For a man with no immune system, I’m doing alright.
- Bucket list Ben
Iron Bridge twisting under landslides
Thursday 18th September 2008, 11:50AM BST.
An investigation is to be carried out on the iconic Iron Bridge, Shropshire’s symbol of the Industrial Revolution, because it is being bent out of shape by landslides.Engineers are to carry out a £100,000 project to examine exactly what is wrong and how the problem can be fixed.
They hope it will ensure Shropshire’s top tourist attraction can still be enjoyed by future generations of local people and tourists from all over the world.
The world’s first iron bridge, designed by Shrewsbury joiner turned architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, was built by Abraham Darby III and officially opened on New Year’s Day 1781.
But within a few years, cracks appeared in the ironwork due to ground movement in the notoriously unstable Ironbridge Gorge.
In 1802 the southern stonework was demolished and replaced by wooden arches, which were themselves replaced by iron arches.
Traffic continued to cross the bridge until 1934 when the road was closed to vehicles.
Major repairs took place to the bridge foundations between 1972 and 1974 when a reinforced concrete arch was inverted in the bedrock of the river to protect the bridge from geological pressure.
But the bridge – centrepiece of the World Heritage Site – is still coming under strain due to continuing landslides in the gorge.
Although there is no immediate risk of it falling down, Telford & Wrekin Council says the bridge is now showing “considerable evidence of distortion”.
The council has come up with a ground investigation scheme as part of a £4 million cash bonanza for the borough from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
This will involve excavations at each end of the bridge and installing sophisticated instruments to determine the nature, depth and speed of ground movement.
Councillor Steve Bentley, cabinet member for the environment, said: “The ERDF money will help provide important information when planning any works that may be required.
“Major works have been carried out in the past to help protect the bridge and we are committed to help to continue with any conservation measures that may be needed in the future.”
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It might be more cost-effective to demolish this bridge and build a more suitable and modern bridge similar to the Millenium Bridge across the Thames in London.
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I heard that ironically it Global Warming, due to industrial activity, expanding the metal.
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Peasbody you cannot wipe out a piece of history because you think it is cost effective. We all know how good the Millennium Bridge was when that opened, then shut again because it was unstable!
Perhaps all the hot air and drivel you put out on this website could be wiped out and save the county from the effects of global warming.
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Suzanne: the Iron Bridge should be wiped out. It is the focal point in the world for the creation of global warming! Iron Bridge is where it all started! We, as Shropshire folk, should be ashamed of the Iron Bridge and what its global impact has been over the last 229 years. Why don’t you get with the programme, Suzanne?
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Well said Suzanne!
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I dont need to get with any programme thanks very much. You need to appreciate history more, in fact you were probably there when they put the first girder in place!
Perhaps we could throw in other structure from the industrial ages like the Severn Bridge, Tamar, the Forth Bridge, Status of Liberty, Eiffel tower, shall I go on?
Global warming is a world wide effect not a local shropshire throw back since the 1700s.
Look to China or America for real contributions to the global disintigration.
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Lucy W, does that mean that all metal structures are expanding too? Will I be driving a stretch limo before long? I have my doubts about the science behind your claim, and as for H St.J P’s comment….methane produced by cows contributes massively to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, far more than C02 from industrial production. Should all rurual and farming areas feel equally as ashamed as we are supposed to of our industrial heritage? Having said that, we have a lot of farming in Shropshire too, so maybe we are to blame for the destruction of the entire world? Who’d have thought it? Perhaps only H St.J P himself…
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Well they would have us believe global warming is speeding up, at this rate the bridge will be a molten mass, the river severn will have evaporated and we will all be floating on clouds!
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Dick: I have my doubts about Global Warming too, its just that Huw Peach says its real, so it must be like (lol).
I think Shropshire should be proud to be acknowledged as the birth place of industry and the benefits it has brought to the world. But my caravan expands in the summer and the door jams, surley the Iron Bridge can cope with a kink or two?
I took a German visitor to the Iron Bridge and she wasnt very impressed saying that they had loads of bridges like that. But I explained that it was really old and she said that Germany had lots of old bridges but the Americans blew them all up! So perhaps we wouldn’t miss just one old bridge?
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Lucy W – I agree with you after all, all the experts on here believe in global warming so it must be scientific fact.
