The Ironmasters

Samuel Smiles stated that our engineers may be regarded in some measure as the makers of modern civilization. The remark could never have been perceived as an overstatement. What transpired within the parish of Madeley between the 17th and 19th centuries had consequences for much of the world.

The Pioneers

In 1615 Sir Basil Brooke of Madeley Court developed new methods for making steel. He built a cementation furnace, forges and watercourses on his Madeley estate. By 1622 he had a thriving iron and steel enterprise. The cementation furnace was the first of its kind in England.

In 1620, Dud Dudley smelted iron using coke for the first time to fuel the furnace. Brooke and Dudley can truly be regarded as the founding fathers of The Industrial Revolution.

World Firsts

It was within the parish of Madeley that the first Abraham Darby cast iron using a moulding box and fine sand. Abraham Darby 111 constructed the world's first iron bridge. Twenty miles of the world's first iron rails were laid, and Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive. It was also home to a pottery industry of world renown, and where the seeds of Methodism were sown.

The Industrial Revolution

England's economy was later transformed by the adoption of machines and factory methods that brought about radical changes. It was the Frenchman, Monsieur Blanqui, who referred to the events unfolding across the Channel as The Industrial Revolution.

The names of Brooke, Darby, Reynolds, Wilkinson, Trevithick, Telford, Jessop, Fletcher, Wesley and many others are now consigned to history. Their legacy lives on in what had been one of the most important parishes in Britain.