The Darby Furnace, Coalbrookdale

SECTION 2SECTION 2

DESCRIPTION ANDSIGNIFICANCE OF THE

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

DESCRIPTION ANDSIGNIFICANCE OF THE

WORLD HERITAGE SITE

This section describes theexisting character andsignificance of the WHSand how they are a productof the area’s unique history.

2 DESCRIPTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WORLD HERITAGE SITE

2.1 Name of the WHS

Ironbridge Gorge

2.2 Date of inscription onto the World Heritage List

1986, on the nomination of the U.K. Government

2.3 Location

Country:England, within the United Kingdom

Region:West Midlands

Local Authorities:Telford & Wrekin Unitary Authority; Shropshire County; Bridgnorth District

Parishes:The Gorge; Madeley; Broseley; Barrow; Sutton Maddock

Geographical co-ordinates:(The Iron Bridge)National Grid Reference: SJ 672 034 Longitude: 2° 29’ WLatitude: 52° 37’ N

2.4 Boundary and brief description of the WHS

2 . 4 . 1 . The boundary of the WHS, whichencloses an area of approximately 550 hectares,is the same as that of the Severn Gorg eConservation Area which was formallydesignated in 1980 and was defined in order toinclude all the major sites of historic andcultural significance within the IronbridgeGorge. The WHS includes the communities ofCoalbrookdale, Ironbridge, Coalport andJackfield and part of the community ofMadeley.

The Iron Bridge, Aquatint by M. Dubourg, 1823

2.4.2 The WHS lies at the southern end of acoalfield, generally known in historical andgeological literature as the 'CoalbrookdaleCoalfield', which extends about 16 km north tosouth from Lilleshall to Willey, and at its widestis no more than 5 km from east to west. TheCoalfield is exceptionally rich in mineralresources. Some twenty-one of its coal seamsand eight seams of iron ore have been worked in

the past, together with clays employed in housebricks, firebricks, roofing tiles, decorativetiles,pottery and tobacco pipes. There are twoprincipal outcrops of carboniferous limestone,while Silurian limestone is found on either sideof the Ironbridge Gorge and extends southwardsto Wenlock Edge. The River Severn flowingthrough the Ironbridge Gorge was the principalroute for the products of the Coalfield en routeto customers in the wider world.

Ironstone mines in Madeley Wood, Warington Smyth, 1847

2.4.3 ‘Ironbridge Gorge’ is used, for thesake of simplicity, throughout this Plan,although the structure from which that namewas derived - the Iron Bridge - was not builtuntil 1777-81. The Bridge was recognised at thetime as the first of its kind, and was the mostcelebrated of the many spectacular sights thatdrew visitors to this area of Shropshire in thelate eighteenth century. The Gorge was formedby a glacial overflow, and is now the pointwhere the River Severn flows from west to east

through the high land formed by the Silurianand Carboniferous measures. The mineralsfound in the area were extensively exploitedbetween the mid sixteenth century and the earlytwentieth, but much of the area is now wooded,vegetation having taken root on the spoil tipscreated by mining and other industrial activities.At the western end of the Gorge there remainsmuch evidence of the working of limestone onBenthall Edge and Lincoln Hill.

2.4.4 The pattern of settlement in much ofthe Gorge is of an informal nature and isdisordered in appearance. Manorial control inthe seventeenth century was weak and it waspossible for incoming migrants to squat oncommon land or build cottages on waste areas.Many residential plots are consequently ofirregular shape and are linked by pathways andflights of steps which in origin were primitiverailways or packhorse tracks serving the hillsidemines. In Coalbrookdale and Coalport there aremore formal terraces of cottages built byemployers for their workpeople from the mideighteenth century, while around the Square atthe northern end of the Iron Bridge are buildingsthat conform to the traditions of politearchitecture, reflecting the ambitions of thebuilders of the bridge to create a manneredurban environment for their innovative newstructure.

Severn Side, Ironbridge: eighteenth-centuryhouses cleared c.1950

2.4.5 Within the WHS were six major blastfurnace complexes of the period of theIndustrial Revolution between the earlyeighteen century and the mid nineteenthc e n t u r y, the remains of three of which areThe Limekiln at Coalbrookdale,

J.M.W. Turner, 1796

currently presented to the public. Evidence ofother industrial activities is plentiful throughoutthe Gorge, for example, potteries, tobacco pipeworks, tile factories, lead smelters and chainworks. Along the banks of the Severn areremains of many wharves formerly used bybarges carrying away the products of the region.The river is crossed by three historic ironbridges. The principal areas of historic interestwithin the WHS are described below and ingreater detail in Appendices 2 and 3, but thewhole region is rich in evidence of its eventfulhistory.