I’m fairly certain that all the global warming protesters have carried out significant experiments into global warming so we must all believe what they believe in.
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Blowing up bridges in the war was inevitable one think Lucy W. The only reason that these bridges exist is that people like Telford & Brunel had the understanding and know how to construct such a piece of engineering which has withstood hundreds of years and weather systems to boot.
As for expansion well my wooden doors at home do that in the summer months but I dont think it is going to cause a global melt down any day soon.
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Perhaps the Ironbridge should be carefully dismantled and rebuilt at Blists Hill? The iron bridge over the gorge could be replaced with a fibre glass replica.
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Whilst I’m sure Peasbody only makes his outrageous comments in an effort to seek attention to himself, in actual fact his initial comment sadly is often only too true – it usually is cheaper to demolish and replace structures.
This is due to the ridiculous costs levied by ‘Specialist’ companies for this kind of
work.
£100,000 just to check what is wrong and work out how it can be fixed?? Nice work if you can get it.
But this amount will be completely dwarved by the cost of them actually doing something to fix the problem. Just wait and see.
And then, of course, in 20 years time when the Council realises the ‘work’ has made absolutely no difference, they will commission another group of engineers to do it all over again.
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No one has yet mentioned that the earth is an ever changing planet, landslides, earthquakes etcetera are not influenced by us mere mortals.evolution doesn’t have a lot of consideration for a little bridge that is of no great significance. It is a wonder that it has lasted this long !
As to the Global warming causing the damage, do people really believe in this propaganda ?
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h peasebody is correct to infer that some elements of global warming started with the industrial revolution in and around coalbrookdale, but it is monstrous to say that the ironbridge should be taken down. it should be strengthened from either side and stand out as an example of shropshire ingenuity. i am quite getting used to peabody’s outbursts, behind them lies an element of truth sometimes wickedly hidden. long may your outpourings continue
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being new to this blogging game, please can someone tell me what lol means thanks
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Peasebody, like most people you’ve got it wrong!
The ONE and ONLY reason for ‘Global Warming’is PEOPLE. Return the World to the population it had when ‘The Bridge’ was built and keep it so.
With our present knowledge, whoever was left in the whole World could live in comfort!
Any ideas anyone??
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its about a bridge, not global warming
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Devon: lol is an acronym for “lots of love”.
ROFLMAO!
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lol is also laugh out load depending on the topic and subject matter.
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Pea: You are a little trouble maker aren’t you? lol means laughs out loud!
I am quite happy to do the maths if someone can tell me how wide the bridge is how much the world is “alleged” to have warmed up since it was erected.
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Suzanne what does “laugh out load” mean????
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Oh dear Suzanne, Y Mab is a stickler for detail!
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Y Mab Darogan
If you want to be pedantic, and the evidence suggests that you do, then Suzanne’s typographic error “laugh out load” is not dissimilar to your own incorrect use of “your” rather than you’re” in your comments re UFOs on another thread on this website.
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David said:
“£100,000 just to check what is wrong and work out how it can be fixed?? Nice work if you can get it.
But this amount will be completely dwarved by the cost of them actually doing something to fix the problem. Just wait and see.
And then, of course, in 20 years time when the Council realises the ‘work’ has made absolutely no difference, they will commission another group of engineers to do it all over again.”
There was a massive amount of work done in the 1970s that was supposed to solve the current problem. One side at a time half the riverbed beneath the bridge was drained by surrounding it with a coffer dam, and a huge inverted reinforced concrete arch was built to keep the banks from converging. Obviously it didn’t work.
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Y Mab Darogan
Laugh out load or loud as I should have put means that I unfortunately didnt swallow the proverbial dictionary!
Do you tell the reporters on the star about their typographical errors every night?
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laugh out loud many thanks, these columns have me in stitches, any way save the iron bridge please, lol
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You are a very weird lot.
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Suzanne: I thought Darby built the Iron Bridge, not Telford or Brunel.
Come to think of it, what did Telford do in “Telford” other than toutch up the Roman’s A5 a bit? Or should that be Apha V?
If fact, just why is an English conurbation named after a Scotsman?
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Kieth: Are you a scrap metal merchant looking to get your hands on the Iron Bridge? If so, well what a good eco-friendly idea to recycle old unwanted metal. Scrap-men are the Eco-Warriors of old yet if you put in a planning application for a scrap yard you will find all the Global Warming do-gooders will object!
