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.
Abraham Darby's blast furnace, Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale in 1758
Coalbrookdale by Night, painted 1801 by Philip James de Loutherbourg, The Madeley wood furnaces, Madeley Wood Company
Coalbrookdale Company auction poster, issued in 1910
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge, containing the River Severn in Shropshire, England. It was first formed by a glacial overflow from the long drained away Lake Lapworth, at the end of the last ice age. The deep exposure of the rocks cut through by the gorge exposed commercial deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and fireclay, which enabled the rapid economic development of the area during the early Industrial Revolution.
The Iron Bridge spanning the gorge
The Ironbridge Gorge looking east towards the Iron Bridge
Downstream from the ironbridge
Redressing the bridge in 2007