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Coordinates: 52°36'37?N 2°28'40?W? / ?52.6104, -2.4778
Broseley is a small town in Shropshire, England with a population of 4,912 (2001 census). The River Severn flows to the north and east of the town. The area lies within the Bridgnorth district. The first iron bridge in the world was built in 1779 to link Broseley with Coalbrookdale and Madeley, and led to the development of Ironbridge, which is now part of a World Heritage Site.
[edit] History
The All Saints Church, Broseley
The settlement of Broseley appeared as far back as the Domesday Book.
The town is located above the Ironbridge Gorge area and so shares much of the history of its better known neighbour, Ironbridge. Ironmaster John Wilkinson lived in the town and his great rival Abraham Darby is buried here. In the Industrial Revolution, Broseley was a centre for ironmaking, pottery and clay pipes [1].
It was in Broseley that John Wilkinson constructed the first-ever iron boat, and this is also where the plans for the Iron Bridge were designed. A clay pipe factory still exists as one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum's collection of preserved industrial heritage sites. In the past Broseley has also been heavily involved in coal mining and stone quarrying industries and the jitty-riddled lanes of Broseley Wood are attributed to the land given to miners to build their houses upon - many beautiful examples of 1700's houses still exist. It is also known that the stone out of which Buildwas Abbey was built was taken from Broseley.
In the late Victorian era Broseley suffered a decline and during redevelopment in the 1960s a lot of its fine buildings were lost. Since the millennium, though, Broseley looks on track to restore its heritage and image to something closely resembling that of its past.
[edit] Culture
In 2007, Broseley won a Gold award in the Heart of England Britain in Bloom competition for the second year running, also gaining first place in the Best Small Town category. The town of Broseley, once part of the Shirlett Royal Forest as recorded in the Domesday Book, was to see enormous expansion during the Industrial Revolution - indeed, in 1600, the town consisted of only 27 houses! Situated on the banks of the Severn, forming one side of the World-famous Ironbridge, its history is littered with tales of an industrial past.
[edit] Notable people
Shane Embury, the bassist in the Grindcore band Napalm Death, was born in Broseley[1], as was the film and theatre actress, Hermione Baddeley. John 'Iron Mad' Wilkinson, the eighteenth century industrialist, was a resident of Broseley, and it was here that he first mastered his unique art of boring cannons for increased accuracy.Abraham Darby I, an industrialist of the same period, is also buried there. Also Joe Kershaw of the Kershaw family lived there as a child. He was an advocate of the jewish religion in and around the Bridgnorth area.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- , Interview, http://www.karsmakers.net/stuff/metal-e-zine/napalmd.htm
(Source: Wikipedia) |