Coalport Bridge
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Visit websiteCoalport was planned as a canal / river interchange and a complete 'new town' by ironmaster William Reynolds, who between 1788 and 1796 built warehouses, workshops, factories and workers accommodation in Coalport. He also directed the construction of the Shropshire Canal, linking the East Shropshire coalfield with the River Severn - the terminus being Coalport Wharf between the Brewery Inn and Coalport Bridge. Coalport later became best known as the location of John Rose's porcelain factory built in 1795.
The bridge was first constructed from timber, with stone abutments in 1780 and was then called the Preens Eddy Bridge though during a flood in 1795, the middle pier of the bridge was severely damaged and the design and construction was reconsidered altogether.
A second bridge was constructed c.1800-1818, being made of cast iron and timber and involved the redesign of the bridge to become just one arched span, (the original bridge having had two spans). Finally, in 1818, the bridge was completely replaced with cast iron and this design can still be seen today with addition of minor alterations and repairs.
The nearby Woodbridge Inn records the first name of the bridge which is still sometimes used today.
By road: On B4373 in Coalport
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Cossons, Neil & Trinder, Barrie, The Iron Bridge: Symbol of the Industrial Revolution, Phillimore & Co Ltd, ISBN-10: 1860772307 (2002)
Cragg, Roger (Editor) Civil Engineering Heritage: Wales and West England, Thomas Telford Ltd (1997)
Labouchere, Rachel, Abiah Darby of Coalbrookdale, 1716-1793: Wife of Abraham Darby II, William Sessions, ISBN-10: 1850720177 (1988)
Muter, W. Grant, The Buildings of an Industrial Community: Coalbrookdale and Ironbridge, Phillimore & Co Ltd, ISBN-10: 0850333423 (1979)
Raistrick, Arthur, Dynasty of Ironfounders: Darbys and Coalbrookdale, David & Charles, ISBN-10: 0715358367 (1973)
Read, Brian, Men of Iron - A Tale of Coalbrookdale and the making in Shropshire of the first Iron Bridge in 1779, Littlehampton Books, ISBN-10: 0437701123 (1974)
Trinder, Barrie, The Industrial Revolution in Shropshire, Phillimore & Co Ltd, ISBN-10: 1860771335 (2000)
Trinder, Barrie, The Most Extraordinary District in the World: Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale, Phillimore & Co Ltd, ISBN-10: 1860773753 (2005)
Weightman, Gavin, The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Creation of the Modern World 1776-1914, Atlantic Books, ISBN-10: 1843545853 (2008)
Forgotten Relics - Listed Bridges and Viaducts