Ironbridge Gorge Museum

Cast by the Coalbrookdale Company in 1851 for the Great Exhibition, the fountain was designed by John Bell. After the exhibition the fountain was purchased by Wolverhampton Corporation and displayed inside the Market Hall until 1880, when it was moved to West Park. It was later dismantled and stored until it was rediscovered by WKV Gale and acquired for the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron in 1959, when it was restored and displayed next to the Darby Furnace.

The fountain was again restored in 1994 and repainted to resemble the original catalogue finish of 'bronzed' cast iron. The railings surrounding its pool are made of wrought iron, and were designed and forged by members of the British Artist Blacksmiths Association during their conference at Blists Hill Open Air Museum in 1994.

Deerhound Hall Table

This magnificent table was designed by John Bell for the Paris International Exhibition of 1855. The table is made entirely of cast iron, with four life-size deerhounds supporting a table top decorated with a marbled finish. The table weighs about 16 cwt (812kg). The dogs wear the coat of arms granted in 1843 to John Hargreaves of Broad Oak, near Blackburn, Lancashire. His eldest son married in 1855 and this table is thought to have been purchased from the Paris Exhibition as a wedding present.

Purchased with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Resource/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, National Art Collections Fund, The Monument Trust and Partidge Fine Art Limited.

Last Supper Plaque

Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the ‘Last Supper’ was copied by many artists in a wide range of materials. By the early 19th Century central European foundries were producing examples in cast iron, and by the 1830s similar plaques were being reproduced by the Coalbrookdale Company.

This example has been polished to resemble steel, but they were also produced in a bronze or, more unusually, a painted and gilded finish. Large numbers of these castings were made and many local houses boasted an example. The finest versions faithfully reproduce all the intricate details of the original pattern, particularly the apostle’s toenails!

Andromeda

Among the Coalbrookdale Company’s exhibits at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was a bronze figure of Andromeda, designed by John Bell (1811-95). This version is made from cast iron and was produced some time after 1851. The original bronze version was bought for £300 and erected at Osborne House, Queen Victoria’s residence on the Isle of Wight.

The figure is based on the Andromeda of Greek legend. Neptune, the god of the sea, had been angered by her parents the King and Queen of the Aethopians. In an effort to appease him, she was chained to the shore as a sacrifice to the Kraachen, a fearsome sea monster. She was rescued by Perseus who, after slaying the Gorgon, used its head to turn the monster to stone.

Retriever & Greyhound

These life-size statues of a Retriever and a Greyhound were both designed by Christophe Fratin, a famous French sculptor who was one of several designers who were brought in by the Coalbrookdale Company.

Startled Stag & Deer Browsing

Paintings and sculptures of hunting scenes, stags and deer became very popular during the nineteenth century. Their popularity was increased further by the interest in everything ‘Scottish’ which resulted from Queen Victoria’s frequent visits to Balmoral Castle.

The larger figure of a ‘Startled Stag’ was designed by Christophe Fratin, who was particularly known for his sculptures of animals. The browsing deer is believed to be the work of BW Hawkins, who produced several stag sculptures.

Pointer Dog at Point & Greyhounds at Play

These two bronzes were designed by Pierre-Jules Mène, a nineteenth century French Artist who was noted for his sculptures of animals, particularly dogs. Following his success at the Great Exhibition, where his work was exhibited on the Coalbrookdale stand as well as in the French department, his popularity spread to England. Several of his designs were reproduced by the Coalbrookdale Company, although they were more frequently of cast iron with a bronzed finish.

David with his Sling

This statue represents the biblical figure of David, the shepherd boy who slew the giant, Goliath with a stone thrown from his sling. It was designed by John Bell who also produced the Eagle Slayer and Andromeda figures as well as the Boy and Swan fountain.

"Europe" and "Africa"

These two cast iron lamp standards were cast by the Coalbrookdale Company in the 1860s. They are two from a series of four representing continents, the other two being ‘America’ and ‘Asia’. It is thought that they were designed by John Bell (1818 - 95). Miniature versions of the four continent figures were also produced by the Company.

Fruit plates

Coalbrookdale began producing fine cast iron filigree fruit plates around 1845. Three were illustrated in the “Art Union” of 1846 which described them as “among the most beautiful of the minor works of art produced at Coalbrookdale.” Fruit plates were manufactured in large quantities by the Coalbrookdale Company and are still occasionally cast by the Coalbrookdale Foundry today.

Cherub Hall Table

This highly decorated hall table dates from the late 19th century. It is built up from component parts which were used as components in other items listed in the company catalogue. For example the base of the hall stand was re-used as the basis of a hall table and an umbrella stand.

Oak and Ivy Bench

Natural designs were very popular for garden furniture during the nineteenth century. As well as this oak and ivy design, Coalbrookdale also produced bench designs incorporating nasturtium leaves, horse chestnut leaves, ferns and lily of the valley.

