I know this site has been very well documented over the years, but I figured it would be a good first report for myself.
This may even be the final report of the site, as it's been almost entirely cleared out by now and demolition has already started on the southern part of the site.
The History
The history of this place dates back all the way to the 16th century when a blast furnace was first built on the site, though it blew up in 1703 and the site remained unused until Abraham Darby I acquired the site in 1708 and set about rebuilding the furnace, using coke as fuel instead of charcoal.
Some of the most noteworthy events over the next 100 years:
1709 - Darby established the Coalbrookdale Company
1714 - Darby forms a new partnership with John Chamberlain and Thomas Baylies
1715 - Second furnace built
1717 - Darby dies, Abraham Darby the Younger brought into the business not much later, when he was old enough
1767 - The company began producing the first cast iron rails. They would lay 813 tonnes of rails between Ketley, Horsehay and Coalbrookdale by 1771.
1754 - After the business was no longer profitable, experiments took place to produce bar iron from the pig iron in charcoal finery forges. This proved quite successful, and led to the partners building new furnaces at Horsehay and Ketley.
1778 - Abraham Darby III started working on producing the first cast iron bridge
1781 - The Iron Bridge was finally opened
The blast furnaces were closed down sometime around 1820, but the forges remained in use.
The Coalbrookdale Company later became part of an alliance of ironfounding companies called Light Castings Limited. This was absorbed by Allied Ironfounders Ltd in 1929, before in turn being absorbed by Glynwed - now AGA Foodservice. The site was used to produce AGA's cast iron cookers, until 2017 when the company decided the foundry was no longer needed, and moved most of its production to Ketley.
For more history, there is plenty more to be found online, including some of the previous reports:
en.wikipedia.org
www.28dayslater.co.uk
www.28dayslater.co.uk
The Explore
The rules state not to discuss how to access sites, so I won't. However I will say that the main entrance is a no-go. While the previous Armadillos have disappeared, they've instead been replaced by an even more prominent set of cameras in the centre of the main courtyard area.
Also, I apologise for the image quality - partly down to the smartphone being used to take the pictures and partly just my inability to take decent photos.
As you can see, much of the southern part has been demolished so we didn't bother checking it out and instead focused on the northern part
A small courtyard towards the east of the site
I didn't dare climb on any of these buildings
Some industrial thing inside that same building
A rather empty interior
More emptiness, and some graffiti
Presumably a small office of some kind at the end of one of the buildings
Signs from AGA
Not sure if someone ran into this with a forklift or something
Some old fuse boxes
../403
This may even be the final report of the site, as it's been almost entirely cleared out by now and demolition has already started on the southern part of the site.
The History
The history of this place dates back all the way to the 16th century when a blast furnace was first built on the site, though it blew up in 1703 and the site remained unused until Abraham Darby I acquired the site in 1708 and set about rebuilding the furnace, using coke as fuel instead of charcoal.
Some of the most noteworthy events over the next 100 years:
1709 - Darby established the Coalbrookdale Company
1714 - Darby forms a new partnership with John Chamberlain and Thomas Baylies
1715 - Second furnace built
1717 - Darby dies, Abraham Darby the Younger brought into the business not much later, when he was old enough
1767 - The company began producing the first cast iron rails. They would lay 813 tonnes of rails between Ketley, Horsehay and Coalbrookdale by 1771.
1754 - After the business was no longer profitable, experiments took place to produce bar iron from the pig iron in charcoal finery forges. This proved quite successful, and led to the partners building new furnaces at Horsehay and Ketley.
1778 - Abraham Darby III started working on producing the first cast iron bridge
1781 - The Iron Bridge was finally opened
The blast furnaces were closed down sometime around 1820, but the forges remained in use.
The Coalbrookdale Company later became part of an alliance of ironfounding companies called Light Castings Limited. This was absorbed by Allied Ironfounders Ltd in 1929, before in turn being absorbed by Glynwed - now AGA Foodservice. The site was used to produce AGA's cast iron cookers, until 2017 when the company decided the foundry was no longer needed, and moved most of its production to Ketley.
For more history, there is plenty more to be found online, including some of the previous reports:
Coalbrookdale - Wikipedia
Report - - Coalbrookdale, Shropshire (August 2020) | Industrial Sites
Introduction; Yes I’m a bit late to the party, again. Story of my life, eh. But we were in the area anyway and I couldn’t just drive past those famous gates without popping my head in and having a look, could I!? Even today, this place is quite majestic. It certainly made the hairs on the...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
Report - - Coalbrookdale Foundry , Shropshire, Dec 17 | Industrial Sites
Coalbrookdale Foundry, Shropshire, December 2017 Introduction: I saw this place was due to close in the news in November, and so it went on my radar as a potential Christmas Leave explore... A quick recce in November whilst passing through the Ironbridge Gorge confirmed that the foundry would...
www.28dayslater.co.uk
The Explore
The rules state not to discuss how to access sites, so I won't. However I will say that the main entrance is a no-go. While the previous Armadillos have disappeared, they've instead been replaced by an even more prominent set of cameras in the centre of the main courtyard area.
Also, I apologise for the image quality - partly down to the smartphone being used to take the pictures and partly just my inability to take decent photos.
As you can see, much of the southern part has been demolished so we didn't bother checking it out and instead focused on the northern part
A small courtyard towards the east of the site
I didn't dare climb on any of these buildings
Some industrial thing inside that same building
A rather empty interior
More emptiness, and some graffiti
Presumably a small office of some kind at the end of one of the buildings
Signs from AGA
Not sure if someone ran into this with a forklift or something
Some old fuse boxes
../403
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