The Borough of Wenlock comprises places not only rich in historic interest but important also as centres of manufacturing industry; and none more so than those grouped within a mile or two of the Iron-bridge, itself a work of world-wide fame. “Broseley Pipes” and “Broseley Bricks,”—the latter including all similar productions emanating from Coalbrookdale, the Woodlands, Lady-Wood, Coleford, &c.—possess acknowledged merits which create for them a constant demand, whilst in higher branches of the art, where similar natural and other clays are used, Messrs. Maw, Craven, Dunnill, and Co., and Bathurst, find a still more extensive market for their goods. From time immemorial the merits of these clays seem to have been known and recognised; if not from Early British, at any rate from the period when the armies of imperial Rome penetrated the Valley of the Severn, through intermediate ages, these beds of clay which give employment to thousands seem to have been used for some purpose or other, either for articles of ornament or of use. At Caersws, near Llandinam, on the left bank of the Severn, we have seen Roman bricks apparently with the initials of the workmen’s The subject is therefore one of historical as well as of industrial interest, although those at present engaged in the various branches of manufacture may be too absorbed in turning the material to account to pause to note the stages the trades in which they are engaged have gone through. It was the value of these clays which led to the establishment of works for the manufacture of porcelain at Caughley, Jackfield, Coalport, and Madeley, historical notices of which works will be found in the following pages, which are for the most part a reprint of articles that have appeared in the “Salopian and West-Midland Magazine.” |