Bill's Aviation Log

Unfortunately, this is what it now looks like. Renovation! Oh well.

Looking east down the Severn River which eventually turns south and runs all the way to the Bristol Channel and the Atlantic Ocean: a natural highway.

This scenic valley was probably not so scenic in the 18th century with forges, foundaries and smokestakes, mines and trees cleared, as the world's first industrial area. "The approach to Coalbrookdale appeared to be a veritable descent to theinfernal regions. A dense column of smoke rose fromthe earth; volumes of steam were ejected from fire engines; a blacker cloud issued from a tower in which was a forge; and smoke arose from a mountain of burning coals which burst out into turbid flames.' - a visiting Italian diplomat on a visit in 1787.

As recently as 30 years ago the Severn River Valley was an industrial wasteland. They did a nice job of cleaning it up.

Next was the Iron Museum. Before they could build the machines, they needed the material from which to make them. That material was iron. But to make iron, they needed fuel to create enough heat to smelt the iron ore. Charcoal, made from trees, worked. But England was already running out of trees by the early 18th century, so trees and charcoal weren't the answer. What about coal, which was plentiful? Unfortunately, iron smelted using coal was brittle because of the sulfur in coal. The answer was coke, which was produced by heating coal, in the same way charcoal was produced by heating wood. But they did not know how to smelt iron ore using coke.

Coke is a fuel with a high carbon content and few impurities, made by heating coal in the absence of air.

A replica of the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive, built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick, commissioned by the Coalbrookdale Company,

Under that roof is a steam engine driving a pump that sucks water out of a coal mine.

It is interesting how coal and the steam engine are interrelated. Coal mines tend to fill with water, and they needed a way to pump it out. To solve that problem, in 1712 or so, Thomas Newcomen invented a crude steam engine -- called the Newcomen Engine --to pump the water out of mines.

Checking out the steam engine. Of course, this is a more modern steam engine than the Newcomen.

The Newcomen Engine was very inefficient but it was all they had until 1769 when James Watt, asked to repair a Newcomen, redesigned it and produced a much better engine. From then on, the steam engine just got better and better and was used for a lot more than pumping water out of mines.

Riding a little train into a clay mine. Frankly, it was pretty lame. But worth two pounds I guess.

England - Sep18 - Ironbridge Gorge
For the past couple of years, I have been interested in the Industrial Revolution. Why? A couple of quotes: "The Miracle [Industrial Revolution] is about more than economics, but economics is the best way to tell the story of humanity's quantum leap out of its natural environment of poverty. Until the 1700s, humans everywhere lived on the equivalent of one to three dollars a day. Since then, human prosperity has been exploding across the world, starting in England. ... Over the long stretch of human history before 1800, the long-run rate of growth of per capita income was very close to zero. ... If the 200,000-year life span of Homo sapiens were a single year, the vast majority of human economic progress would have transpired in roughly the last fourteen hours. .. Virtually everyone throughout most of human history has lived in what we today have the luxury of calling poverty." Yet, despite being one of the most important events in human history, maybe even the decisive turning point, the Industrial Revolution gets little recognition and is little known. Perhaps that it because it spanned almost a century and was complex with many aspects, all interrelated. I could not find a decent single book on it, although I was able to piece it together from an assortment of books. The Industrial Revolution started in England and from there spread across the world. Roughly, it took place between 1730 and 1850. So I wanted to the place where it all started: England. We arrived in Severn River Valley -- Coalbrookdale -- also known as Ironbridge Gorge -- which is generally considered to be the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. I had allotted an entire day here but it wasn't enough to see everything. The Iron Bridge over the Severn River is the icon of the Industrial Revolutions. It was built by Abraham Darby III in 1779 and was the world's first iron bridge. This painting was made seven years after it was built.

Unfortunately, this is what it now looks like. Renovation! Oh well.

We could still walk across the bridge and peer through windows at the structure inside.

Looking east down the Severn River which eventually turns south and runs all the way to the Bristol Channel and the Atlantic Ocean: a natural highway. This scenic valley was probably not so scenic in the 18th century with forges, foundaries and smokestakes, mines and trees cleared, as the world's first industrial area. "The approach to Coalbrookdale appeared to be a veritable descent to theinfernal regions. A dense column of smoke rose fromthe earth; volumes of steam were ejected from fire engines; a blacker cloud issued from a tower in which was a forge; and smoke arose from a mountain of burning coals which burst out into turbid flames.' - a visiting Italian diplomat on a visit in 1787.

As recently as 30 years ago the Severn River Valley was an industrial wasteland. They did a nice job of cleaning it up.

Looking north. The River Severn was a highway. Cargo boats plied this river, carrying coal, pig iron, finished products and other materials to and from.

We started out at the Museum of Iron Bridge Gorge. It was a small museum with a short, but interesting, movie to get you started. It is one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. You can get an All-In-One Ticket for them. The museum had this fascinating 45-foot long model of the Severn River valley back in 1780. It was very well done, with labels describing what you were seeing and all the various activites: mines, furnaces, foundaries, factories, docks, etc.





Next was the Iron Museum. Before they could build the machines, they needed the material from which to make them. That material was iron. But to make iron, they needed fuel to create enough heat to smelt the iron ore. Charcoal, made from trees, worked. But England was already running out of trees by the early 18th century, so trees and charcoal weren't the answer. What about coal, which was plentiful? Unfortunately, iron smelted using coal was brittle because of the sulfur in coal. The answer was coke, which was produced by heating coal, in the same way charcoal was produced by heating wood. But they did not know how to smelt iron ore using coke. Coke is a fuel with a high carbon content and few impurities, made by heating coal in the absence of air.