They were available in a variety of sizes, from single seats to six foot long benches and in two paint finishes, green or chocolate brown. Some were also available in a bronzed finish. The customer was given the option of having an iron or a wooden seat and could buy the complete bench or just the ends. Real oak seats were offered at extra cost whereas iron seats were advocated for hot climates.

Cast iron benches were produced in large quantities and many, particularly of the more popular designs survive. However they were always prone to damage, partly because of their intricate designs and the thinness of castings.

Fire Grates

Fire grates became another important Coalbrookdale Company product. During the nineteenth century a huge range of designs were produced, from vast fireplaces for stately homes to small bedroom grates. The Company also responded to changing technology producing grates which controlled the airflow to the chimney making them less smoky and more efficient.

By the late nineteenth century tiled fireplace surrounds were popular and often included tiles made by at the factories of Craven Dunill and Maw & Co in near by Jackfield. As fashions changed the Company began to produce Art Nouveau style fire grates and from the 1920s produced a variety of enamelled grates were introduced which were easier to clean and maintain.

Coalbrookdale Cooking Pots

It was the cast iron cooking pot that brought Abraham Darby I into the iron trade. In 1707 he took out a patent for a method of casting them in iron. Re-usable patterns were used to form moulds from sand into which the molten iron was cast. This made it possible to mass produce the pots relatively cheaply, and at a time when most cooking took place over an open fire there was a huge market for them. They became a staple product of the Coalbrookdale Company and were exported world wide. The classic design was widely copied and remained in production in Britain into the 1960s and is still widely used in southern Africa where they are known as "potjie".

The Kitchen Range

The kitchen range developed during the late eighteenth century, when an iron oven was added to the side of a fire grate. The earliest ranges were ‘open’ ranges, with an exposed fire basket. The ‘closed’ range, which was patented in 1802, introduced an iron plate over the fire. Instead of the hot gases going straight up the chimney, they could be diverted through a series of flues and around ovens and boilers. In theory it was possible to control the fire using sliding dampers working in the flues, but in practice much depended on how good the chimney was, and the weather!

Demand for cast iron cooking ranges and grates increased from the 1850s as towns and cities expanded to accommodate the growing urban workforce. The Coalbrookdale Company’s kitchen ranges came in all shapes and sizes, from the vast monsters for country houses, to small ranges for cottages and terraced houses.

The Aga Cooker

The Aga cooker is a design classic and was created by Swedish Nobel prize winner Dr Gustaf Dalén in 1924. At time when many homes were not connected to a gas or electricity supplies, he set out to create a solid fuel cooker that could bake, boil, fry, grill and roast, was easily controlled and required a minimum of cleaning and attention - the complete opposite of the old coal range.

The secret of his design lay in its heavily insulated cast iron construction, its easy clean enamel finish and semi-automatic temperature control system which worked by regulating the air flow to its firebox.

The AGA was first imported into Britain 1929 by Bells Heat Appliances Ltd of Slough who began to manufacture it themselves in 1931. Later production shifted to a new company, Aga Heat Ltd, Smethwick, which joined Coalbrookdale in the Allied Ironfounders Group in 1936. Aga production first came to Shropshire in 1947 and today the Coalbrookdale Foundry continues to produce and refine the Aga concept, now in oil, gas and electric versions, exporting them all over the world.

The Rayburn Cooker

In 1929 the Coalbrookdale Company became part of an alliance of foundries called Allied Ironfounders. In the 1940’s, two Allied Ironfounders companies in Falkirk, Dobbie Forbes and the Falkirk Iron Co, began development of the Rayburn series of cookers. These two companies produced the Rayburn No. 1, whilst the two-oven Rayburn No. 2 was produced in Coalbrookdale from 1946.

The original Rayburn was a refinement of the cast iron kitchen range. Its enamelled finish made it easy to clean while insulation and an enclosed firebox made it both more controllable and more fuel efficient. The Rayburn was also designed with the option of a built in back boiler which could provide a supply of hot water and could run radiators. The first Rayburn to be available in any colour other than cream was the Rayburn Royal, introduced in 1958.

The Rayburn was relatively cheap to buy and run, and thousands were supplied in the 1950s during the post war house building boom, many to local councils. Coalbrookdale alone produced between 45,000 and 50,000 Rayburn No. 3 cookers. The latest developments of the Rayburn are still produced by the Coalbrookdale Foundry, to day operated by Aga Foodservice.

The Alico Grate

By the beginning of the twentieth century, changing technology and new social trends were making the old cast iron cooking range look increasingly out-dated.

The Victorian kitchen had relied upon servants to keep it in pristine condition, but once job opportunities for women widened after the First World War it became much harder to recruit domestic help. This boosted sales of less labour-intensive cooking appliances.

The foundry trade’s reaction to the increasing popularity of gas and electric cookers in the 1920s was the enamelled combination grate. Designs like Coalbrookdale’s ‘Serval Grate’ combined a sitting room style grate with side ovens and an optional back boiler to provide domestic hot water. The Alico was a development of these designs and was manufactured in Coalbrookdale into the 1960s.

Boy and Swan Fountain