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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Ironbridge
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The world's first cast-iron bridge. It was constructed over the river Severn in 1777–9, a short distance downstream from *Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, by the Darby family of ironmasters. They had already established a leading position in the industry when Abraham *Darby (1677–1717) pioneered in 1709 the technique of smelting iron ore with coke. It was his grandson, also Abraham *Darby (1750–91), who put up the iron bridge. It gave its name to the village which grew up round the toll house, a name now internationally known through the Ironbridge Gorge Museum.
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Founded in 1967, this is Britain's leading museum of industrial archaeology, preserving many separate features in this cradle area of the *Industrial Revolution. Apart from the bridge itself, the sites include the original coke-smelting furnace at Coalbrookdale, the slightly later Bedlam Furnaces which appear in action in De Loutherbourg's Coalbrookdale by Night, and several locations connected with mining, tile-making and ceramics.
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