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Abraham Darby III actually oversaw the construction of the bridge. I dont think he personally built any of it though.
Lucy W asks – what did Telford do in “Telford”
I think he built a church in Madeley. I’m sure he built a bridge at Buildwas. He was Shropshire county surveyor and built many bridges in the county.
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in 1973 thomas telford was shropshires leading strutral engineer, he designed and built churches in bridgenorth and madeley, it seems he was consulted on many of shropshires building projects in that period, althoush my husband agrees with peasbody on the indrustarl revolution being the cause of global warming, we still have to up keep the ironbridge as a reminder of what we have acheived in a realtivily short period of time.
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In my view Telford should never have been called Telford it was a example of bad thinking by 70′s council.
The correct name should have been either
Wrekin on Severn
or
Wrekin Forest
both names are nicer than telford and flow off the tongue easier
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I have a recurring dream that the Ironbridge catches fire and is destroyed. Telford city council then replaces it with a dam and several hundred houses on top. The resulting lake forms part of an aquadrome for the millionares living in the houses to land their flying boats on and the power station when it shuts down becomes an airport terminal.
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Flying High,
I too remember Telford building the Buildwas bridge back in 1973. I used to work alongside him at the Power station at the time and he built most of it during his lunch hour and tea breaks, despite the rest of us wanting him to play darts with us….he never was a very good darts player though!
A far better local engineer springs to mind who has done much more for this region and in my opinion Telford should be renamed Charles Town after him. He was John Charles who was responsible for the total revamping of the Eatern Primary to its present glory, The Ketley Brook Traffic Lights, Revamping Trench Lock Island, believed to have ok-ed the plastic barrier at old park and many, many more local achievements on the roads that we take for granted every day. I nominate him for being held High above Telford.
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flying high
I think if Thomas Telford was doing any structural engineering in 1973, it must only have been in the crypts of Westminster Abbey !
As for the causes of global warming, it is far more comfortable to believe it is within the powers of man to affect the outcome – to prevent future catastrophe to the planet. To accept that, as with everything else in nature, there is virtually nothing we can do about it is certainly a very frightening thought. Just because people do not wish to contemplate such an idea, however, does not make it any less possible.
We know not what the causes are, if truth be told. We speculate, and adjust our speculations to suit the outcomes. Ten years ago scientists were saying summers would get hotter and hotter (hence the term ‘global warming’). Now, after one of the worst summers for a long time, they are telling us that heavy rains and more extreme weather is the expected outcome. In five years time, if we have snow in August, they will be telling us thats the result of our destroying the ozone layer too.
One thing is for sure – if the destruction started in Telford’s era, its highly unlikely we’re going to be able to stop the end of the World now. If it takes 200 years to see the results, even if the World cuts its CO2 to below Industrial Revolution levels tomorrow, its common sense that it would take 200 years for any improvement to start taking place. No ‘global warming’ scientist in the World believes we have that much time.
Therefore I’m hoping its all down to nature. If it is, we may be doomed, but if it isnt, we’re doomed for sure !
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Y Mab
I agree that your names are much nicer than Telford. However I dont think a pretty name would change the reality of the place. In fact, people could even complain they are misleading. Today’s news in the Star would read:
“More than 15 yobs were involved in a brawl at a Wrekin on Severn pub which left four people injured.”
and
“A man has been arrested in connection with a sex attack on a woman in Wellington, police said today. Police arrested the man, in his 40s, in Wrekin Forest yesterday.”
Leave the pretty names to pretty places. Telford is Telford. The Council got it spot on.
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Accept David in terms of promotinh Ironbridge and Blists hill – the fact that Telford is used to promote them is not to the advantage of these tourist attractions.
If Telford was called Wrekin upon Severn it would flow much nicer of the tongue.
For Example Stratford upn Avon and the Cotswold have just as much crime as Telford BUT the fact they have nicer sounding names reduces the effect that local crime has on these area’s.
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They did want to call it Wrekin City but I don’t know where they got the city bit from. They said the initials were a bit off putting but I think it was a brilliant look into the future at the time because it’s certainly gone down the pan now!!
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Yes WC would be ideal Brian – very apt !
Y Mab I think you will find Ironbridge and Blists Hill market themselves very well by using their own names and refering very little to the name of Telford.
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