Calcutts Ironworks, George Robertson, 1788

2.5 Significance of the Ironbridge Gorge WHS

2.5.1. Statement of significance: The worldhas recognised the significance of theIronbridge Gorge since the eighteenth centurywhen artists, engineers and writers from manycountries were drawn to the area to admireinnovations in ironworking, mining, and instructural and mechanical engineering. The IronBridge itself, set in a context of smoke, flamesand intense human activity, was perceived asthe symbol of the profound changes that weretaking place in Britain in the late eighteenthcentury, and the new technologies developed inthe Gorge influenced economic and socialdevelopments throughout the world. T h eprocess of smelting iron with coke instead ofcharcoal was perfected in Coalbrookdale byAbraham Darby I in 1709. This led to arevolution in the making of iron. From theinitial output of humble cooking pots,successive members of the Darby family

expanded the Coalbrookdale Works to makewrought-iron, to cast steam engine cylindersand eventually bridges. In the iron works of TheGorge were laid the foundations of the railwayage with the manufacture of the first iron rails,iron wheels, aqueduct and bridges and in 1802the first successful steam locomotive designedby Richard Trevithick.

Coalbrookdale Ironworks, G. Perry and T. Vivares, 1758

2.5.2 The landscape of the IronbridgeGorge is rich in evidence of the heroic periodwhen it was the focus of international attention.The Gorge was blessed with mineral riches,with iron ore, limestone, clay and sand, andmany traces remain of the mines and quarriesfrom which these were extracted. There are stillwarehouses and wharves along the banks of theRiver Severn, which carried much of the tradeof the Gorge, and the sluices and pools alongtributary streams which were the source ofpower for bellows, hammers and mills, can stillbe recognised.

Coalport WarehouseH. Clements, 1884

2.5.3 The landscape reflects the ambitionand imagination of the entrepreneurs andengineers of the past. It contains a wealth ofmonuments associated with production, blastfurnaces for smelting iron ore, factories whereporcelain, bricks, tobacco pipes and tiles weremanufactured, and engineering works whichproduced steam engines, locomotives andbridge castings. Monuments of transportsystems are further evidence of the confidenceand scientific understanding of those who livedin the Gorge in the eighteenth century, the IronBridge, universally believed at that time to bethe first of its kind, the Hay inclined planewhich carried boats 70m up and down theslopes above Coalport, and the numerous tracesof the primitive railways that were the forebearsof the railways which transformed much of theworld after 1830.

Maw & Co. China Works, Jackfield

2.5.4 The industrial monuments of theIronbridge Gorge are associated with peoplewhose names are internationally known: theDarby family which was involved with themanagement and control of the Coalbrookdaleironworks for more than 200 years; WilliamReynolds, whose entrepreneurial skills wereallied to a profound interest in science; ThomasTelford, the great civil engineer; Rev JohnFletcher, the Swiss-born pastor who was one ofthe principal theologians of the EvangelicalRevival of the eighteenth century; and the ninthEarl Dundonald, the most imaginative industrialchemist of his generation. Some of their homesstill stand, as do some of the structures forwhich they were responsible.

William Reynolds, industrialist (1758–1803)

2.5.5 The landscape of the Gorge also reflectsthe achievements of talented men and womenwho are no longer individually remembered, butwhose skills in sinking mines, moulding ironcastings, painting china and sailing barges werethe foundation of the area's prosperity and fame.Cottages built on open land by families ofminers and mariners between 1600 and 1750still stand, as do terraces built by theironworking companies for their employees of alater generation. The landscape also reflectscommunal activities, and many of the publichouses, churches, chapels, schools and instituteswhich were the focal points of social life in theGorge in past generations can still be seen.

2.5.6 This is a landscape that reflects pain aswell as triumph. Memorials provide evidence ofaccidents in mines, of the employmentunderground of young children, and of theimpact of cholera epidemics. It is still possibleto recognise scenes of confrontation betweenemployers and workers in times of economiccrisis.

2.5.7 It is also a landscape that is interpreted.Since the formation of the Ironbridge GorgeMuseum Trust in 1967 the area has attractedvisitors who can now see monuments that havebeen restored, together with collections of theproducts of the enterprises of the Gorge, and theartefacts which framed the lives of its pastinhabitants.

Coalport China Museum: consolidation of the “half-kiln”, 1980s

2.5.8 In summary, the Ironbridge Gorg ewas one of the areas of the United Kingdomthat experienced profound economic andsocial changes between 1750 and 1820. T h epeople of the Gorge pioneered new means ofmining coal, of working iron, of buildingbridges, of applying the power of steam, ofbuilding railed ways and carrying canals overinhospitable territory. Its landscape reflectsboth the pains and the triumphs of humanexperience, and is part of the world's heritagefrom which all can learn.

2.5.9 The International Context: T h eWorld Heritage List currently includes fewerthan twenty Sites that relate to the history ofi n d u s t r y. Wieliczka in Poland and A r c - e t -Senans in France were concerned with salt-working; Potosi in Bolivia, Guanajuata inMexico, Rammelsberg (Goslar) in Germany,Banská Stiavnica in the Slovak Republic, Rørosin Norway and Falun in Sweden with themining of non-ferrous metals; Crespi d'Adda innorthern Italy with textiles and hydro-electricpower; and Verla in Finland with timber-processing. Some Sites concerned withtransport, including the Tysksebryggen (Germanquay) in Bergen and the Canal du Midi inFrance can also be regarded as industrialmonuments, as can some monuments of theancient world like the Pont du Gard. OnlyEngelsberg in Sweden, Völklingen in Germanyand Blaenavon in the United Kingdom, areconcerned with coal and iron, the materials

which were the foundation of the prosperity andcelebrity of the Ironbridge Gorge.

