Historedia
Episode 1 of 5

Pritchard proposes a cast iron bridge

When
1773
Where
Ironbridge Gorge, River Severn
Part of
Erection of the Iron Bridge

In 1773, architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard wrote to ironmaster John Wilkinson suggesting a bridge built of cast iron.

Pritchard wrote to his 'iron mad' friend and local ironmaster John Wilkinson of Broseley to suggest building a bridge out of cast iron. He later proposed a single-span iron bridge to cope with the instability of the banks and the need to maintain a navigable channel in the river.

Sources

  1. The Iron Bridge Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-06

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.