Blood, Sweat and Imagination
They'll never work! They'll blow up! Early canal companies protested about the competition from the railways in the 1830s by producing satirical cartoons showing how dangerous the locomotives were. Others satirised the endless claims that new-fangled steam engines might be put to. These were subjects that fascinated Sir Arthur Elton (1906-73), collector and documentary film maker,  whose extensive collection of the art of the Industrial Revolution is at Ironbridge. Some of Sir Arthur's fascinating prints are in the new exhibition at the Coalbrookdale Gallery next door to Enginuity. There are also paintings and engravings ranging from the 1780s to the 1860s showing ideas that were more feasible and the herculean labours of the workers that turned them into reality. Mining, tunnelling, bridge building, railways, canals and ironworks are all represented, So is the 1851 Great Exhibition, and an 1865 design for St Pancras station which even then showed what a wonderful space it would be 157 years before Eurostar took over.
Admission is free and the exhibition is open weekdays 9am - 5pm
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