2.5.10 E n g e l s b e rg is the best preservedexample of the characteristic Swedish b ru k(ironworking settlement) of the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries. It was a communitydevoted to the smelting of iron ore and theforging of pig iron into wrought iron. Charcoalwas used as fuel in both processes and thewhole of the local forest economy was focusedon the supply of wood which could be burned tomake charcoal. The industrial monuments atEngelsberg include a blast furnace, a forge,w o r k e r s ’ housing and the owner's mansionstanding in ornamental grounds where one ofthe features is an elegant summer house madefrom blast furnace slag. Engelsberg is anastonishingly complete and breathtakinglybeautiful example of a particular kind ofindustrial community. It reflects a culture andforms of technology quite distinct from thosethat characterised the Ironbridge Gorge.

2.5.11 Blaenavon in South Wales is acommunity that grew rapidly from 1789 whenan ironworks was established by entrepreneurswho applied and carried forward thetechnologies that had been developed in theIronbridge Gorge. It represents the phase ofdevelopment subsequent to that which can beobserved at Ironbridge, when iron from Britishironworks and steam coal from the mines ofSouth Wales were exported to many countries.

2.5.12 Völklingen in the Saarland inGermany is an extensive and largely completeblast furnace complex whose earliest parts datefrom the late nineteenth century. It represents astage of development later than that exemplifiedat Blaenavon, and illustrates the colossal scaleof ironworking that was characteristic of thetwentieth century.

2.5.13 The Ironbridge Gorge is complementaryto these other sites on the World Heritage List. W h i l eall are concerned with the working of iron or coal,they represent different chronological periods,d i fferent forms of technology and distinctive culturalt r a d i t i o n s .

2.5.14. National and Regional Contexts:In addition to its international significance, theIronbridge Gorge has also played an importantpart in the history of industrialisation nationally

and regionally. This importance is amplified inAppendix 2 and also in the following evaluationof the industrial remains within the WHS.

(i) Iron structures

The Iron Bridge is the only substantial iron roadbridge to survive from the eighteenth century. Itwas universally accepted at the time of itsconstruction that it was the first of its kind. It iscomplemented within the WHS by two otheriron bridges. The bridge at Coalport was rebuiltin its present form in 1818. It was originally awooden structure to which three sets of ironribs, of which five half-ribs remain, were addedin 1797. The Albert Edward Bridge of 1862 is asingle iron arch that carries a railway over theRiver Severn, and was cast by theCoalbrookdale Company to the design of JohnFowler. The Iron Bridge is also complementedlocally by the iron aqueduct built by ThomasTelford in 1796 at Longdon, about 16km northof the WHS, and by several smaller ironbridges, including that built by theCoalbrookdale Company in 1797 at CoundArbour, and that of 1812 at Aston Cantlop. Theimpact made by the Iron Bridge in continentalEurope is shown by a small wrought iron replicabridge of 1791 that survives at Worlitz inGermany.

The Iron Bridge, William Williams, 1780

(ii) Ironworks

The WHS includes three groups of blastfurnaces, at Coalbrookdale, Bedlam and BlistsHill. All have been surveyed in recent years, andthe results including detailed drawings have

Blists Hill furnaces in the 1860s

been published (Hayman, Horton & W h i t e2000). Blast furnace structures from the lateeighteenth century and the early nineteenthcentury also remain elsewhere in the country.For example, in South Wales at Clydach,Cyfarthfa, Hirwaun, Neath Abbey, Cefn Cribwr,Tondu and Blaenavon, (the latter within theWHS), at Dyfi in mid-Wales; in England atDuddon and Backbarrow in the Lake District, atLow Mill and Rockley in the Sheffield region,at Moira in Leicestershire; and in Scotland atBonawe in Argyll. Some of these complexesretain features that no longer survive in theIronbridge Gorge, but the Coalbrookdale andBedlam furnaces are of particular historicalsignificance: the former as a seventeenth-century structure successively enlarged until itwas blown out in 1818, and as the furnacewhere iron was first successful smelted withcoke rather than charcoal; and the latter as theonly group that survives from the great periodof expansion in Shropshire in the 1750s.

Bedlam Furnaces; excavated and consolidatedin the 1970s

The significance of the surviving furnaces in theIronbridge Gorge is increased by the survival ofo t h e r, historically less important structures,elsewhere in Telford and in other parts ofShropshire. Remains of nineteenth-century blastfurnaces are conserved at Stirchley and Hinkshayin Telford Town Park and at the Lodge inGranville Country Park. Earlier furnaces surviveat Leighton, about 5 km west of the WHS, and atCharlcott in the depths of the Shropshirecountryside, about 20 km to the south. At Wi l l e y,just outside the WHS, extensive earthworksremain of the ironworks operated by JohnWilkinson between 1757 and 1804.

