Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

Categories: Beauty | Design and Architecture | Europe | Nature | Photo project | Society | Travel | World

The world's first cast-iron bridge still stands in Shropshire, England, across the River Severn. He is over two hundred years old.

Although cast iron has been used since ancient times for pots and pans, cannonballs, and decorative items such as window grills and chimneys, it was never used for structural purposes until the architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard proposed a cast-iron bridge to span the Severn Gorge in Shropshire. Severn Gorge, later renamed Ironbridge Gorge after the bridge, is rich in coal, iron ore, and limestone, and the area developed significant industry to exploit these resources in the second half of the 18th century.

6 PHOTOS

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

1. As the industry grew around the gorge, there was a need for a strong and reliable bridge to transport goods across the river. Because the gorge was deep and the banks unstable, the bridge had to be single-span and high enough to allow tall ships to pass, and the river was a key trade route. Cast iron was the only acceptable material, but no one had built a cast-iron bridge of this magnitude before. An iron bridge was begun at Lyon in 1755 but was abandoned due to cost, and a 22-meter span wrought iron footbridge has existed across an ornamental waterway at Kirklees, Yorkshire since 1769.

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

2. Intrepid architect Thomas Farnalls Pritchard proposed an iron bridge that would link Madeley and Benthall across one of the country's busiest rivers. Pritchard's designs were approved by an Act of Parliament and construction began in 1777.

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

3. Abraham Darby III, an ironworker at Coalbrookdale, was commissioned to cast and build a bridge. When Pritchard died just a month after work began, Darby was given responsibility for the project.

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

4. Darby cast all the parts needed for the bridge - over 1,700 individual components, the heaviest of which weighed 5 tons - in his own foundry, and each component was cast individually to fit each other.

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

5. When the bridge was completed in 1779, it measured 30 meters across and weighed just under 400 tons. Curiously, there are no reliable records and eyewitness accounts that accurately describe how Darby managed to lift a mountain of pig iron and hang it over the river.

Shropshire Cast Iron Bridge

6. The success of the cast-iron bridge inspired the widespread use of cast iron as a structural material in Europe and America, which was unsuccessful because cast iron is brittle and has low tensile strength. Throughout the 19th century, many cast-iron bridges collapsed. The most infamous was the Tay Bridge disaster in 1879 when 75 people died.

Keywords: Shropshire Cast | Iron bridge | Nature | Beauty | Design | Architecture | Historical buildings | Europe

Post News Article

Recent articles

Why do we say "Hello" when we answer the phone?
Why do we say "Hello" when we answer the phone?

When we pick up the phone, the first word we say is usually "Hello". It happens automatically, and we rarely think about ...

The death of the microbes: how often should you wash your hands and why
The death of the microbes: how often should you wash your ...

"Wash your hands before eating!" — a phrase familiar to us since childhood. The parents explained that with the help of this ...

Baby Mandy and her "father" - illustrator Dean Eagle
Baby Mandy and her "father" - illustrator Dean Eagle

Dean Yeagle is an American artist, illustrator, cartoonist and animator. During his life, this talent has created a huge number of ...

Related articles

The beauty of winter
The beauty of winter

Many do not like winter. Especially when the main holiday of the New year passed. However, it is undeniable that the winter is a ...

Found in the Jungle: The sad story of a Cambodian Mowgli woman
Found in the Jungle: The sad story of a Cambodian Mowgli woman

The world community was shocked when in 2007 a dirty naked woman was found in the Cambodian jungle, who did not speak, could not ...

"I've been chasing this leopard hour and a half": the history of the creation of the legendary the best shots of wildlife photographer David yarrow
"I've been chasing this leopard hour and a half": the history ...

Photographer David yarrow (David Yarrow) spent half his life chasing elephants on the dusty fields of Kenya and looking for a black ...