Enginuity

Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, and takes its name from, The Iron Bridge, a 100-foot (30 m) cast iron bridge that was built in 1779.

The Iron Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. Its success inspired the widespread use of cast iron as a structural material, and today the bridge is celebrated as a symbol of the Industrial Revolution. The geography of the deep Ironbridge Gorge, formed by glacial action during the last ice age, meant that there are industrially useful deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and fire clay present near the surface where they are readily mined, but also that it was difficult to build a bridge across the river at this location. To cope with the instability of the banks and the need to maintain a navigable channel in the river, a single span iron bridge was proposed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard. After initial uncertainty about the use of iron, construction took place over 2 years, with Abraham Darby III responsible for the ironworks. The bridge crosses the Ironbridge Gorge with a main span of 100 ft 6 in (30.63 m), allowing sufficient clearance for boats to pass underneath. In 1934 it was designated a scheduled monument and closed to vehicular traffic. Tolls for pedestrians were collected until 1950, when the bridge was transferred into public ownership. After being in a poor state of repair for much of its life, extensive restoration works in the latter half of the 20th century have protected the bridge. The bridge, the adjacent settlement of Ironbridge and the Ironbridge Gorge form the UNESCO Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.

Ironbridge and Broseley railway station was a railway station with two through platforms on the Severn Valley Railway Line in Shropshire, England. The station was on a section of the Severn Valley Line north of Bridgnorth and was demolished in 1966 to provide car parking space within the Severn Gorge. Until its closure on 25 November 1956, the signal box controlled railway traffic around the station and the level crossing that lead to the Iron Bridge. Photographs of the station running-in board show the station name as "IRON-BRIDGE & BROSELEY" (with hyphen). The cast iron nameplate on the signal box read "IRON BRIDGE & BROSELEY SIGNAL BOX" (Iron and Bridge being separate words without hyphen). Although thought by some people to have been closed as part of the Beeching axe in 1963 its planned closure pre-dated his report. Prior to its closure rationalisation took place in the form of closure of the signal box, removal of the upper portion and relocation of the token instruments to the Station Master's office in the main station building. Virtually all traces of the station platforms, station building and goods shed have been swept away. A "pay and display" car park now occupies the site. There is also little or no trace of the signal box, there now being an electricity supply transformer at its former position.

The Museum of the Gorge, originally the Severn Warehouse, is one of the ten museums of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. It portrays the history of the Ironbridge Gorge and the surrounding area of Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England.

Coalbrookdale railway station is a disused station at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England. The station was situated on the now mothballed freight-only line between Buildwas Junction and Lightmoor Junction. The station buildings are now used by the Green Wood Centre. The Telford Steam Railway has aspirations to take possession of the up track passing through the station as part of its southern extension. The station building at Longville (another station on the Wenlock, Craven Arms and Lightmoor Extension railway) was a similar but reduced version of that at Coalbookdale. Coalbrookdale railway station is a waypoint on the South Telford Heritage Trail.

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.

Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England. It is part of the United Benefice of Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge and Little Wenlock, in the Diocese of Hereford. The building is Grade II* listed.

The Broseley Pipeworks is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The museum is based in the small town of Broseley in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England within a World Heritage Site, acclaimed as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Once the site of the most prolific clay tobacco pipe makers in Britain, exporting worldwide, the works were abandoned in the 1950s. The museum preserves the details of the industry of clay tobacco pipe making and has a display of clay tobacco pipes, including the Churchwarden and Dutch Long Straw pipes.The pipeworks are Grade II listed.

Coalbrookdale Institute is a former library and scientific institute in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England. Dating from the mid-19th century it is now used as a youth hostel. The building is a Grade II* listed building.

Birchmeadow Playing Field Site is a 5.3-hectare (13-acre) recreational area in Broseley, England, consisting of a mixture of woodland, play area, and a football pitch. It was also one of the first places where a wooden railway was built. The site is protected by Fields in Trust through a legal "Deed of Dedication" safeguarding the future of the space as public recreation land for future generations to enjoy.

Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge and the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides of the valley. As it contained far fewer impurities than normal coal, the iron it produced was of a superior quality. Along with many other industrial developments that were going on in other parts of the country, this discovery was a major factor in the growing industrialisation of Britain, which was to become known as the Industrial Revolution. Today, Coalbrookdale is home to the Ironbridge Institute, a partnership between the University of Birmingham and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust offering postgraduate and professional development courses in heritage.

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.