John Wilkinson, ironmaster (1727-1808)

The Upper Forge at Coalbrookdale is asignificant example of a surviving building inthe United Kingdom of an eighteenth-centuryforge, using that word in the sense of a works atwhich wrought iron was made from pig iron,rather than one where wrought iron or steelproducts were produced by hammering, rollingor pressing.

Upper Forge, Coalbrookdale

(iii) Mining

The outstanding monument of the miningindustry in the Ironbridge Gorge is the TarTunnel, but it is important as a geologicalcuriosity and as evidence of the skills ofeighteenth-century miners rather than ofmethods of extracting coal or iron ore. There areno mining structures in the Ironbridge Gorgecomparable to those at the national miningmuseums at Caphouse, Blaenavon andNewtongrange, nor to those at ChatterleyWhitfield Colliery in North Staffordshire, butnotable landscapes of early mining areconserved within the Gorge in areas likeLadywood, Benthall Woods and Madeley Woodand in such nearby parts of the CoalbrookdaleCoalfield as Telford Town Park, Lightmoor andGranville Country Park. Some aspects ofmining, including a steam winding engine aredemonstrated at the Blists Hill Museum. Thereis much evidence of the extraction of limestoneat Benthall Edge and Lincoln Hill. T h esignificance of the evidence of mining in theWHS is that it can be seen as part of a broadpattern of industrial growth, and that the role ofmining in relation to ironmaking, ceramics andother manufacturing industries can readily beappreciated from evidence in the landscape.

Miners at Blists Hill Mine, 1890s

(iv) Ceramics

Four substantial ceramics works are preservedin the Ironbridge Gorge: the Coalport chinaworks, the tile factories of Maw and CravenDunnill, and the brickworks at Blists Hill. Thereis evidence of earlier ceramics industries atJackfield, Benthall and Coalport. Coalport, at its

height in the mid nineteenth century, wasamong the most productive china factories inthe land and stood comparison with the majormanufacturers of North Staffordshire. T h eremains of the Coalport works complementthose monuments surviving in NorthStaffordshire and are among a small group thatcontain national quality collections of the finechina where it was made. Of the three very largedecorated tile works in the United Kingdom inthe late nineteenth century, two (Maws andCraven Dunnill) were in the Ironbridge Gorgeand the third, (Minton Hollins), in Stoke onTrent. As with Coalport, only Craven Dunnillcontains a national collection of the productsmade there. It is also alone in continuing thetradition of tile manufacture with the recentreturn of Craven Dunnill as a tenant of theMuseum.

Coalport China Works, early nineteenthcentury.

(v) Canals

The principal significance of the section ofcanal conserved in the Ironbridge Gorge is thatit incorporates the Hay inclined plane, one ofsix on the tub boat canal system of theCoalbrookdale Coalfield. These were amongstthe few inclined planes or boat lifts of theIndustrial Revolution period that weresuccessful in the long term. The Hay inclinedplane in the WHS operated for about a centuryfrom 1794. In an international context it can beinterpreted as a direct predecessor of theinclined planes built in the second half of thetwentieth century at Ronquières in Belgium, StLouis-Arzviller in France and Krasnoyarsk inRussia. The remaining canal within the WHS is

complemented by the earthworks of two of theother inclined planes in the CoalbrookdaleCoalfield at Hugh's Bridge, Lilleshall, and atWrockwardine Wood; the wharf designed byThomas Telford at Wappenshall; reservoirs atHinkshay and Trench; the stone structure fromwhich the settlement at Aqueduct takes itsname; and the iron aqueduct at Longdon.

The Hay Inclined Plane c.1900

(vi) Primitive Railways

The Shropshire Coalfield is acknowledged to beone of the two birthplaces of the English railway(the other is the Northumberland/DurhamCoalfield where similar patterns of monumentsremain). The WHS is rich in remains of primitiverailways. The tracks of inclined planes survive atBrierly Hill above Coalbrookdale, Bagguley’sWind near Blists Hill and on Benthall Edge.

Broseley 1788; coalmine with packhorses and railway

Three primitive railways were built fromCoalbrookdale to Horsehay between 1750 and1820, two of which can be followed asfootpaths. A late nineteenth-century wroughtiron latticework bridge, constructed to carryplateway track, survives on the edge of theBlists Hill Museum. These monuments arecomplemented elsewhere in the Coalfield by amasonry tramway bridge of c.1760 at Newdale,and by several bridges constructed to carrystandard gauge railways over earlier primitiverailways.

