The Darby Houses museum is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. It is based in the village of Coalbrookdale in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
The Darby Houses comprise the adjacent properties of Dale House and Rosehill, both of which were built for members of the Darby family in Darby Road, Coalbrookdale.
Dale House was originally built in 1717 for Abraham Darby I and looks out over the Upper Furnace Pool whose outflow powered the blast furnace. His son Abraham Darby II married Abiah Darby and they had several children. [1] Abraham and Abiah moved to their new house, Sunniside, in 1750. [2] Dale House was enlarged by subsequent generations: in 1776 Abraham Darby III converted the attic into a third floor. During the 20th century it was converted into flats, which undermined the true character of the house, but has since been restored as much as possible to its 18th-century appearance. [3] It is a Grade II listed building. [4]
Rosehill was built in about 1738 for Richard Ford, who married Abraham Darby I's eldest daughter, Mary. Richard was Clerk to the Coalbrookdale Company under Abraham I and later Manager of the Coalbrookdale Ironworks. In the mid 19th century the house was occupied by Abraham Darby III's youngest son Richard and his wife Maria and after his death by his daughter Rebecca until 1908. The house has been restored from an uninhabitable condition by architect Graham Winteringham and refurnished to recreate its 1850 appearance. [3] Rosehill is also a Grade II listed building. [5]
Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, and takes its name from, The Iron Bridge, a 100-foot (30 m) cast iron bridge that was built in 1779.
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge.
Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open-air museum built on a former industrial complex located in the Madeley area of Telford, Shropshire, England. The museum attempts to recreate the sights, sounds and smells of a Victorian Shropshire town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first iron bridge in the world was built in 1779 across the Severn, linking Broseley with Coalbrookdale and Madeley. This contributed to the early industrial development in the Ironbridge Gorge, which is now part of a World Heritage Site.
The Madeley Wood Company was formed in 1756 when the Madeley Wood Furnaces, also called Bedlam Furnaces, were built beside the River Severn, one mile west of Blists Hill.
Madeley is a constituent town of Telford and a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. The parish had a population of 17,935 at the 2001 census.
Abraham Darby III was an English ironmaster and Quaker. He was the third man of that name in several generations of an English Quaker family that played a pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution.
Abraham Darby, in his later life called Abraham Darby the Elder, now sometimes known for convenience as Abraham Darby I, was an English ironmaster and foundryman. Born into an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution, Darby developed a method of producing pig iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal. This was a major step forward in the production of iron as a raw material for the Industrial Revolution.
Abraham Darby, in his lifetime called Abraham Darby the Younger, referred to for convenience as Abraham Darby II was the second man of that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the early years of the Industrial Revolution.
The Iron Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge that crosses the River Severn in Shropshire, England. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. Its success inspired the widespread use of cast iron as a structural material, and today the bridge is celebrated as a symbol of the Industrial Revolution.
Horsehay is a suburban village on the western outskirts of Dawley, which, along with several other towns and villages, now forms part of the new town of Telford in Shropshire, England. Horsehay lies in the Dawley Hamlets parish, and on the northern edge of the Ironbridge Gorge area.
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an industrial heritage organisation which runs ten museums and manages multiple historic sites within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire, England, widely considered as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
Abraham Darby IV was an English ironmaster.
The Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The museum is based in the village of Coalbrookdale in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
Resolution was an early beam engine, installed between 1781–1782 at Coalbrookdale as a water-returning engine to power the blast furnaces and ironworks there. It was one of the last water-returning engines to be constructed, before the rotative beam engine made this type of engine obsolete.
The Museum of the Gorge, originally the Severn Warehouse, is one of the ten museums of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. It portrays the history of the Ironbridge Gorge and the surrounding area of Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England.
Richard Reynolds was an ironmaster, a partner in the ironworks in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, at a significant time in the history of iron production. He was a Quaker and philanthropist.
William Reynolds was an ironmaster and a partner in the ironworks in Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, England. He was interested in advances in science and industry, and invented the inclined plane for canals.
Abiah Darby was an English minister in the Quaker church based in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire. She was also the wife of the iron industrialist Abraham Darby. Abiah kept a journal and she sent letters which recorded the Darby family's achievements. One of her letters has been used to identify the start of the Industrial Revolution.
The Gorge is a civil parish in the district of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It contains 215 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, two are listed at Grade I, the highest of the three grades, 13 are at Grade II*, the middle grade, and the others are at Grade II, the lowest grade. The River Severn runs through the parish and, together with a tributary running from the north, form Ironbridge Gorge, which contains the town of Ironbridge, and the villages of Coalbrookdale, Coalport and part of Jackfield.
Coordinates: 52°38′29″N2°29′39″W / 52.64139°N 2.49410°W
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