Back جسر أيرون Arabic الكوبرى الحديدى ARZ Айран-Брыдж Byelorussian দি আয়রন ব্রিজ Bengali/Bangla Iron Bridge Czech Iron Bridge Welsh The Iron Bridge German Iron Bridge Esperanto Iron Bridge Spanish The Iron Bridge Basque
The Iron Bridge | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The Iron Bridge (February 2019) | |
| Coordinates | 52°37′38″N 2°29′08″W / 52.62735°N 2.48550°W |
| Carries | Pedestrian traffic |
| Crosses | River Severn |
| Locale | Ironbridge Gorge near Coalbrookdale |
| Owner | Telford and Wrekin Council |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | cast-iron arch bridge |
| Longest span | 100 ft 6 in (30.63 m) |
| History | |
| Designer | Wilkinson |
| Constructed by | Abraham Darby III |
| Fabrication by | Abraham Darby III |
| Construction start | November 1777 |
| Construction end | July 1779 |
| Opened | 1 January 1781 |
| Statistics | |
| Toll | Free public access since 1950 |
| Official name | The Iron Bridge[1] |
| Designated | 18 January 1934[1] |
| Reference no. | 1015325[1] |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
| Official name | The Iron Bridge[2] |
| Designated | 8 April 1983[2] |
| Reference no. | 1038659[2] |
| Location | |
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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 ironwork. 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.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
hewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Historic England. "The Iron Bridge (1038659)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 April 2021.