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November

There are some places you visit that just ooze history. One such is Ironbridge Gorge, a steep sided valley with the river Severn at its base around which was the birth place of the Industrial Revolution in the UK. Time has taken its toll but enough remains such that the area has been given the accolade of a World Heritage Site. It happens to be only a short drive from where I was born and is a favourite Sunday morning drive when we’re in that area.

The town of Ironbridge is fascinating, with the famous bridge at its focal point, cast in 1779 at the Coalbrookdale Works of Abraham Darby III. Every red brick building seems to have a story to tell in its position, shape and function. Here in the eighteenth century ironmasters began the mass production of iron and helped to create the British engineering industry, laying the foundations for the railway age in the next century. Tall and imposing residences cling to the hillside overlooking the town, below them smaller terraces with steep snaking cobbled pathways which must be a nightmare these days to negotiate with a vehicle.

There are massive cast iron foundries, pottery kilns and industrial sites to visit marvelling not only at the foresight and brilliance of these early engineering pioneers but also at the conditions that workers endured so that we might enjoy the fruits of this revolution. All that is missing is the dense smoke and acrid fumes that must have penetrated every fibre of their homes and bodies.

Generally speaking, I’m not a great one for looking back. But there’s no doubt that we owe a large debt to those who lived, worked and died in this exciting era. The ordinary workman would have no clue as to the legacy that they would leave; the day to day struggle to keep the family in food and clothing, and the disease and injuries which weakened them were the extent of their concerns.

But men like Abraham Derby, brilliant minds and superb engineers, what did they dream of? What vision gripped their imagination as they strove to do what had never been done before? If they were to come back today would they be surprised at what they saw, or merely see it as an extension of their own vision of a modern world?

What are our hopes for the future? Is the world going to be a better place to live in because we were alive and worked in it? Does that sound a bit far-fetched? It shouldn’t because everything we do, every action that we take, every word we speak has its effect on someone or something. We might not be a pioneering engineer or even a humble workman but we interact with history and leave our own legacy whether we like it or not.