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The Aga factory in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire. The village was a foundation site of the Industrial Revolution, as this is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby I using locally mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides of the valley. As it contained far fewer impurities than the coal hitherto familiar, the iron it produced was of a superior quality. Darby's work here was a major advance which allowed many of the developments of the Industrial Revolution. The village is strung along a stream, Coalbrook, down to its meeting with the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge. (Read more)