-May-16 -

I visited Ironbridge with my grandparents in August 2013. Although there are something like 14 distinct things to see/museums in the vicinity, the eponymous Iron Bridge is the focal point. Whilst it isn’t particularly impressive when compared to modern bridges like Millau, at the time it was groundbreaking.

The bridge served two purposes: one, of course, was as a means of crossing the River Severn. This was an important thing for the town as it was at the epicentre of the early Industrial Revolution and was rapidly ramping up production of cast iron for export throughout the country and across the world. The second use of the bridge, however, was to serve as an audacious advert for the load-bearing properties of Shropshire steel. Anybody who didn’t believe the early claims of the steel barons had only to come to Ironbridge and see it himself.

Elsewhere in the vicinity of Ironbridge there are museums such as Blists Hill Victorian Town Be warned – the museums are not free like in Blaenavon. It costs £8.25 to get into the China museum, for example, and a pass to all the museums is £24!

The bridge is free, of course, and I satisfied myself by also visiting the Tar Tunnel (£3). This is a 3000 foot, 225 year old tunnel dug into the hillside by miners who struck natural bitumen. You can go about 50 metres into it, and see for yourself the tar oozing through the walls.

Frederik Dawson

2.00 Netherlands - 19-May-13 -

When my taxi driver pointed me to see the famous Ironbridge, the symbol of the Industrial Revolution, I felt quite underwhelmed with the appearance of the bridge which was very different from my imagination. The bridge was located in the middle of a very touristy village with many shops and restaurants that far from my ideal industrial valley. It seemed to me that apart from the modern power plant, the industry legacy of this valley was indeed a history.

After ate a piece of pork pie which claimed by owner to be the best in the world! It was time for me to see the bridge. I found that crossing the bridge was not quite a comfortable experience as the bridge was quite steep than normal pedestal bridge in the present time; however the view of the village and gorge as well as the details of the bridge decorations were quite lovely. The number of 1779, the year that the bridge was erected was stamped in the middle of the bridge railings showing its historical significance. All in all, a fine place to visit for 15-20 minutes!

I decided not to visit any museum except the Ironbridge George Museum which had well stock of souvenirs. The friendly museum staff advised me how to go back to Telford where the nearest train station located. Two Korean tourists and I were very confused with two bus stops located in both side of the street in front of the bridge indicating that both directions can go to Telford! At the end I was able to reach Telford but have to change bus again in the town center.

Els Slots

3.00 The Netherlands - 30-Aug-11 -

I visited the Ironbridge Gorge on a day trip from Llangollen, just over the border in Wales. My rental Ford Focus got me there via narrow, winding roads just before 10 a.m. I was early enough to get a parking spot in the center of Ironbridge town. I had printed out a hiking map beforehand (the South Telford Heritage Trail) and set out on foot to at least walk part of it.

The main focus at first is the Iron Bridge itself. It’s an imposing structure for its age, and pretty photogenic too. I crossed it and walked on the other side of the river Severn to Jackfield and Coalport. The walking trail here lies between the river and the main road, but the shrubs are too thick to see anything worthwhile. It is actually just the sort of path you see at BBC Crimewatch when someone is suddenly attacked by a stranger. Fortunately, nothing happened to me, I only encountered some fellow hikers.

The path ends near the former tile factories of Jackfield, and then I crossed the river again via the footbridge. This is where the Tar Tunnel lies, and also the Hay Inclined Plane (a lift or funicular for ships). Only the tracks remain. I walked back along the main road to Ironbridge.

After my walk, I tried two of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums. You can visit all 10 of them for a rather steep 22.5 pounds (they’re not exactly the Uffizi or the Hermitage so I think that is a lot of money). The Ironbridge Museum’s main feature is a 10-minute video that shows the basic history of the area. The Iron Museum in Coalbrookdale is a larger complex, with an indoor exhibition and outdoor structures like the Old Furnace. Both museums failed to inspire me, they are pretty much a collection of display boards and paraphernalia. The Ironbridge museums won the European Museum of the Year award in 1977, but are not up to what a museum can be in 2011. Earlier this summer I visited the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongres (Belgium) and the Laténium in Neuchatel (Switzerland), where much better presentations are made out of much less history.

As will be clear by now, I was quite disappointed with Ironbridge though I like industrial heritage in general. It's more the age of things that is remarkable here, than the physical remains. The little towns hold some very pretty cottages, and the river Severn now flows peacefully through this green landscape where nature has taken over again from heavy industry.

Steve Miller

United Kingdom - 26-Aug-11 -

I have the pleasure of both working for the Ironbridge Gorge Museums and being a local resident, so I hope that you can accept my short review!

Founded in 1967, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is a registered charity whose twin aims are education and heritage conservation.

The Trust cares for 36 scheduled monuments and listed buildings within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site and operates 10 museums which collectively tell the story of the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. These museums received 567,000 visits in 2010, including around 70,000 school visits.

The largest of our sites is Blists Hill Victorian Town, which in 2009 saw the completion of a £12m development, supported by Advantage West Midlands and European Regional Development Funding. Following this generational investment, Blists Hill Victorian Town received 9 major regional and national awards including reaching the final of the Art Fund Prize for Museums & Galleries 2010, the largest arts prize in the United Kingdom.

As well as 10 museums, the sites in the Trust’s care include a research library, a tourist information centre, two youth hostels, archaeological monuments, historic woodlands, housing, two chapels, and two Quaker burial grounds.

In 2011 Ironbridge celebrated its 25th anniversary as one of the UK's first World Heritage Sites. We hope that many people take the opportunity to discover the many charms of this beautiful and historic site for themselves.

For more details visit www.ironbridge.org.uk

Ian Cade

3.00 UK - 01-Aug-05 -

This was one of the original group of UK entries to the list, the site is essentially the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It was here that coke was first used on a large scale to produce iron, speeding up the process and making this town the industrial heart of the world for about a decade. The British list is quite heavy on Industrial heritage, and I think quite rightly so, as they are of massive global importance.

The town itself now is an idyllic little town, which is kept immaculately without being too sterile. The centre of the town is on one side of the river Severn, which is crossed by the Ironbridge (pictured) this was the first bridge to be made of this material in the world. It is an impressive piece of engineering and is a fantastic symbol for this period of history.

The site also includes neighbouring towns and their foundries, the most famous one is at Coalbrookedale and this is now a museum. The museum was nicely laid out, and if you want an introduction to the Iron making process then this is a great place to start. At the back of the forecourt are the remains of the first furnace to use coke, which I found to be a little more interesting than the museum itself.

Overall there are about 10 different museums in the area and you could easily spend a full day here going from one to the other. The distance to some of the museums can slow down progress unless you have your own transport, but there were a few buses running around.

The nearest main towns are Telford and Shrewsbury, which have train links to the major cities (mostly via Birmingham)and buses running down to Ironbridge