(vii) Roads

The WHS contains several examples of roadsconstructed during the Industrial Revolutionperiod. The most notable is Madeley Bank,which was built between 1806 and 1810 andclimbs the hill between the centre of Ironbridgeand Madeley. It forms an enlightening contrastwith Lincoln Hill, the route by which theancient road from Much Wenlock to Shifnalascended the side of the Gorge. Other new roadsof the late eighteenth century and earlynineteenth century include that from the southside of the Iron Bridge through Ladywood andup the side of the Gorge to Broseley, and thatfrom Coalbrookdale to Lawley. T h e s emonuments are complemented by the road fromEaton Constantine crossroads to Cressage,about 8 km west of the WHS, which was thefirst road designed by Thomas Telford, and bythe section of Telford's Holyhead Road,improved between 1815 and 1836 in such a waythat it was the best of its time in Europe, thatpasses through Telford between Priorslee andOverley Hill.

Lincoln Hill, Ironbridge, 1890s

(viii) Cultural Landscapes

The Ironbridge Gorge WHS is historicallysignificant not because it represents particularaspects of the history of industry, transport ort e c h n o l o g y, but also because it forms aremarkably complete cultural landscape. Withinit, it is possible to observe varied patterns ofsettlement, ancient property boundaries, housesoccupied both by workers and entrepreneurs,places of worship, recreational and culturalbuildings and facilities, and waste tips, as wellas monuments which relate to production andtransport. The landscapes of other industrialWHSs are comparably complex, but the way inwhich the intricate origins of the patterns ofindustrial growth that emerged in the eighteenthcentury are illustrated in the Ironbridge Gorge isunique.

The Old Vicarage, Madeley, once occupied byRev John Fletcher

2.6 Values of the World Heritage Site

2.6.1 The following sections define theattributes and values which make the IronbridgeGorge WHS of universal significance. Such anassessment deepens our understanding of thearea which, in turn, helps to ensure thatmanagement decisions affecting the WHS areproperly informed. This assessment reflects aconsensus of views of all the agencies,organisations and individuals involved in theproduction of this Management Plan andprovides the foundation upon which theproposals and actions in the Management Planare based.

2.6.2 World Heritage Site Va l u e s : T h eIronbridge Gorge was inscribed on the Wo r l dHeritage List in 1986 on the nomination of theUK Government. When consideringnominations, UNESCO assesses prospectiveWHSs against six varied criteria relating to theuniversal significance and cultural importanceof the area. It was considered that theIronbridge Gorge fulfilled the following fourcriteria which were identified as compellingreasons for its inscription as the first industrialWorld Heritage Site.

i. ‘Represents a masterpiece of human genius’

ii. ‘Exhibits an important interchange of humanvalues over a span of time, or within acultural area’

iii.‘Be an outstanding example of a type ofbuilding or architectural ensemble orlandscape, which illuminates a significant stage in human history’

iv. ‘Be directly or tangibly associated withevents or living traditions, with ideas orbeliefs, with artistic or literary sites ofoutstanding universal value’

2.6.3. UNESCO was also satisfied that theIronbridge Gorge also fulfilled two furthercriteria relating to its a u t h e n t i c i t y a n dmanagement, namely:

i. ‘The site must meet the test of authenticityin design, material, workmanship or setting’

ii. ‘The site must have adequate legal protection and/or traditional protection and management mechanisms to ensure its conservation’

Since the designation of the WHS in 1986criteria relating to authenticity have beendeveloped at the conference held at Nara, Japan,in 1994. The paper on ‘Authenticity in theIndustrial Heritage’ presented at the NaraConference argued that the essence of theindustrial landscape is the co-existence within itof heroic and mundane structures, which isprecisely what can be observed in theIronbridge Gorge. While there have beensubstantial changes in local governmentstructures relating to the Ironbridge Gorge since1986, and in the ownership of some of the key

sites, these have done nothing to reduce thelevels of legal protection detailed in the originaldesignation document, namely through thescheduling of certain sites as A n c i e n tMonuments, the listing of historic buildings andthe designation of the whole WHS as aConservation Area.

2.6.4 Historical values: The landscape ofthe Ironbridge Gorge remains rich in evidenceof the Industrial Revolution period. Evidence inthe landscape is supplemented by documentaryand oral sources, and by the extensivecollections of images and artefacts held by theIronbridge Gorge Museum. All the collectionshave been designated as nationally important.They bring together machines, tools, ironwork,china, tiles, clay pipes and other thingsmanufactured in the Gorge over the last threecenturies, with the memorabilia, possessionsand archives of the people who lived within orwere important to the area. Particularcollections are:

■ The Darby Collection including the homes,furniture, memorabilia, and archives ofsuccessive generations of the Darby family up to the present century, Included areQuaker costumes, products of the ironworkswith particular strength in decorative andutilitarian cast-iron, machines and theremains of furnaces and works.

■ The Elton Collection of prints, drawings,paintings, books and ephemera relating tothe Industrial and Transport Revolutions in this country and, to a limited extent, abroad.

■ The Telford Collection of manuscripts,books, prints, drawings and photographsrelating to the life and works of ThomasTelford.

