ABSTRACT
A visitor to Ironbridge Gorge in the English West Midlands chancing upon its mature broadleaved woodlands and meandering river can be forgiven for mistaking this as an ancient landscape befitting the Ironbridge World Heritage Site. Two centuries ago this area was the crucible for the industrial era and the landscape was far from pristine as shown in Philip James de Loutherbourg’s 1801 painting Coalbrookdale by Night. 1 This firey scene, reminiscent of Dante’s Inferno, depicts the Madeley Wood Furnaces which were used in the manufacture of the components of the famous Iron Bridge. Opened in 1781, this was the first bridge of its kind in the world. The iron manufacturing furnaces located around the Ironbridge Gorge and a scattering of other sites in England can claim to be close to the ‘big bang’ of the Industrial Revolution. The bridge is now seen as a symbol of the revolution and the area regarded as the birthplace of industry. 2
