The Products

The Coalbrookdale Company is credited with developing iron working technologies that made the Industrial Revolution possible and can put their name to several world firsts – the first cast-iron steam engine cylinders, the first cast-iron rails, the first cast-iron bridge and the first steam railway locomotive. In the 1830s the Company diversified into producing ornamental ironwork and won great acclaim at the Great Exhibition of 1851.  

Coalbrookdale made a range of products from statues to bandstands, ranges to railings, and from fountains to complete railway stations. For the iron founders, and none less so than Coalbrookdale, their conviction that anything could be cast in iron was reflected in the endless variety of objects for sale.  

The orders archive reveals what was being produced by the ironworks in the late 19th - early 20th century. The items being made include verandahs, ranges, windows, columns, and vases. The most popular items were railings, fireplaces, staircases and lamp posts. Some of the more unusual or notable orders include fireplaces for an asylum, piano frames, a synagogue ark front, railings for underground conveniences, windows and stable fittings for breweries, and conservatories for a TB hospital.  

Continue the Revealing Research exhibition here