■ The largest and most representativecollections of Caughley and Coalportporcelain comprising some 4,000 items withsupporting artwork and archives, and amajor collection of Salopian Art pottery.

■ Tiles, moulds and architectural ceramicscomprising some 40,000 items withdocuments on Maw & Company andCraven Dunnill Ltd; the George MawGeological and Mineral Collections.

■ The small workshops and houses of theBlists Hill Victorian Town based on anextensive collection of the social andindustrial objects of the region.

■ The Lewis Collection of plateway,waggonway and railway artefacts.

■ The National Collection of MetallurgicalSlag.

In addition to the above collections, the Recordsand Research Centre in Shrewsbury holds manyadditional records relating to life and work inthe Ironbridge Gorge, including the archives ofthe Darby Family.

Punch & Judy tile panel made by Maw & Co.in the 1920s

2.6.5 A rchitectural and To w n s c a p evalues: At the time when the building ofTelford New Town began in the 1960s, theSevern Gorge was ‘effectively frozen in its lateVictorian state’. Although there wassubsequently some new development and

alteration, over 1,000 buildings of pre-1914date survive and these are concentrated in themain settlements of Ironbridge, Madeley,Coalbrookdale, Jackfield and Coalport. T h ebuildings within each of these areas are stronglycharacterised by the area’s unique industrialhistory.

2.6.6 Ironbridge was described by 1837 asthe ‘mercantile part of the Town of Madeley’and it developed rapidly after the completion ofthe Iron Bridge in 1779. Evidence of its successas a thriving market town are the distinguished,arcaded market buildings, the Tontine Hotel andthe shop fronts along High Street. Warehousessurvive at the Severn Wharf building in theGothic style and along the Wharfage. Afashionable residential area developed behindthe Market Square and up the steep road to HillTop. Large houses of the professional andservant keeping classes were built in a variety ofstyles including fanciful Gothic villas andimitations of eighteenth-century town houses.The 1830s Church of St Luke has a simpleGothic brick exterior, but contained finegalleries supported by slender cast-ironcolumns made in Coalbrookdale (Muter 1979).

Ironbridge, the planned square

2.6.7 Much of the ancient Parish ofMadeley was rebuilt during the twentiethcentury leaving two historic enclaves; thataround the octagonal Thomas Telford Church of1797 retaining the core of the old medievalgreen and some fine seventeenth century barnsassociated with King Charles II; and the oldHigh Street which has a range of commercialbuildings including a cast-iron shop front and anumber of chapels and churches - Wesleyan,Primitive Methodist, Baptist, Congregationalistand Roman Catholic. Former shop, Jockey Bank, Ironbridge

2.6.8 Coalport was a deliberate piece ofurban planning, one of the few specially createdinland ports of the Industrial Revolution. Thebones of the settlements are the linearworkshops and factories of the China Worksand the rows of terraces set along the historicline of the canal, road and later railwayconnection. Building details includeCoalbrookdale cast-iron windows to providemaximum light for china painting at the factory;and the characteristic red-brown bricks of thevalley and clay tiles.

Coalport; John Rose and Co’s works in the latenineteenth century

2.6.9 By contrast, the Coalbrookdale valleywas never developed to a definite plan. By1810, industrial buildings down the valleybottom outnumbered domestic properties. Theremains of the dams and reservoirs of the waterpower system, the massive brick and tilebuilding of the Victorian ironworks with latermodern foundry buildings are still the dominant

structures of the valley. It was only after 1830that infilling with new residential buildingsgave parts of the Dale their present character ofa rural village. A large number of companybuildings survive ranging from rows of earlyworkers cottages (Engine Row, CarpentersRow, etc.) to its school, shop and Tudor GothicCoalbrookdale Scientific and Literary Instituteof 1859. The ironmasters’ houses at Rosehilland Dale House have been carefully restoredand contain some fine detail including cast-ironsills, lintels and railings. The working foundryis a powerful reminder of the industrialbackbone.

Coalbrookdale: Joseph Farrington’s view of1789

2.6.10 Jackfield is an ancient mining andriver trade settlement effectively sliced in halfby the Great Western Railway in the midnineteenth century. The early ironworks ofCalcutts were effectively obliterated in theprocess. The remaining industrial and publicbuildings relate to clay industries that flourishedfrom the eighteenth century – the brick and tilefactories of Broseley and Jackfield supplied thered brown and mottled brown bricks and theplain tiles that characterise much of the buildingin the Gorge. Some exuberant examples of theuse of brick and tile can be found in the Gorgeat the Valley Hotel, built in 1757 by GeorgeGoodwin, the leading coalmaster of the day, andsubsequently the home of George Maw of Maw& Company and on the Madeley Bank wherepolychrome roof tiling and exotic brick bandingsignal substantial managers’ villas. JackfieldChurch has fine examples of both exteriorpolychrome tiling and of the multi-colouredencaustic floors made across the railway line in

Madeley Church, replaced by the existingParish Church of 1797, designed by ThomasTelford

the Craven Dunnill tile factory. Both the latterand the Maws factory are striking examples ofpurpose-built Victorian works built on the lineof the new railway.

