Coalbrookdale’s Old Furnace gets 100th Engineering Heritage Award

The Old Furnace, in Coalbrookdale Shropshire is to be recognised with a prestigious Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Engineering Heritage Award on Friday in recognition of it being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

The Old Furnace is part of the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron complex and is cared for by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

It was using the Old Furnace in 1709 that Abraham Darby pioneered the use of coke, rather than charcoal as a fuel for smelting iron, an innovation that marked the beginning of the industrial age.

John Wood, Chairman of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Heritage Committee, said: “The Old Furnace marks the beginning of the industrial age and it is hard to imagine what world we would live in, if it wasn’t for the innovation and vision of people like Abraham Darby.

Engineering Heritage Awards recognise artefacts of particular engineering significance and previous winners include Concorde, Mallard locomotive and the code-breaking Bombe at Bletchley Park.

The Awards were set up in 1984 and this will be the 100th Award to be presented to a significant engineering artefact.

The Award will be presented at a special ceremony by Group Captain Mark Hunt, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and John Wood, Chairman of the Institution’s Heritage Committee to Barrie Williams, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.