Secret Ironbridge

This is a new series of photographic blogs featuring photographs and descriptions of areas of the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire that, although not exactly ‘secret’, are certainly overlooked by the tourism industry that now dominates the four towns and villages that lie in the valley:

  • Ironbridge
  • Coalbrookdale
  • Jackfield
  • Coalport

This blog series is a good excuse for me to get out, take photographs, and share some history of an area I have lived in all my life. Click on the image to find out more about the story behind it.

Ice house
London & North Western Railway
The fuel pump
Transhipment interchange
Another bridge of iron
Great Western Railway
Lost village
A nasty accident
Remembering the fallen
Maw or less
Wallace, but no Gromit
A tale of two churches
Open wide
Ready-made bridge
Grand Central Station
Bower yard
Hidden viaduct
The great fire
The third railway
Rapid kayaking
Lime kilns on the Wharfage
Bridge over the Hay Incline Plane
The impostor
Compressor house
Water, water, everywhere
Bedlam furnaces

Most of the information isn’t ‘secret’ at all. It is widely available in the public domain if you care to search for it (apart from the occasional anecdotal comment), but I’ve just pulled it together into one place. The vast majority is historical, so there may be discrepancies as opinions and folklore have changed over the years. Still, it’s my take on it, coming from a family that has lived in the Ironbridge Gorge for over 100 years.

Please comment on the relevant blog post if you have any further information or a particular opinion.

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