Jackfield Church

2.6.11 Landscape and ecological values: Inhis recent work for Severn Gorge CountrysideTrust, George Peterken has accuratelysummarised the development of the localwoodlands that form the landscape context forthe WHS: “ I ronbridge, Coalbrookdale andtheir immediate surroundings are very wellwooded. Indeed, they probably support morewoodland and trees than they have forcenturies. In common with several otherdistricts with early mining and industrialdevelopment, such as the Forest of Dean, LowerWye Valley and the Peak District, a variety ofrich habitats survived throughout the industrialzenith and a substantial measure ofe n v i ronmental re c o v e ry has been achievedfollowing industrial decline. In common withthese other districts, the present day woodscomprise a rich mosaic of ancient and recent /secondary woodlands with patches of herb-richgrassland and heath in a rugged landscape.”

To d a y ’s beautiful, complex and distinctivelandscape is characterised by this unusualcombination of remains of early industry andmining, the land-use patterns of agriculture andwoodland management and the survival ofmany historic industrial, commercial andresidential buildings. These are all set within adramatic and attractive ‘natural-looking’ valleylandscape, with steep, hanging woodlandsinterspersed with smaller areas of settlement,

grasslands and other open spaces, with theRiver Severn as a large, unifying landscapefeature. As industries declined, large areas ofpost-industrial landscapes greened themselves,largely due to re-colonisation from an ancientwoodland base. The process is scientificallysignificant and has resulted in a landscape thatis clearly unusual and particular to this area.Though often steep and challenging, much ofthe landscape is readily accessible to walkers,often via paths and tracks once used as workingor transport routes.

Peterken states, ‘The ancient woods are semi-natural in the sense that they embody bothnatural features inherited from the originalwoodland and features imposed by the distantand recent influences of people. The pockets oflime woodland re p resent remnants of theoriginal mixtures, whereas the beech andsycamore stands are products of the relativelyrecent human influences. However, even thebeech and sycamore stands are largely self-sown, so these, too, have a natural element.

This just reinforces the general perception thatthe woods and the whole Severn Gorg eenvironment, are the products of both natureand people. This is true of ancient woodlandseverywhere, but those in the Severn Gorge havebeen more profoundly altered than most.

Even without human influences the woods haddistinctive characteristics. They are spread overa range of geological formations, from theSilurian limestone (which generates alkalinesoils) to Silurian shales and Carboniferous coalm e a s u res (which generate acid soils).Topographically, they fall into two more-or-lessdistinct types:

(i) dingle woods, formed in deep, narro wravines with narrow wooded floodplains, and(ii) slope woods, on the main banks overlookingthe Severn and the wider tributary valleys.Geographically, the Severn Gorge is part of abroad borderland between the western uplandsand the English lowlands, and the woods reflectthis transitional character.

Superimposed on this natural variety is thediversity created by usage. Within the ancientwoods, this takes the form of boundary banks,sunkways, quarries, spoil heaps, roads andtracks and various industrial relicts. What was

sheer scale and interlinked form of the Gorg e ’snatural areas is significant – the value of thewhole, in terms of landscape and ecology, ismuch greater than the sum of its parts.

2.6.13 Community values: Whilst thehistoric remains and records within the area arefundamental to the importance of the WHS, theIronbridge Gorge is also a living and workingcommunity comprising a number ofsettlements, each with its own distinct sense ofplace and identity. The WHS provides a qualityof life which is appreciated and valued byresidents because of its aesthetic appeal, history,amenities and sense of community. T h e s efactors combine to foster a feeling of stabilitywithin the area, which is particularly significantwhen viewed alongside the rapidly changinglandscape and communities that make up muchof the rest of the new town of Telford.

Former Wesleyan Infants School, Madeley Hill

2.6.14 Economic values: Tourism activityassociated with the WHS is an importantgenerator of employment and income for thearea. In addition to the many jobs directlyrelated to tourism within the WHS, there aremany more in related sectors that derive indirectbenefit from tourism. The development of athriving tourism industry based around theWHS has been a major factor in theregeneration of the area. Without it, theIronbridge Gorge Museums would not havebeen able to develop into a world-class facility.Furthermore, local organisations and propertyowners would have been less inclined and able

once a fairly simple pattern of soil variationrelated to topography and underlying geology,has been hugely complicated bym i c rotopological features generated by pastand present use. Furthermore, the context of thewoods has changed: they are now surroundedby land which has been used variously forfarming, industry and housing, and whichlatterly has been partly restored to woodland byplanting or natural regeneration.

Under natural conditions, the woods of theSevern Gorge were more diverse than most inBritain. Today, however, the abrupt and rapidchanges of the last two hundred years or sohave generated woods that are more diverse ins t ru c t u re and stand composition, and morerapidly changing, than most other groups ofBritish woods.’

