Ironbridge to Blists Hill Victorian Town Leaflet
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Ironbridge to Blists Hill Severn Gorge Countryside Trust Victorian Town The Trust was set up in 1991 to look after 260 This Trail takes you from Ironbridge to the hectares of land for the benefit of wildlife, local Victorian Town on a pleasant footpath, and once people and visitors. The Trust is responsible for in Lloyd’s Coppice, away from traffic. En-route you may pass the remains of the old engine house and over half of the land within the Ironbridge Gorge Ironbridge Madeley Wood Hall. World Heritage Site, managing an important landscape with Sites of Special Scientific Interest to Blists Hill Lloyd’s Coppice is an ancient semi-natural woodland (SSSI) and endangered species. of 40 hectares and steeped in history. It once lay at the southerly end of the Wrekin Forest which was subject Victorian Town to forest law in medieval times and has been managed The Trust also looks after 60 historic structures, since at least the 1600s. traditional hay meadows and over 25km of This woodland grows in sandstone, clay and coal and paths. The Trust is unusual in that it has an supports a wide range of tree species such as sweet open access policy on all 260 hectares of land chestnut, field maple, small-leaved lime, yews and wild service. However, much was felled for fuel during it manages. The Trust employs up to 25 local the 1st and 2nd World Wars and so very few veteran contractors to undertake various works. The trees exist. Trust also has a strong volunteer programme Of the 574 species of invertebrate recorded within carrying out a wide variety of tasks, contributing Lloyds Coppice, several were species new to Shropshire, thousands of work hours each year. or nationally scarce. The heathland is cared for and monitored by Severn Gorge Countryside Trust volunteers and staff and hosts a large recorded number Severn Gorge Countryside Trust of species including toads, wood mice, butterflies, The Trust’s aim is to promote, protect and spiders and beetles. Of the 49 species of spider conserve the living landscape of the recorded, 40 of them were found only in the heathland Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site showing its importance. There are several small pools, one of which supports the Great Crested Newt. Find us at: Today, Lloyd’s Coppice contains remains of cottages, Darby Road, Coalbrookdale,TF8 7EP pools, quarry faces, tramway routes and the ruins of Nearest parking: Station Yard Car Park 01952 433880 Madeley Wood Hall and its outbuildings. There were Access: Tarmac and woodland paths once formal gardens and some garden species remain www.severngorge.org.uk near these outbuildings. This Hall, demolished in the REG CHARITY NO. 1004508 How long: 3.5 km, 1½ hours 1920s was, in 1857, home to John Anstice, owner of the Madeley Wood Company, its mines and furnaces. How easy: Undulating & steps The company was famous for abolishing child labour Pushchair friendly: No in the area. He employed 6 house servants, 15 estate workers on his 100 acre farm and 800 people in the Toilets: In the Square, mines, brickyards and furnaces. Madeley Wood Ironbridge Company made pig iron from local coal and ironstone Artwork by MA Creative. and operated blast furnaces at Bedlam (1757–8) and Cover photo: Madeley Wood Hall © IGMT Crossing Roads: Blists Hill (1832). Back cover: The Iron Bridge © Mike Ashton Beware of traffic Start at The Iron Bridge ☛ Continue along the 6 An ancient path until you reach coppiced Sweet From the Iron Bridge, turn right towards Coalport ☛ a junction. You can Chestnut tree is keeping the river on your right. either turn right for a located on the 1 The Bedlam Furnace was built by the Madeley short detour to visit right of the path Wood Company in 1756. These were coke-fired the remains of an old junction. blast furnaces in use into the 19th century. engine house or carry on along the path. ☛ At the junction, At the junction of the Jackfield Bridge. Cross the follow the fingerpost to ☛ Engine house remains Storage area road, keeping the river on your right. 4 This engine was ‘Blists Hill’ leaving the used to pump the woodland via a kissing 2 Blocks of slag along the footpath are waste water out of the mines once located here. gate. products from the iron making process of the 1700s. ☛ At the next fingerpost follow the path straight ☛ Follow a path ahead signed Coalport Road alongside some houses ☛ Walk 150m to a wooden fingerpost signed ‘Blists and then cross over Hill’. From here, you will follow blue way-markers. Cross ☛ At the next fingerpost, signed Blists Hill and the road towards a the road to pass through a wooden kissing gate into Coalport turn left up the steps. fingerpost. Lloyd’s Coppice woodland. Continue along this path. ☛ BEFORE going up the steps you can explore the ☛ Cross the car park Sweet Chestnut 3 A heathland, on remains of the Hall and storage area. diagonally, go down the your left, hosts a steps onto the Silkin Way variety of wildlife 5 Madeley Wood Hall was the home of the and then uphill to Blists Hill Victorian Town entrance and a panel shows Anstice family who owned and operated the for about 700m. This is managed by Ironbridge Gorge the history and Madeley Wood Company. The restored brick Museum Trust. structure, once thought to be an ice house, is FINISH HERE geology of this Blists Hill landscape. all that remains of Madeley Wood Hall and was 7 The Madeley Wood Victorian Town most likely used for storage. Company built a Lizard in heathland blast furnace at Blists Hill in 1832. Map dating from 1902 shows the Ironbridge extent of Madeley Wood Hall Bedlam Furnaces START HERE Lloyds Coppice The Iron Bridge Jackfield Bridge Key to map River Severn Walk Route Public House Other paths Café Site Entrances Restaurant Car Park Public Toilet Jackeld Information Centre.