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The Iron Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge spanning the River Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, completed in 1779. It was designed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard and cast by Abraham Darby III, representing the first major use of cast iron in structural engineering and marking a significant milestone in the development of iron construction technology. The bridge consists of a single span of approximately 30 metres, with the arch and supporting members cast as iron rather than wrought, demonstrating innovative metallurgical and engineering practice for its period. Its construction at Coalbrookdale, a centre of iron production during the Industrial Revolution, made it both a practical and symbolic achievement, and it remains one of the most important monuments of early industrial Britain.
The Iron Bridge is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1015325. View the official record →
The Iron Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge spanning the River Severn at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, completed in 1779. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1015325.
The Iron Bridge is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1015325.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Bedlam Furnaces (0.6 km), Lilleshall Beam Blowing Engines (2.1 km), Blists Hill Iron Furnaces (2.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of The Iron Bridge's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
The Iron Bridge stands on Pennine Lower Coal Measures Formation And South Wales Lower Coal Measures Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Westphalian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone, sandstone, coal, ironstone and ferricrete.