Iron Bridge

Ironbridge on the River Severn is touted as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. This may be an overstatement, but certainly it played a part, with Abraham Darby perfecting iron smelting at Coalbrookdale leading to the much cheaper production of iron. The area derives its name from the bridge made from locally produced cast iron, the first of its kind and one of the few that remains.

There are about 10 museums in the area and we thought we’d

Candle shop

visit several so bought a year pass to the lot. In the end we spend all day at the Blists Hill Victorian Town, an open-air recreation of a Victorian town on the site of an industrial area that had brick and tile manufacture, blast furnaces, coal mines, clay mines etc. We’ll just have to go back within the next

Foundry workers pouring metal into sand moulds

12 months to explore some of the other museums there. On most Wednesdays they run the foundry so we got chance to see them operating the blast furnace and pouring metal into molds. One can buy the cast iron objects the pour, but I decided they would not fit into my baggage weight allowance.

Victorian Pharmacy

One of the pleasing things is that the staff, all done up in period costume weren’t just there to look pretty. They really played the part and displayed considerable knowledge of the practicalities of the period.

Lots more photos online at https://goo.gl/photos/VzGXhWAZs5kEZToS9