Jackfield is a village in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, England, lying on the south bank of

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

in the Ironbridge Gorge, downstream from

Ironbridge Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, a ...

. Like many of the settlements in the area, it is notable for its place in the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

History

Calcutts Ironworks, diorama, Museum of the Gorge, Ironbridge

Jackfield grew as a river port for nearby

Broseley Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first The Iron Bridge, iron bridge in the world was built in 17 ...

and Benthall (which are situated high above the Severn) and is a notable part of the area's famous early industrial activity. The first railway in Shropshire and second in Great Britain was built here – by 1605, the lord of the manor of Broseley, James Clifford, had constructed a wooden railway (usually termed a

wagonway Wagonways (also spelt Waggonways), also known as horse-drawn railways and horse-drawn railroad consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded Steam locomotive, steam-powered rail transport, railways. The t ...

) from his coal mines to the river at Jackfield. It has recently been suggested that this is older than the

Wollaton Wagonway The Wollaton Wagonway (or Waggonway), built between October 1603 and 1604 in the East Midlands of England by Huntingdon Beaumont in partnership with Sir Percival Willoughby, has sometimes been credited as the world's first ''overground'' wagonwa ...

which is generally thought to be the earliest such wagonway. There was a pottery here from at least 1634 and corn mills existed along the stream that flowed into the river. The wooden railway also followed the route of this stream, which is the valley which Calcutts Road runs down. The potteries flourished and became known for their drinking mugs produced, and the Thursfield family from

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

("the Potteries") arrived in 1713 to set up a pottery here. Their Jackfield Ware (a highly vitrified black earthenware decorated with gold flowers and figures) became famous around the mid-18th century. Manufacture of pottery continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with specialism moving on to the production of tiles, including high quality

encaustic tile Encaustic tiles are ceramic tiles in which the pattern or figure on the surface is not a product of the glaze but of different colors of clay. They are usually of two colours but a tile may be composed of as many as six. The pattern appears inla ...

s, and this manufacture continues today albeit on a small scale (in part to replace Jackfield-made tiles in conservation work, including on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

and the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

Jackfield Tile Museum Jackfield Tile Museum is a museum which presents the history of the British decorative tile industry between 1840 and 1960, the period in which this factory and that of Maw & Co nearby played an important part in this industry. The museum lie ...

is one of the ten museums of the

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an industrial heritage organisation which runs ten museums and manages multiple historic sites within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire, England, widely considered as the birthplace of ...

. For about a hundred years, from 1862 to 1963, the Severn Valley railway line ran through the area, on its route between

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

and

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

. There were sidings to support the several tile works in the area, along with Jackfield Halt for passengers. Little remains of the railway except the unusually large level crossing gates, which spanned sidings as well as the main running line, now the largest surviving in the UK. Some lengths of the trackbed today serve as a vehicle-free route for pedestrians and cyclists. A major landslip in 1952 devastated a large part of the centre of Jackfield and resulted in some parts of the village (such as between the Tile Museum and Salthouses) being abandoned. 27 cottages were lost in the 1952 landslide, in the Salthouses area, and the river was narrowed by about 15 yards.BBC News
''Ironbridge lost cottages uncovered during works'' (25 November 2014) Separately, the Werps was the most eastern part of Jackfield but had been abandoned by the end of the 1950s. In late 2013 Telford & Wrekin Council confirmed that government funding had been granted to carry out a stabilisation scheme in the area. The main works for this were completed in October 2016. During these works in 2014 the remains of several houses that were buried in 1952 were uncovered.Shropshire Star
''Riverbank works uncover ruins of homes from Shropshire landslip disaster'' (26 November 2014)

Geography

The market town of Broseley is just to the southwest of Jackfield (the town centre being only distant) and on the opposite bank of the Severn is the village of

Coalport Coalport is a village in Shropshire, England. It is located on the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, a mile downstream of Ironbridge. It lies predominantly on the north bank of the river; on the other side is Jackfield. The settlement wa ...

. Jackfield is in both the

Telford and Wrekin Telford and Wrekin is a borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called The Wrekin. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin", ...

