Buildwas

Buildwas Abbey was a Cistercian (originally Savigniac) monastery located on the banks of the River Severn, at Buildwas in Shropshire, England - today about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Ironbridge. Founded by the local bishop in 1135, it was sparsely endowed at the outset but enjoyed several periods of growth and increasing wealth: notably under Abbot Ranulf in the second half of the 12th century and again from the mid-13th century, when large numbers of acquisitions were made from the local landed gentry. Abbots were regularly used as agents by Plantagenet in their attempts to subdue Ireland and Wales and the abbey acquired a daughter house in each country. It was a centre of learning, with a substantial library, and was noted for its discipline until the economic and demographic crises of the 14th century brought about decline and difficulties, exacerbated by conflict and political instability in the Welsh Marches. The abbey was suppressed in 1536 as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Substantial remains of the abbey church and monks' quarters remain and are in the care of English Heritage.

Buildwas railway station was an isolated junction railway station on the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway and Severn Valley Railway. Opened on 1 February 1862. Although the station served both the Severn Valley Railway and Wellington to Craven Arms Railway, it was an interchange station in open countryside with no passenger access except by rail.The station had three platforms, with two platforms at a lower level serving the Severn Valley Railway and one at a higher level serving the Wellington to Craven Arms Railway. At its peak, the station had a total of eleven staff, including the station master. Up to 1923 the area was controlled by two signal boxes, the Station signal box controlling the station area and the Junction signal box controlling the junction between the Severn Valley line and the double track line across the Albert Edward Bridge towards Lightmoor Junction. These were replaced with a single signal box approximately midway between its predecessors in 1923. This box was subsequently enlarged to accommodate a frame containing 113 levers on 9 December 1931. The track layout was altered several times during its existence including the additional CEGB sidings opened in 1932.The planned closure of the northern end of the Severn Valley Line including Buildwas station pre-dated the Beeching report. Following closure, the station was demolished to make way for Ironbridge B Power Station. Coal for the power station was offloaded close to the site of the original station until the power station stopped generating electricity in November 2015.The Telford Steam Railway has aspirations to operate to this site, running over the Albert Edward Bridge to a new terminus on or close to the site of Buildwas station.

The Ironbridge power stations (also known as the Buildwas power stations) refers to a series of two power stations that occupied a site on the banks of the River Severn at Buildwas in Shropshire, England. The Ironbridge B Power Station was operated by E.ON UK but the site is now owned by Haworth Group. The station stands near the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. Originally powered by coal, they were converted to use 100% biomass fuel. Ironbridge B Power Station stopped generating electricity on 20 November 2015, with the decommissioning process continuing into 2017. The main phase of the 27-month demolition process began at 11:00 GMT on 6 December 2019, commencing with the four cooling towers.

Little Wenlock is a village and civil parish in the Telford and Wrekin borough in Shropshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 605. It was mentioned in the Domesday Book, when it belonged to Wenlock Priory. Ancient habitation is attested by the discovery of two caches of Bronze Age weapons. The village is situated two miles west of Dawley. Nearby is the 1335-foot-high Wrekin, one of Shropshire's famous hills with an ancient hill fort. Part of it falls within Little Wenlock parish, while the adjoining parts fall into other parishes. The name "Wenlock" as found in Much Wenlock and Little Wenlock (and also Great Wenlock, a now obsolete name, but found in some historic sources) is probably derived from the Old English *Wenan loca meaning "Wena's Stronghold" (wéna being feminine and meaning "hope") The town was recorded in the Domesday Book as Wenloch. The "Little" of the name distinguishes it from the larger settlement and market town of Much Wenlock, which is situated several miles to the south, on the other side of the River Severn. 11-year-old Alice Glaston from Little Wenlock was hanged together with two men in Much Wenlock on 13 April 1546, for an unknown crime. She is the youngest known girl legally executed in Great Britain. The village features a public house (the "Huntsman Inn"), village hall, playing field and the Church of England parish church of St Lawrence. David Cranage, later Dean of Norwich, was curate at the church in 1897-98.For many years there was small scale mining in the parish, for coal, limestone and fire clay.

Farley Halt railway station was a station in Farley to the north of Much Wenlock, Shropshire, England. The station was opened in 1934 and closed in 1962. It had a short timber edged platform with a wooden shelter on the west side of the line behind the former Rock House Inn. The halt could be accessed by steps down from a road over bridge to the south. On the other side of the over bridge was an access siding to Bradley Rock Quarry. The halt has been demolished, but its nameboard can be found displayed 400 metres to the north of the site on a stone barn adjacent to the A4169 Much Wenlock Road.

The Albert Edward Bridge is a railway bridge spanning the River Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England.

Benthall Hall is a 16th-century English country house in Benthall in the town of Broseley, Shropshire, England, and a few miles from the historic Ironbridge Gorge. It retains much of its fine oak interior, and an elaborate 17th-century staircase. It is still occupied by the Benthall family, but has been owned by the National Trust since 1958, and is open to the public every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday (February – October). The Hall was built around 1580, probably on the site of an earlier 12th-century medieval manor and manor house. During the Civil War it was garrisoned, and was a site of several skirmishes. The garden is largely the product of two tenants. George Maw (1832–1912), local pottery manufacturer and crocus enthusiast developed the garden from around 1865 onwards. Subsequently, the Victorian era Romantic painter and sculptor Robert Bateman (1842–1922), who was the son of a famous horticulturalist, added the rockeries and terraces of the current garden. The Restoration era church of St. Bartholomew, built 1667–68, stands close by the Hall. The Shropshire Way, a waymarked long-distance footpath, passes through the extensive woodland that lies to the north, between the estate and the River Severn. In the film Enola Holmes, Benthall Hall was used for the exterior shots of the Holmes' family estate.

The Darby Houses museum is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. It is based in the village of Coalbrookdale in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The Darby Houses comprise the adjacent properties of Dale House and Rosehill, both of which were built for members of the Darby family in Darby Road, Coalbrookdale.

The Wrekin ( REE-kin) is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 407 metres (1,335 feet) above sea level, it is a prominent and well-known landmark, signalling the entrance to Shropshire for travellers westbound on the M54 motorway. The Wrekin is contained within the northern salient of the Shropshire Hills AONB. The hill is popular with walkers and tourists and offers good views of Shropshire. It can be seen well into Staffordshire and the Black Country, and even as far as the Beetham Tower in Manchester, Winter Hill in Lancashire and Cleeve Hill in Gloucestershire.

Merrythought is a toy manufacturing company established in 1930 in the United Kingdom. The company specialises in soft toys, especially teddy bears. Merrythought has handmade traditional teddy bears in the World Heritage Site of Ironbridge, Shropshire, UK since 1930. The company's site in Ironbridge has a small museum and shop open to the public, and is where the toys are made. The site is a former iron foundry building on the banks of the River Severn, less than half a mile (0.7 km) upstream from the world-famous Iron Bridge itself. The vicinity is known as Dale End, lying at the bottom of the Coalbrookdale valley, and falls within the wider Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. The origin of the firm's name is uncertain but possibly derives from an archaic word for "wishbone" – the company has used a wishbone as an emblem from 1930.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an industrial heritage organisation which runs ten museums and manages multiple historic sites within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire, England, widely considered as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The Gorge includes a number of settlements important to industrial history and with heritage assets, including Ironbridge, Coalport and Jackfield along the River Severn, and also Coalbrookdale and Broseley. The area was among the first sites in the United Kingdom to be declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. In 1977, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum was awarded National Heritage Museum of the Year.

The Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The museum is based in the village of Coalbrookdale in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England, within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.