2.6.12 Many areas of woodland and openspace within the WHS have high ecologicalvalue. Ancient semi-natural woodlands andsecondary woodland on disturbed or industrialland are common throughout, with smaller butvaluable areas of grassland, meadows andheathland. The River Severn itself plays amajor role in the local environment – it remainsa relatively ‘natural’ river and is a CountyWildlife Site throughout its length. Tw osignificant areas of WHS countryside aredesignated as Sites of Special ScientificInterest (SSSI) because of their biological orgeological value – these are Tick Wood andBenthall Edge, and Lincoln Hill respectively.Some ten other individual woodlands aredesignated as Wildlife Sites. The countryside ofthe WHS features a significant number of keyhabitats and species included in the nationaland regional Biodiversity Action Plans. T h e

Public footpath within the Lincoln Hillwoodlands

to undertake the extensive programmes ofrestoration, renovation and enhancement thathave been achieved within the WHS.

Decorative plaster work explained at BlistsHill Victorian Town

2.6.15 Currently, there are between 250,000– 300,000 visitors to the Ironbridge Museumsper annum, and it is estimated that other visitorsto the WHS increase this to a total of about600,000. Using the ‘Cambridge Model’ f o restimating the economic benefits of tourism, thefollowing estimates have been derived from the1999 Telford & Wrekin Visitor Survey:

■ In 1998/99, approximately 2.6 millionvisitors came to Telford & Wrekin

■ In 1998/99, £76 million was spent bytourists in Telford & Wrekin

■ Within Telford & Wrekin, there areapproximately 1,930 direct tourism-relatedjobs, and an additional 620 non-tourismjobs dependent on the multiplier spend fromtourism

■ Tourism supports 350 jobs in theaccommodation sector, 640 in catering, 540in retailing, 330 in leisure/attractions and 80in transport services

■ Telford Town Centre acts is one of the‘ g a t e w a y s ’ to the WHS with motorwayaccess, hotels and opportunities forshopping and other leisure experiences tocomplement the range of facilities in theWHS

2.6.16 Whilst not all the above visitor spendand tourism-related jobs occur within the WHS,the Ironbridge Gorge is without doubt the mainvisitor attraction within Telford & Wrekin and,as such, is responsible for generating asignificant proportion of the area’s tourismincome and employment. Although the benefitsof tourism are significant, there are also veryreal concerns within the local community aboutthe potentially damaging aspects of tourism andthe importance of the careful management ofvisitors to the area.

Visitor car parking in Ironbridge

2.6.17 There are also within the W H Sbusinesses that do not rely heavily on tourism,but which nonetheless contribute to theeconomic life and vitality of the WHS. Theseinclude the Coalbrookdale Company, whichmanufactures Aga-Rayburn products, and thetoy manufacturer Merrythought Ltd, which hasoperated from its Ironbridge factory for over 70years. Both these companies have national andinternational reputations as producers of highquality products. The particular significance ofthe Coalbrookdale Company is that it continuesthe tradition of iron making in Coalbrookdale,uninterrupted since before the time of AbrahamDarby at the beginning of the eighteenthcentury.

2.6.18 The WHS also has a potentialeconomic benefit to a wider area. The fact thatthe Ironbridge Gorge is known internationally asthe ‘Birthplace of Industry’and also that the IronBridge itself is probably the most recognisablesymbol of the Industrial Revolution both presentsignificant marketing and promotional potentiallocally and regionally.

2.6.19 Research and educational values:The research value of the Ironbridge GorgeWHS is immense. The extensive above-groundand below-ground remains, the collections anddocumentation, and the oral history recordstogether help to inform our understanding of thebirth and development of industrial society andthe particular contribution of the IronbridgeGorge to that story.

2.6.20 The Ironbridge Gorge has becomeover the last twenty years an important NationalEducation Centre. Formal education is dealtwith by the extensive schools programmes ofthe Museum Trust (catering for approximately55,000 school children in organised parties in1999) and by the post-graduate training coursesin Industrial Archaeology and HeritageManagement at the Ironbridge Institute, part ofthe University of Birmingham. Lifelongeducation is strongly supported, fundamentallyby the rich resources of the Museum Library,Archive and Collections, but also by the manyother organisations that offer a range of hands-on courses including china and tile decoration,wood craft, glass blowing and boat building.

Schoolchildren studying the Iron Bridge

2.6.21 I n c r e a s i n g l y, these organisations are ableto reach out from the Gorge using the Internet. T h eM u s e u m ’s website ( w w w. i r o n b r i d g e . o rg.uk) is aportal site providing links to numerous otherrelated sites. The Museum is also a partner in theTelford Schools Intranet, steadily increasinghistorical resource material in support of thes c h o o l s ’ curriculum.

2.6.22 A major project underway in the oldengineering buildings of the CoalbrookdaleCompany will create by 2002 a hands-onInteractive Technology Centre in which historicand current machines are used to interest youngpeople in the principles of science andengineering. The landscape and ecology of theGorge has also long been used as a resource byteachers as well as amateurs interested in theregeneration of old industrialised landscapes.