Some claim it to have been a village, others that it was just a suburb of the village of Jackfield, but either way The Werps now ceases to exist.
The Werps lay on the southern side of the River Severn, immediately opposite the Coalport china works.
A map from 1883 show at least 22 separate dwellings, some quite large with substantial gardens. A later 1925 map shows that it was largely unchanged, albeit by that time the Werps Inn had changed its name to the General Gordon.
It is variously reported that two tragedies occurred here, 34 years apart:
On Friday night a sad accident, terminating fatally, happened to one of the twin sons of Mr George Stephan, at the Werps. The children were put to bed by the servant, a small fire having been previously lighted in the room. Shortly afterwards a scream was heard and the father rushed to the apartment. One of the children, Eustace, was in flames. These were quickly extinguished by the energetic and agonised parent. The injuries sustained were not sufficient of themselves to account for death, but the shock given to the nervous system was too severe to be resisted, and death followed in consequence.
THE IRONBRIDGE WEEKLY JOURNAL 31st December 1870
On Thursday an inquest was held by Mr Coroner Potts on the body of a little girl named Stephan, the daughter of Mr G. Stephan, landlord of the General Gordon Inn, who had died form the effects of burns. On Monday morning, during the momentary absence of the mother, the child’s clothing caught fire, and although medical aid was obtained, she died from the effects of the burns and shock. The verdict of the Jury was one of “Accidental death”.
The Wellington Journal 1904
Note: Further checking shows that the little girls name was Beatrice Stephan and her father was the twin of Eustace, who died in similar circumstances 30 years prior.
After reading the Journals from the early 20th century, it does seem that child fatality rates for burns was quite high, probably due to the use of open fires and candles. However, for two related children to die in the same manner 30 years apart is very, very sad.
The buildings at The Werps still show on a map from 1957, although it is not clear if they were still inhabited at that time.
I spent some time looking through the undergrowth and trees to see if I could identify any remains of the Werps, but all I could find was one small corner of brickwork. It seems that some concerted effort was made to raze the community to the ground.
The riverside path that runs in front of the Werps has a post blocking vehicles that, for some unknown reason, is in the form of a missile. It is an ironic marker post for a village that has been wiped from the face of the Earth.
The missile is also ironic in that it is very close to a unique war memorial, which we will visit in a later Secret Ironbridge blog post, after we visit the scene of a nasty accident.
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Jackfield. My grandfather George Vallender Preece,(Val) was born in one of the two cottages now pulled down, next to the Black Swan. They were railway cottages, his father being signalman and also George Preece. He was also gatekeeper. The gate is sill there, albeit covered in vegetation. The gate was the widest gate in England. Although where the house was is now a lovely park with railway memorabilia, the historic gate has no story on it and was hardly visible. (It is across the road). As I am now in Australia I was interested in why the Black Swan was named so, black swans not being naturally from UK. The owner could tell me nothing. It would be lovely to see the gate with a story on it and kept visible.
Regards
Janet Edwards
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Hi Janet, The gates were restored a few years ago. I am going to add a blog post in a couple of weeks about these gates, with photographs, so keep checking back. I’m not sure about the name of the Black Swan, although it’s not an uncommon name for public houses and may have no specific meaning here. Best regards, John.
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