Jackfield | |
---|---|
Jackfield Free Bridge, spanning the Severn, linking Jackfield with Ironbridge | |
Location within Shropshire | |
OS grid reference | SJ685029 |
Civil parish | |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | TELFORD |
Postcode district | TF8 |
Dialling code | 01952 |
Police | West Mercia |
Fire | Shropshire |
Ambulance | West Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Jackfield is a village in the Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England, lying on the south bank of River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, downstream from Ironbridge. Like many of the settlements in the area, it is notable for its place in the Industrial Revolution.
Jackfield grew as a river port for nearby Broseley and Benthall (which are situated high above the Severn) and is a notable part of the area's famous early industrial activity. The first railway in Shropshire and second in Great Britain was built here – by 1605, the lord of the manor of Broseley, James Clifford, had constructed a wooden railway (usually termed a wagonway) from his coal mines to the river at Jackfield. It has recently been suggested that this is older than the Wollaton Wagonway which is generally thought to be the earliest such wagonway. [1] [2] There was a pottery here from at least 1634 and corn mills existed along the stream that flowed into the river. The wooden railway also followed the route of this stream, which is the valley which Calcutts Road runs down.
The potteries flourished and became known for their drinking mugs produced, and the Thursfield family from Stoke-on-Trent ("the Potteries") arrived in 1713 to set up a pottery here. Their Jackfield Ware (a highly vitrified black earthenware decorated with gold flowers and figures) became famous around the mid-18th century. [3] Manufacture of pottery continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with specialism moving on to the production of tiles, including high quality encaustic tiles, and this manufacture continues today albeit on a small scale (in part to replace Jackfield-made tiles in conservation work, including on the London Underground and the Houses of Parliament). Jackfield Tile Museum is one of the ten museums of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
For about a hundred years, from 1862 to 1963, the Severn Valley railway line ran through the area, on its route between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. There were sidings to support the several tile works in the area, along with Jackfield Halt for passengers. Little remains of the railway except the unusually large level crossing gates, which spanned sidings as well as the main running line, now the largest surviving in the UK. Some lengths of the trackbed today serve as a vehicle-free route for pedestrians and cyclists.
A major landslip in 1952 devastated a large part of the centre of Jackfield and resulted in some parts of the village (such as between the Tile Museum and Salthouses) being abandoned. 27 cottages were lost in the 1952 landslide, in the Salthouses area, and the river was narrowed by about 15 yards. [4] Separately, the Werps was the most eastern part of Jackfield but had been abandoned by the end of the 1950s.
In late 2013 Telford and Wrekin Council confirmed that government funding had been granted to carry out a stabilisation scheme in the area. The main works for this were completed in October 2016. [5] During these works in 2014 the remains of several houses that were buried in 1952 were uncovered. [4] [6]
The market town of Broseley is just to the southwest of Jackfield (the town centre being only 1 mile (1.6 km) distant) and on the opposite bank of the Severn is the village of Coalport. Jackfield is in both the Telford and Wrekin Council area and the Shropshire Council area of Shropshire – the border runs through the settlement. The part within Telford and Wrekin forms part of The Gorge civil parish, whilst the remainder is part of Broseley's civil parish. The Gorge Parish Council has its offices and holds its meetings at the Maws Craft Centre in Jackfield. [7]
Jackfield encompasses the largely-linear settlement spread along the steep southern bank of the Severn for approximately 1 mile (1.6 km), from just before the Free Bridge to just after the Memorial Bridge. The village also reaches up the hill, towards Broseley, along Calcutts Road.
The central portion of the village was constructed on a particularly unstable part of the Ironbridge Gorge, where several landslips have been recorded, most famously the landslip of 1952. The hillside is made more unstable by abandoned, flooded mineshafts and tunnels. A major stabilisation project, which included the rebuilding of Salthouse Road on a new alignment, began in 2014 [6] [8] and was completed in October 2016. [9] Flooding also badly affects the lower parts of Jackfield from time-to-time, including the Boat House pub which has floods recorded on its front door (the highest recorded at the pub being on 1 November 2000).
The eastern part of the settlement consists of the Tuckies and Salthouses. The westernmost part, in the vicinity of Jackfield Free Bridge, is known as Coalford.
Less than a mile upstream is the world-famous Iron Bridge. In Jackfield itself, there is the Jackfield Tile Museum, housed within the former Craven Dunnill factory. Tile manufacturing still takes place there today, by the same company albeit on a smaller scale. Today, Craven Dunnill Jackfield manufacture hand made wall and floor tiles in true Victorian fashion. [11] A number of historical sites in Jackfield comprise waypoints on the South Telford Heritage Trail.
The Maws Craft Centre, formerly a part of the area's tile works, is located on Salthouse Road between the Tile Museum and the Memorial Bridge, and houses a large number of small businesses as well as the offices for The Gorge parish council. [12]
There is a village hall for Jackfield, located by the river near the Tile Museum.
Half a mile downstream from the Iron Bridge is Jackfield Free Bridge, carrying the B4373 road. The old Jackfield Free Bridge was built in 1909 by local subscription to avoid tolls on the Iron Bridge and Coalport Bridge further downstream. It gave trouble in the 1930s and required repeated repairs until in 1993, beyond repair, it was demolished and replaced with the present bridge, built by Alfred McAlpine. [13] The new Jackfield Free Bridge is a striking structure.
