Editing Ironbridge (section)

==History==
The area around Ironbridge is described by those promoting it as a tourist destination as the "birthplace of the [[Industrial Revolution]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our-story/the-iron-bridge/|title = The Iron Bridge}}</ref> This description is based on the idea that [[Abraham Darby I|Abraham Darby]] perfected the technique of [[smelting]] iron with [[Coke (fuel)|coke]], in [[Coalbrookdale]], allowing much cheaper [[Iron making|production of iron]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} However, the industrial revolution did not begin in any one place. Darby's iron smelting was but one small part of this generalised revolution and was soon superseded by the great iron-smelting areas.  However, the bridge&nbsp;– being the first of its kind fabricated from cast iron, and one of the few which have survived to the present day&nbsp;– remains an important symbol representative of the dawn of the industrial age.{{citation needed|date=August 2011}}

The grandson of the first Abraham Darby, [[Abraham Darby III]], built the bridge&nbsp;– originally designed by [[Thomas Farnolls Pritchard]]&nbsp;– to link the two areas. Construction began in 1779, and the bridge opened on New Year's Day 1781.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/iron_bridge_01.shtml |title=The Iron Bridge – How was it Built? |publisher=BBC |access-date=14 April 2014 |last=de Haan |first=David |date=17 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/iron-bridge/ |title=The Iron Bridge |publisher=English Heritage |access-date=4 April 2014}}</ref> Soon afterwards the ancient [[Madeley, Shropshire|Madeley]] market was relocated to the new purpose-built square and [[Georgian era|Georgian]] Butter Cross. The former dispersed settlement of Madeley Wood gained a planned urban focus as Ironbridge, the commercial and administrative centre of the [[Coalbrookdale]] coalfield.

The Iron Bridge proprietors also built the [[Tontine]] Hotel to accommodate visitors to the new bridge and the industrial sites of the [[Severn Gorge]]. Across a square facing the hotel, stands Ironbridge's war memorial, which was erected in 1924. It is a bronze statue of a [[First World War]] soldier in marching order, sculpted by [[Arthur George Walker]], whose signature appears as does that of A.B. Burton, the foundry worker who erected it.<ref name=book>{{cite book|author=Peter Francis|title=Shropshire War Memorials, Sites of Remembrance|year=2013|publisher=YouCaxton Publications|pages=135–136|isbn=978-1-909644-11-3}}</ref>
On the hillside above the river are situated the stone-built 16th-century hunting lodge at Lincoln Hill, many 17th- and 18th-century workers' cottages, some imposing Georgian houses built by [[ironmaster]]s and mine and river barge owners, and many early [[Victorian era|Victorian]] villas built from the various coloured bricks and tiles of the locality.
[[File:View of Ironbridge.jpg|thumb|A view of the Iron Bridge in 2015 with its previous grey colour]]
St Luke's Church (1837) in simple [[Waterloo church|Commissioners' Gothic]] by Samuel Smith of [[Madeley, Shropshire|Madeley]], has [[stained glass]] by David Evans of [[Shrewsbury]]. Its design is unusual in that the sanctuary is at the west-end and the tower at the east, in reverse to the majority of churches. This is because the land at the west-end was unstable and unable to take the weight of a tower. The bells in the church tower were installed in 1920 as a memorial to parishioners who died in the First World War, and the external church clock was illuminated in memory of those who died in [[World War II|the Second]].<ref name=book/> The living was endowed as a rectory when the parish was created from Madeley in 1847, and is now a united benefice with Coalbrookdale and [[Little Wenlock]], in the [[Diocese of Hereford]].

The former [[Ironbridge and Broseley railway station]], on the Severn Valley line ([[Great Western Railway|GWR]]) from [[Hartlebury]] to Shrewsbury, was situated on the south side of the Iron Bridge until 1966. Ironbridge was the birthplace of [[England National Football Team]] captain [[Billy Wright (footballer born 1924)|Billy Wright]].