Home / Series / Chronicle (1966) / Aired Order / Season 1979 / Episode 14

The Bridge that Spanned the World

The world's first iron bridge was erected 200 years ago by the Quaker iron-master Abraham Darby. It still spans the River Severn, near Coalbrookdale in Shropshire. It was the culmination of 70 years work by the remarkable Darby family which included the invention of coke smelting, the development of the first iron railways, and building some of the earliest steam engines. The Darbys' surprisingly modern approach to their problems lives again as Chronicle shows tub-boats moving along their canal, trolleys climbing their hillside railway, and part of the bridge being specially re-cast in the iron-works that has been on the same site since 1709.

English
  • Originally Aired November 13, 1979
  • Runtime 50 minutes
  • Network BBC Two
  • Created February 17, 2022 by
    frizzlebiscuit
  • Modified February 17, 2022 by
    frizzlebiscuit