Since Abraham Darby was already involved in the Iron Industry it was an obvious thing for him to build the bridge out of metal, saving time and money.
The bridge was built at the narrowest point of the river also saving time and money and as there was no technology for a suspension bridge it was an arch bridge.
Iron was a lot harder wearing than timber would be and this proved a strong quality when withstanding the terrific currents.
Question 1b)
Assess its Impact on the Surrounding Area
Once the Iron Bridge had been completed in 1781 many tourists flocked to see this magnificent sight. The impact on Industry seemed to boom as did tourism and traffic.
Pretty soon a hotel had to be built. The Tontine Hotel was built for
tourists wanting to visit the Iron Bridge and stay in the Ironbridge area.
The hotel later had to be expanded as the numbers of tourists rose.
Goods could now be transported safely all year round making profits and industry increase. The bad conditions crossing the river had made many workers reluctant to cross as it was a risk to them and the goods they were crossing with.
There was an increase in traffic on the roads as more tourists were coming.
Now with the bridge in place goods could be shipped all the time.
There were far more job opportunities as industries such as China, brickworks, lead smeltering and became greater. The Coalport china factory was at one point the largest in the world.
Darby also built a church which he funded and religious people liked this.
Tourism was helped by it greatly and a market was set up as well.
It wasn’t just the town of Ironbridge which was affected; it affected many worldwide industries.
Question 2: Explain how the Darby family ran their business and behaved as employers in the 18th and 19th centuries. How far would you agree that they used methods which were usual at the time?
The Darby Family were Quakers, a strict religious group with ideas based on peace, love and equality. This had a dramatic effect on how they treated their workers.
During this period of time there were no laws to protect workers so most employers during this time exploited and treated their workers badly and could get away with it.
The Darby family provided their workers with housing, schools, shops and pubs. They believed that children should have the right to education and would not let them work in the business until they had been educated. Unusually for the time they believed in education for girls, something which hadn’t quite caught on.
They treated their servants well referring to them not as slaves or servants but as helpers. They were allowed to sit with the Darby family at meal times. At Rosehill house there is even a portrait of a female servant in one of the hallways.
There were long terraces of houses built for the workers and there were even places for the Wives and children of men who had died either of natural causes or working for the Darby family.
Men who were ill were paid sick-pay – this was something not expected during the time.
There were burial grounds and everyone’s was the same, a simple gravestone with an inscription on it, no crucifixes as this was seen as being too fancy for the Quakers.
However, the workers were paid in tokens to be spent in Darby owned shops, pubs and for the rent. This meant that all the money was going back to the Darby family. This was good for the Darbys but bad for the workers as they had not a lot really to strive for as they weren’t getting money just tokens. All the same in comparison to other employers of the time the Darbys were very generous and the workers treated exceedingly well.
Question 3: Why Did This Area of Shropshire Decline in Importance in the 19th and 20th Centuries?
In the 18th and most of 19th century Shropshire was a thriving Industrial area.
There was little competition from else where.
As Quakers the Darby family didn’t believe in war so when the Napoleonic war broke out they refused to make cannons and ammunition which meant they were losing a lot of money.
The Ironworks were very open as it attracted tourism but this meant that competitors could easily pick up trade secrets and as the technology in Coalbrookdale was not up to date with the time the competitors found that they had the upper hand.
The Railway didn’t even reach Coalbrookdale until 1862 whilst other areas had making it much more difficult for transportation.
Also the cost of Iron fell meaning that they weren’t gaining as much profit.
As the Iron industry had been around much longer than its competitors the raw materials began to run low and they were having to dig deeper mines and go out further.
As this was a family business the management changed but the selection didn’t always reflect on the skills and vocation of the manager. As in the case of Francis Darby in 1818 he was much more artistic and running a business didn’t interest him.
However, there was a period of improvement as Darby IV changed the market so it was more artistic rather than industrial.
Yet once the fashions changed again there was a steep decline.
Darby IV converted to be an Anglican so without the morals of a Quaker, life became a lot harder for the workers and many redundancies were made causing a lot of unemployment.
Industry really began to stoop low when after Blists Hill furnaces shut down, Coalport china closed and finally in 1925 the Darbys sold the Iron works in 1925.