In 1708, Abraham Darby moved to Coalbrookdale and acquired an old charcoal furnance which he upgraded. Top-grade coal, iron ore, clay and lime were readily available in the area. Plus the River Severn was ideal for transporation. After a year of experimentation, Darby succeeded in producing coke-smelted pig iron which was suitable for cast iron but not wrought iron. Before this time, iron-making used large quantities of charcoal, produced by burning wood. Darby's innovation was a major step forward in the production of iron as a raw material for the Industrial Revolution. Darby also pioneered casting iron cooking pots in sand molds. Cast-iron is very hard but cannot be bent without snapping and if hammered will break. Later, in 1750, Darby's son, Abraham Darby II figured out how to smelt pig iron with coke and produce wrought iron. Wrought iron could be bent without snapping and would not break if hammered. The ironmasters of Coalbrookdale became market leaders first with cooking utensils, then precision-made steam engine cylinders, and finally architectural components. Smelting iron with coke ultimately released the iron industry from the limitation imposed by the speed of growth of trees. Coke-smelted cast iron went into steam engines, bridges, and many of the inventions of the 19th century. Only with coke smelting could there be produced the great quantities of iron made to meet the requirements of the Industrial Revolution. Steel is iron to which a small amount of carbon is added. In 1856, Henry Bessemer figured out how to mass produce steel quickly. Along with the steam hammer, these two things took the Industrial Revolution to another level. Darby's original blast furnance is preserved under that glass pyramid.

In 1779, Darby's grandson Abraham Darby III built the world's first iron bridge, using cast iron produced in his Coalbrookdale blast furnace. As you may have realized, the Darby's were giants of the Industrial Revolution. Here is a model of the Iron Bridge -- with a Lynnette photo-bomb underneath -- inside the Iron Museum.

The iron bridge was built as if were made of wood. A short walk from the Iron Museum is the Darby House which helped our understanding of the man.

After the Iron Museum, we headed over to Blist Hill Victorian Town, which was rated highly by Rick Steves. It's an immersive open-air folk museum; a re-created community from the 1890s. Docents in period attire are in the different shops: bank post office, drug store and dentist, blacksmith, candle manufactory, bakery, decorative plasterer, an old cottage. Unfortunately, this is kind of the off-season, and a weekday, so not all the shops were manned, and it just didn't seem as good as advertised. But definately worth visiting. Probably a lot better on a sunny day with lots of people about.

Originally Blists Hill was an industrial region consisting of a brick and tile works, blast furnaces and coal, iron and fire clay mines. The museum was opened in 1973 and has been growing ever since. The museum's buildings fall into one of three categories, buildings that were already part of the industrial site, buildings that represent a generic type and original buildings that have been relocated to the museum. The museum has three districts, a town area with Victorian era shops such as a bank, bakery, bicycle shop and post office. An industrial district that provided various employment from a blast furnace and wrought iron works and a countryside district with buildings such as a squatters cottage and tin roof church. A short section of the Shropshire Canal which ran across the site to the Hay Inclined Plane, which transported boats up and down the 207 ft tall incline from Blists Hill to Coalport.

Like the sign says, the Brick and Tile works.

A replica of the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive, built in 1802 by Richard Trevithick, commissioned by the Coalbrookdale Company,

P15

Under that roof is a steam engine driving a pump that sucks water out of a coal mine. It is interesting how coal and the steam engine are interrelated. Coal mines tend to fill with water, and they needed a way to pump it out. To solve that problem, in 1712 or so, Thomas Newcomen invented a crude steam engine -- called the Newcomen Engine --to pump the water out of mines.

Checking out the steam engine. Of course, this is a more modern steam engine than the Newcomen. The Newcomen Engine was very inefficient but it was all they had until 1769 when James Watt, asked to repair a Newcomen, redesigned it and produced a much better engine. From then on, the steam engine just got better and better and was used for a lot more than pumping water out of mines.

Lynnette checking out the blast furnaces. The original Madeley Wood Company blast furnaces produced pig iron from 1832 to 1911. Their remains have been conserved and a blowing engine from the Lilleshall Company’s Priorslee Ironworks is installed in one of the houses. Nearby are displayed a pair of beam engines from the same location, alongside a wrought iron works.

Riding a little train into a clay mine. Frankly, it was pretty lame. But worth two pounds I guess.

Lynnette enjoying the clay mine train. We checked out a surviving Severn River cargo boat immaculately restored and displayed in its own building. We left Blists Hill Victorian Town and headed for the Coalport China Museum.

We had to rush through the Coalport China Museum before it closed. Which was a shame because it was very interesting. That cone shaped thing to the left of the canal is a big, walk-in kiln. Not seen were the Tile museum and the Tar tunnel. They have really done it right here, and I would recommend it to anyone who is curious about how the wonderful things we have came about.

An old blast furnace on the side of the road that ran along the river.

Our lodging for the night -- the Bird in Hand Inn -- just a mile down the road along the river. We stayed here after touring the Ironbridge Gorge area. We had a larger room with three beds and it was very nice, with a window overlooking the Severn River. The Inn is just outside the town area, and has its own, spacious parking area. There is a restaurant downstairs which we regrettably didn't try; it has a great reputation. The Inn is relatively inexpensive and a great value. Recommended.


	Previous	Home	Next

England - Sep18 - Ironbridge Gorge