The Memorial Bridge is a footbridge spanning the River Severn, linking the Tuckies part of Jackfield with Coalport. It was built with funds raised by public subscription in 1922, and is in memorial to the men of Jackfield and Coalport who were killed in the First World War, later dedicated to those of both World Wars. The original structure was declared unsafe in 1997 but was refurbished and reopened in 2000. [14]
Jackfield is on National Cycle Route 45, named the Mercian Way; it uses the trackbed of the former Severn Valley railway line, which is also popular with walkers, as it is a flat, relatively straight and vehicle-free route through the southern side of the Ironbridge Gorge.
There are three public houses open in Jackfield – the Half Moon (at Salthouses), the Black Swan and the Boat Inn (at the Tuckies). [15]
The Jackfield rapids is a short section of the Severn, as it passes the Black Swan pub at Jackfield, where the river narrows and flows noticeably downhill (the river otherwise flows largely gently through the Ironbridge Gorge). These are popular with kayakers who grade rapids according to how difficult they are to navigate. Those here used to be grade 2, but following bank stabilisation work on the south bank in 2001 has become more difficult and are now grade 3 or 4 in some levels. Further stabilisation work has occurred since on the north bank too, resulting in both banks here being shored by large rocks. There is now a stopper and a difficult wave train for the less experienced. [16]
Ironbridge is a riverside 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.
Telford is a town in Shropshire, England. It is the administrative centre of Telford and Wrekin borough, a unitary authority which covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding settlements. The town is close to the county's eastern boundary, and near the River Severn.
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge, containing the River Severn in Shropshire, England. It was first formed by a glacial overflow from the long drained away Lake Lapworth, at the end of the last ice age. The deep exposure of the rocks cut through by the gorge exposed commercial deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and fireclay, which enabled the rapid economic development of the area during the early Industrial Revolution.
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.
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.
Buildwas is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England, on the north bank of the River Severn at grid reference SJ641045. It lies on the B4380 road between Atcham and Ironbridge. The Royal Mail postcodes begin TF6 and TF8.
Coalport is a village in Shropshire, England. It is located on the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, a mile downstream of Ironbridge. It lies predominantly on the north bank of the river; on the other side is Jackfield. It forms part of the civil parish of the Gorge and is the south-eastern corner of the borough of Telford and Wrekin.
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.
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.
Jackfield Halt was an unstaffed request stop on the Severn Valley line in Shropshire, England. Originally opened at Jackfield, west of Maw and Company's private sidings in 1934, it comprised a simple wooden platform and shelter.
Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. was formed on 9 February 1872, by Yorkshire businessman Henry Powell Dunnill (1821–95), at Jackfield, Shropshire, England. The firm was to become one of Britain's leading producers of ceramic tiles.
Jackfield Tile Museum is a museum which presents the history of the British decorative tile industry between 1840 and 1960, the period in which this factory and that of Maw & Co nearby played an important part in this industry. The museum lies in the village of Jackfield, near Broseley, on the south bank of the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It is located within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It is one of the ten Ironbridge Gorge museums administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
The Tuckies is a hamlet in the eastern part of Jackfield, lying on the south bank of the River Severn, in the Ironbridge Gorge, and opposite the village of Coalport. The purpose of this article is to capture its historical importance during the industrial revolution and provide links to the people and culture that once thrived here. The lower part of The Tuckies, in Ferry Road, is still badly affected by flooding and head-height water levels are clearly displayed in a doorway at The Boat Inn where the 1922 memorial footbridge crosses the River Severn to Coalport. The Severn Valley railway, operated by GWR, ran through The Tuckies and the original railway bridge, now forming part of the Severn Valley Way, still crosses the road there, at OS grid reference 693024.
The lost village of Werps was one of a group of small settlements which later became collectively known as Jackfield in the Broseley Parish in Shropshire. The Werps lay on the south side of the river Severn, opposite the Old Coalport China Works and records indicate either three or four public houses, although it is unclear as to whether any of their names are renames of the same building or whether re-built on the same site.
Preens Eddy is a settlement on the south bank of the River Severn, opposite Coalport. Its history lies at the heart of the industrial revolution.
The Coalport branch line was a standard gauge London and North Western Railway branch line in Shropshire, England, which ran between Hadley Junction near Oakengates on the Stafford to Shrewsbury line and a terminus at Coalport East railway station on the north bank of the River Severn at Coalport.
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.
Maw & Co have made earthenware encaustic tiles for walls and floors since 1850, when the English company was established by George Maw and his brother Arthur. Their first factory was in Worcester and in 1862 the company moved to Broseley, Shropshire in the Ironbridge Gorge. In 1883 they moved to the Benthall Works in Jackfield, Shropshire. The new, purpose-built factory was the largest tile works in the world and the company was the world's largest producer of ceramic tiles, making more than 20 million pieces a year.
The Silkin Way is a 14 mile walking and cycling route through Telford starting in Bratton and finishing in Coalport. In places the path follows the former Great Western Railway and the dry canal beds of the old Shropshire Canal and goes via Telford Town Centre and the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. Along the route the Silkin Way runs close to the many natural and historical features within Telford and shows great contrasts between futuristic architecture, woodlands, and mature parkland.