The Iron Bridge: Engineering as a Statement

In 1779 Abraham Darby III completed the world's first major bridge made of cast iron, spanning the River Severn near Coalbrookdale, and it opened to traffic in 1781. Designed by architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, it used about 378 tons of iron, and its parts were joined with techniques borrowed from carpentry, such as dovetails and mortise joints, because builders had little experience of iron structures.

The bridge was practical, linking communities across the gorge, but it was also an advertisement for what iron could do. Artists painted it, and tourists came to admire it. The surrounding area gave its name to the town of Ironbridge. The bridge marks a moment when a new material began to transform construction, leading to iron and later steel bridges, railway stations and buildings across the world.