A tiny town deserving World Heritage status

Ironbridge is a small historic town located just north-west of Birmingham. It has a world's first - it's famous bridge made of cast iron, which opened in 1780.

In the late 1700’s, Coalbrookdale was a centre of iron production, after Abraham Darby developed a cheaper extraction method. The underlying geology of this area laid down the ideal conditions for the establishment of an industry waiting to happen. By fortuitous coincidence, this valley had significant mineable deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and clay.

The Blast Furnace, studied by most school Chemistry students, requires three essential minerals:
• the raw material Iron ore
• Coal (converted to coke) for the high temperatures needed to reduce the iron, and
• Limestone, which is used to convert the waste to a substance that can be separated from the molten iron.
And the valley of Coalbrookdale had all these materials available in abundance; each deposited millennia ago. The Severn River runs through this valley and cut a deep gorge that exposed the sediments to be available to miners working at the surface by cutting into the steep sides of the hills.

During its 1800’s production heyday, this area kick-started the Industrial Revolution that changed the course of history. Its iron foundries, pottery works, tanneries and soap factories scarred the landscape, muddied the river and fouled the air, making the heart of this valley a putrid mix of toxic pollutants. Inevitably, disease followed and, in one episode, water-borne cholera caused the deaths of many residents, usually the poor factory workers taking their drinking water from the nearby river.
These industries became unprofitable over century ago, and the industries closed. Today, the valley is now a UN declared World Heritage tourist site. It has noticeably prettied up very well and is now a quaint little valley village with its world first iron bridge at its epicentre. On the day we visited, there was a light dusting of snow to make this place picture perfect.

Coalbrookdale – small in stature, this influential place has punched way above its weight in its effect on our world.