Council area and the

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council is the local authority of Shropshire (district), Shropshire, in England, comprising the ceremonial county of Shropshire except Telford and Wrekin. It is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having the powers ...

area of Shropshire – the border runs through the settlement. The part within Telford and Wrekin forms part of The Gorge

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

, whilst the remainder is part of Broseley's civil parish. The Gorge Parish Council has its offices and holds its meetings at the Maws Craft Centre in Jackfield. Jackfield encompasses the largely-linear settlement spread along the steep southern bank of the Severn for approximately , from just before the Free Bridge to just after the Memorial Bridge. The village also reaches up the hill, towards Broseley, along Calcutts Road. The central portion of the village was constructed on a particularly unstable part of the Ironbridge Gorge, where several landslips have been recorded, most famously the landslip of 1952. The hillside is made more unstable by abandoned, flooded mineshafts and tunnels. A major stabilisation project, which included the rebuilding of Salthouse Road on a new alignment, began in 2014 and was completed in October 2016. Flooding also badly affects the lower parts of Jackfield from time-to-time, including the Boat House pub which has floods recorded on its front door (the highest recorded at the pub being on 1 November 2000). The eastern part of the settlement consists of the Tuckies and Salthouses. The westernmost part, in the vicinity of Jackfield Free Bridge, is known as Coalford.

Features

Less than a mile upstream is the world-famous Iron Bridge. In Jackfield itself, there is the

, housed within the former

Craven Dunnill Craven Dunnill & Co. Ltd. (formerly Hargreaves & Craven, then Hargreaves, Craven Dunnill & Co.) was formed on 9 February 1872, by Yorkshire businessman Henry Powell Dunnill (1821–95), at Jackfield, Shropshire, England. The firm was to become on ...

factory. Tile manufacturing still takes place there today, by the same company albeit on a smaller scale. Today, Craven Dunnill Jackfield manufacture hand made wall and floor tiles in true Victorian fashion. A number of historical sites in Jackfield comprise waypoints on the

South Telford Heritage Trail The South Telford Heritage Trail is a circular, waymarked walking route that passes by forty-nine heritage sites in the English town of Telford. The route The trail begins and ends in Telford Town Park and passes through the parishes of Stirc ...

. The Maws Craft Centre, formerly a part of the area's tile works, is located on Salthouse Road between the Tile Museum and the Memorial Bridge, and houses a large number of small businesses as well as the offices for The Gorge parish council. There is a village hall for Jackfield, located by the river near the Tile Museum.

Bridges

Half a mile downstream from the Iron Bridge is Jackfield Free Bridge, carrying the B4373 road. The old Jackfield Free Bridge was built in 1909 by local subscription to avoid tolls on the Iron Bridge and

Coalport Bridge Coalport Bridge is a cast iron arch bridge between Coalport and Preens Eddy in Shropshire, England. Early bridge Architect and bridge-builder William Hayward (1740–1782) designed the first crossing over the Severn at Coalport, based on two ti ...

further downstream. It gave trouble in the 1930s and required repeated repairs until in 1993, beyond repair, it was demolished and replaced with the present bridge, built by

Alfred McAlpine Alfred McAlpine plc was a British construction firm headquartered in Hooton, Cheshire. It was a major road builder, and constructed over 10% of Britain's motorways, including the M6 Toll (as part of the CAMBBA consortium). It was listed on the ...

. The new Jackfield Free Bridge is a striking structure. The Memorial Bridge is a footbridge spanning the River Severn, linking the Tuckies part of Jackfield with

. It was built with funds raised by public subscription in 1922, and is in memorial to the men of Jackfield and Coalport who were killed in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, later dedicated to those of both World Wars. The original structure was declared unsafe in 1997 but was refurbished and reopened in 2000.

Cycling

Jackfield is on

National Cycle Route The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...

45, named the

Mercian Way The Mercian Way is a long cycle path that runs from Salisbury in Wiltshire to Chester in Cheshire. Operated by Sustrans, it is part of National Cycle Route 45, but is also well used by walkers. The path is so named because it passes through wha ...

; it uses the trackbed of the former Severn Valley railway line, which is also popular with walkers, as it is a flat, relatively straight and vehicle-free route through the southern side of the Ironbridge Gorge.

Pubs

There are three

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s open in Jackfield – the Half Moon (at Salthouses), the Black Swan and the Boat Inn (at the Tuckies).

Rapids

The Jackfield rapids is a short section of the Severn, as it passes the Black Swan pub at Jackfield, where the river narrows and flows noticeably downhill (the river otherwise flows largely gently through the Ironbridge Gorge). These are popular with

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

ers who grade rapids according to how difficult they are to navigate. Those here used to be grade 2, but following bank stabilisation work on the south bank in 2001 has become more difficult and are now grade 3 or 4 in some levels. Further stabilisation work has occurred since on the north bank too, resulting in both banks here being shored by large rocks. There is now a stopper and a difficult wave train for the less experienced.Canoe touring in the River Severn
/ref>

References

External links

British Pathe
Newsreel footage (video, sound and voice-over) from 1952, following the major landslip at Jackfield that year. {{authority control Villages in Shropshire Telford and Wrekin Populated places on the River Severn Ironbridge Gorge Industrial history of England