We need your help to preserve the historic landscape of Coalbrookdale, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, so that the fascinating story of innovation and invention that took place in the Ironbridge Gorge, Shropshire, is preserved and protected forever to help inspire people of all ages and backgrounds.

Our Fund for the Future fundraising appeal will help us fund vital ongoing heritage conservation works of the historic landscape at Coalbrookdale. It was here that the Coalbrookdale Company is credited with developing iron working technologies that made the Industrial Revolution possible. At the Old Furnace in 1709, Abraham Darby successfully made cast iron using coke as the fuel instead of charcoal. The result was cheap iron, produced on a scale much larger than before. The company expanded rapidly and can put their name to several world firsts, starting in 1709 with cheap cast iron cooking pots, followed by cast iron steam engine cylinders, cast ironwheels, iron rails, cast iron bridge and the first steam railway locomotive. These innovations shaped the Industrial Revolution and the world in which we live in today.

The scheduled monuments and listed buildings within our care at Coalbrookdale that will benefit from Fund for the Future include Abraham Darby I's old blast furnace, the Darby Houses, Quaker burial ground, the Boy and Swan Fountain and buildings that were a part of the Coalbrookdale Company.

All funds raised through Fund for the Future will be match funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF). We have until the 31st March 2023 to raise up to £1million and we have already been most fortunate to have received support from a range of individuals, companies, grant-making Trusts and our Friends and Patrons.

Donate today and make a huge difference to the story of Ironbridge and helping us protect the historic landscape of Coalbookdale.