Bridges can be found in many works of art such as Canalletto’s wonderful study of Old Walton Bridge in the Dulwich Picture Gallery or Turner’s Maidenhead Bridge which I wrote about here in 2019. But they can also be works of art in their own right. Some of the most beautiful examples of architecture in the world can be seen spanning rivers and gorges. Some even mark great moments in history.

Ironbridge in Shropshire is surely one of those great historic edifices. We recently visited the bridge and the gorge through which the River Severn cuts. The rocks exposed contained commercial deposits of coal, limestone, ironstone and fireclays. Although the forging of iron was not a new invention having these riches all in abundance in one place, and with the ingenuity of Abraham Darby, was important. It was Darby who pioneered the use of coke which produced a pure form of iron in vast quantities. The River Severn’s final contribution was to be able to take the goods cheaply to the ports of Gloucester and Bristol.

The Iron Bridge was the brainchild of Thomas Farnells Pritchard and constructed by Abraham Darby III in 1781. It was the first bridge in the world constructed using cast iron and spanned the gorge with a single arch, thereby maintaining enough height for ships to pass. It could be rightly described of a symbol of the early Industrial Revolution and the forerunner of many great cast iron bridges.

The bridge was subject of a major restoration project in the last few years carrying out structural repairs and repainting in its original red brown colour. The bridge and the area around Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.