Preens Eddy

The Tar Tunnel is an abandoned tunnel located on the north bank of the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge at Coalport, England. It is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums attractions administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Miners struck a gushing spring of natural bitumen, a black treacle-like substance, when digging a canal tunnel for the Coalport Canal in 1787, or else digging a level in search of coal. The plan, proposed by William Reynolds, was to connect the canal alongside the River Severn to the lower galleries of the mines below the Blists Hill area. After digging around 3,000 feet (910 m) into the hill the canal project was abandoned in favour of bitumen extraction. The tunnel was a great curiosity in the eighteenth century and bitumen still oozes gently from the brick walls today. Bitumen's chief commercial use at the time was to treat and weatherproof ropes and caulk wooden ships, but small amounts were processed and bottled as 'Betton's British Oil', a panacea remedy for rheumatism and scurvy. After the canal project was abandoned the Hay Inclined Plane was built instead, its base being alongside the canal basin. In the past visitors were provided with hard hats and were able to enter the first 300 feet (91 m) of the brick-lined tunnel as far as an iron gate. Electric lighting is provided. Due to a build up of gas in the tunnel, it is unsafe to enter but visitors can still get a view along part of its length from the entrance.

The lost village of Werps was one of a group of small settlements which later became collectively known as Jackfield in the Broseley Parish in Shropshire. The Werps lay on the south side of the river Severn, opposite the Old Coalport China Works (now a youth hostel) and records indicate either three or four public houses, although it is unclear as to whether any of their names are renames of the same building or whether re-built on the same site.

The Coalport China Museum is one of the ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The museum is based in the village of Coalport within the Ironbridge Gorge on the northern bank of the River Severn in Shropshire, England. It is located in a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. The museum presents the history of Coalport China, a manufacturer of fine English chinaware which was based on the site between 1795 and 1926. As well as original examples of historic china, there are also demonstrations of traditional ceramic techniques and original industrial buildings including kilns to fire the pottery. The collections include the official National Collections of Caughley and Coalport china. There is a hands-on workshop area where painting activities are provided and ceramic activities in the school holidays. The 1985 Doctor Who serial The Mark of the Rani used the museum as a filming location.

The Hay Inclined Plane is a canal inclined plane in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, with a height of 207 feet (63 m). It was located at the end of the Shropshire Canal, part of a network of canals that linked the industrial region of east Shropshire with the River Severn. The inclined plane was in operation from 1793 to 1894. It can be visited as part of the Blists Hill Victorian Town and is also a waypoint on the South Telford Heritage Trail.

The Tuckies is a hamlet in the eastern part of Jackfield, lying on the south bank of the River Severn, in the Ironbridge Gorge, and opposite the village of Coalport. The purpose of this article is to capture its historical importance during the industrial revolution and provide links to the people and culture that once thrived here. The lower part of The Tuckies, in Ferry Road, is still badly affected by flooding and head-height water levels are clearly displayed in a doorway at The Boat Inn where the 1922 memorial footbridge crosses the River Severn to Coalport. The Severn Valley railway, operated by GWR, ran through The Tuckies and the original railway bridge, now forming part of the Severn Valley Way, still crosses the road there, at OS grid reference 693024. The boundaries to The Tuckies are not well defined and may be disputed owing to 16th and 17th Century references only pointing towards the Tuckies as being the manor house, which, for the purposes of limiting information in this Encyclopedia entry, will be considered as its southern boundary. However, other references below use "The Tuckies" and "Tuckiesfield" to describe locations extending to The Werps to the east, The River Severn to the north, and Ferry Road which leads to the main part of Jackfield village, to the west.

Coalport is a village in Shropshire, England. It is located on the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, a mile downstream of Ironbridge. It lies predominantly on the north bank of the river; on the other side is Jackfield. The settlement was planned as a canal–river interchange and a complete "new town" by ironmaster William Reynolds, who between 1788 and 1796 built warehouses, workshops, factories and workers' accommodation in Coalport. He also directed the construction of the Shropshire Canal, linking the East Shropshire Coalfield with the River Severn — the terminus being Coalport Wharf between the Brewery Inn and Coalport Bridge. Coalport at this time was much larger than it is today. It forms part of the civil parish of the Gorge and is the southeastern corner of the borough of Telford and Wrekin.

