11 Facts About Coalbrookdale

Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting.

Today, Coalbrookdale is home to the Ironbridge Institute, a partnership between the University of Birmingham and the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust offering postgraduate and professional development courses in heritage.

Coalbrookdale's son Sir Basil Brooke was a significant industrialist, and invested in ironworks elsewhere.

Coalbrookdale acquired an interest in the patent for the cementation process of making steel in about 1615.

Coalbrookdale renewed the lease in 1696, letting the Great Forge and Plate Forge to Wellington.

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Coalbrookdale's business was that of an ironfounder, making cast-iron pots and other goods, an activity in which he was particularly successful because of his patented foundry method, which enabled him to produce cheaper pots than his rivals.

Coalbrookdale has been claimed as the home of the world's first coke-fired blast furnace; this is not strictly correct, but it was the first in Europe to operate successfully for more than a few years.

In 1795, the first porcelain factory near Coalbrookdale was founded at Coalport, east of the Iron Bridge, by William Reynolds and John Rose, producing Coalport porcelain.

In 1802, the Coalbrookdale Company built a rail locomotive for Richard Trevethick, but little is known about it, including whether or not it actually ran.

The Coalbrookdale Company became part of an alliance of ironfounding companies called Light Castings Limited.

The Museum's archaeology unit continues to investigate the earlier history of Coalbrookdale, and has recently excavated the remains of the 17th century cementation furnaces, near the site of the Upper Forge.