Ironbridge: Buildwas Abbey and Benthall Hall

This is a lovely walk through the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Ironbridge Gorge. We leave Ironbridge from the Dale End car park at the western edge of Ironbridge and follow the River Severn along the bottom of the gorge to a 12th century abbey at Buildwas. There is then a fairly easy climb up the southern side of the gorge to reach the beautifully restored gardens of the 16th century Benthall Hall. Here there are excellent views of the Shropshire Hills. We then walk through lovely woodland in Benthall Edge Wood which is the home to Britain’s smallest deer, the muntjac. After joining the Shropshire Way we walk down an impressive set of wooden steps to get to the valley bottom, where we cross the world famous Iron Bridge itself.

Why the Iron Bridge is special
It was opened on New Year’s Day in 1781 and the Iron Bridge was the first arch bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. Architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard commissioned Abraham Darby III, an ironmaster working at Coalbrookdale in the gorge, to cast and build the bridge over the River Severn, which had until then had been crossed by ferry. The construction had no precedent, so Pritchard, whose background was in joinery, based the design on carpenery, with joints including mortise and tenon, and blind dovetail. Shares were issued to raise the £3,200 required for the project, but the total cost ended up being almost twice that. Darby, who had agreed to fund any overspend, was in debt for the rest of his life.

This is a 6.2 mile walk and will take about 3.5 hours, including a lunch break so we should be back in Ironbridge for about 2.00 pm. This will give walkers the rest of the afternoon to browse around Ironbridge, to sample the local beer in the various pubs or visit any of the various museums in the vicinity. There are also good cafes, including Truffles Café on The Wharfage which has excellent Belgian chocolates and apparently there are also excellent pork pies and pasties available at Eley’s.