Jackfield Halt was an unstaffed request stop on the Severn Valley line in Shropshire, England. Originally opened at Jackfield, west of Maw and Company's private sidings in 1934, it comprised a simple wooden platform and shelter.In 1952 the area suffered a severe landslide, during which the line and halt moved around 25 feet towards the river. The halt was relocated by around ¼ mile to a new position east of these sidings, reopening on 1 March 1954.The planned closure of the northern end of the Severn Valley Line including Jackfield Halt pre-dated the Beeching report. The re-located halt was demolished shortly after closure and no remains are now visible. The trackbed in the area forms part of National Cycle Route 45, named the Mercian Way. In late 2013 Telford and Wrekin Council confirmed that government funding had been granted to carry out a land stabilisation scheme in the locality of the former halt. The main works for this were completed in October 2016.Jackfield Sidings were situated ½ mile closer to Ironbridge. A set of level crossing gates in the centre of these sidings is still in situ, together with three short lengths of track side by side just forward of the crossing gates. What appears to be a platform at that location formed part of these sidings but was not associated with either of the passenger halts.

Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open-air museum built on a former industrial complex located in the Madeley area of Telford, Shropshire, England. The museum attempts to recreate the sights, sounds and smells of a Victorian Shropshire town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Originally Blists Hill was an industrial region consisting of a brick and tile works, blast furnaces and coal, iron and fire clay mines. The museum was opened in 1973 and has been growing ever since. The museum's buildings fall into one of three categories, buildings that were already part of the industrial site, buildings that represent a generic type and original buildings that have been relocated to the museum. The museum has three districts, a town area with Victorian era shops such as a bank, bakery, bicycle shop and post office. An industrial district that provided various employment from a blast furnace and wrought iron works and a countryside district with buildings such as a squatter's cottage and tin roof church. The museum has been used as a venue for various television programmes and films, including Doctor Who and Blue Peter.

The GWR Coalport railway station, active 1862–1963, was originally built as a single through platform railway station on the Severn Valley Line serving the village of Coalport in Shropshire, England. By January 1896 an additional platform had been added, thus permitting up and down trains to pass along, with a third platform face behind the up platform to form an east-facing bay. By this time, the goods sidings to the east of the station had been expanded."The Directory of Railway Stations" refers to the GWR station being renamed "Coalport West" by British Railways. However use of the name "Coalport" continued in Engineer's Line References, BR Working Timetables, and on the platform running in boards. The 1963 BR notice of closure of the line also referred to the station only as Coalport.The station closed on 9 September 1963 as part of the planned closure of the northern end of the Severn Valley Line which pre-dated the Beeching report.

Coalport Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge between Coalport and Preens Eddy in Shropshire, England.

Coalport East was a London and North Western Railway station at Coalport, situated on the north bank of the River Severn. It formed the terminus of the Coalport Branch Line which ran from Hadley Junction near Oakengates on the LNWR Stafford to Shrewsbury Line.

Jackfield Tile Museum is a museum which presents the history of the British decorative tile industry between 1840 and 1960, the period in which this factory and that of Maw & Co nearby played an important part in this industry. The museum lies in the village of Jackfield, near Broseley, on the south bank of the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It is located within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It is one of the ten Ironbridge Gorge museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The museum is housed in a decorative tile factory building, the former works of Craven Dunnill and Company, that is still used to produce tiles, particularly encaustic tiles. Jackfield is one of the oldest known ceramic production centres in Shropshire, a tradition dating back to the 16th century. The Thursfield family settled in Jackfield during the early 18th century; Jackfield wares are attributed to the family. Craven Dunnill gave up its Jackfield works in the early 1950s, moving to Bridgnorth, and the buildings were used by a firm making iron and bronze castings. In 1983, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust purchased the works with the aid of an Architectural Heritage Fund grant. In 1989, tile manufacture restarted on the site and in 2001 Craven Dunnill took over this business again. The collections include William De Morgan and other historic tilers.