Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron
Coalbrookdale
Telford
Shropshire
TF8 7DQ
England
Website
www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/coalbrookdale_museum_of_iron/
Visitor Information Centre
Telephone
Visitor Information Centre
01952 433 424
The mighty Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron celebrates the importance of the early iron industry and also houses a collection of fine art castings, including benches, tables, plaques, fire surrounds and other works of art.
Nearby is Abraham Darby's original Old Furnace, the heart of the Gorge, and the place where it all began. The original furnace in Coalbrookdale, where metal for the Iron Bridge was smelted, was opened to the public in 1959. It was the first time that a structure built for a specific industrial process had been preserved in situ as an Ancient Monument anywhere in the world. The structure forms part of the original furnace where Abraham Darby I first successfully smelted iron using coke instead of charcoal – a technical breakthrough of global importance. The international importance of the furnace is recognised by its Grade I Listed status.
The entire collection of this museum is a Designated Collection of national importance.
Venue Type:
Museum, Archaeological site, Industrial heritage site
Coalbrookdale
Telford
Shropshire
TF8 7DQ
England
Website
www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/coalbrookdale_museum_of_iron/
Visitor Information Centre
Telephone
Visitor Information Centre
01952 433 424
This museum has a Designated Collection of national importance.
The Museum believes that it has the most comprehensive range of the Coalbrookdale Company’s best designs and most accomplished castings. Between the 1840s and the First World War, the quality of Coalbrookdale castings was second to none. Castings range from decorative fire grates, through furniture, household ornaments, to both civic and domestic architectural features and statuary.
The Museum has collected examples of some of the best animal sculptures of noted French artists Mene and Fratin. Other small ornaments include desk sets, candlesticks, hearth furniture, filigree fruit plates, plaques (the most famous being The Last Supper, based on the painting by Leonardo da Vinci), wall cabinets, jardinières, urns, and small statuary.
There is a collection of over 100 fireplaces and approaching 100 items of furniture, including coat, umbrella and hat stands, benches and chairs. Most were designed by locally trained artists, but others in the collection were made to the designs of Christopher Dresser.
Figurative work is represented by the designs of John Bell. His most famous pieces were made for the Great Exhibition of 1851, a decorative fountain incorporating a life-size boy and swan and a statue of Andromeda. He then went on to design a cast iron table supported by 4 life-size and life-like deerhound dogs, which was exhibited at the 1855 International Exhibition, Paris. The collection is supported by a full range of lavishly illustrated company catalogues and archive.
Collection details
Social History, Science and Technology, Personalities, Land Transport, Decorative and Applied Art, Costume and Textiles, Coins and Medals, Archives, Archaeology
Key artists and exhibits
- Decorative metalwork
- Designated Collection
Collections services
- General guide to collections available
- Object identification and/or written enquiry service
- Public access available to collections information
- Object study facilities available (enquire in advance)
Coalbrookdale
Telford
Shropshire
TF8 7DQ
England
Website
www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/coalbrookdale_museum_of_iron/
Visitor Information Centre
Telephone
Visitor Information Centre
01952 433 424
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