Fords and Ferries in Ironbridge
Ironbridge
The Maws factory history
Jackfield
Names of the Gorge
Names of the Gorge
Images in this collection
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Waiting at the ferry landing
Early 1900s
A knot of passengers waits patiently at the stone landing steps of the Benthall Edge crossing in this real photographic postcard from the early 1900s. The ferry itself ran on a wire rope stretched bank to bank, with the ferryman hauling it hand over hand — a simple, tiring method that kept the crossing running for generations of local workers.
Real photographic postcard
A mother and children at the ferry landing
Early 1900s
A mother and her children pause at the ferry landing in this early 1900s photograph, waiting for the boat that will carry them across. For hundreds of Gorge families the ferry wasn't a novelty but a daily necessity: a ha'penny each way bought passage to work at the tileworks, the foundry or the pit on the opposite bank.
Archive photograph, photographer unknown
Granny Wale, ferrywoman
Late 19th century
Known locally simply as Granny Wale, this ferrywoman worked the crossing in the late 19th century, before George Beddoes eventually took over the licence. Ferrying in the Gorge was often a family trade passed down through generations, and — as this portrait shows — frequently worked by women who knew the river's moods as well as any man.
Family photograph, contributed
Ferrymen below the Bird in Hand
Late 19th century
Ferrymen sit aboard their boat in this late Victorian photograph, with the buildings of the Bird in Hand bank rising directly behind them. The inn's name and the ferry's route were intertwined in daily life here, each depending on the passing trade that the river crossing brought to its door.
Archive photograph, photographer unknown
The Coalport ferryman
Early 1900s
The Coalport ferryman stands steady at his work aboard the passage boat in this early 1900s photograph. Balancing on a moving boat while managing oars, ropes and passengers took real skill, a quietly physical job that rarely earned its practitioners more than a passing mention in the local record.
Sepia photograph, photographer unknown
A Coalport ferry boat
Early 1900s
Men and children sit aboard the ferry at the Coalport bank in this early 1900s photograph, with benches still visible and room left for more passengers to board. The unhurried mood suggests a quiet moment between crossings, rather than the crush of a typical shift-change rush.
Colourised archive photograph
Men, children and a dog aboard the ferry
Early 1900s
A crowded early 1900s crossing at Coalport includes, among the men and children, a dog that appears to have travelled entirely for free. Small details like this hint at how relaxed and informal the ferries could be, functioning less like public transport and more like a shared neighbourhood errand.
Archive photograph, photographer unknown
Joseph Crowell's ferry agreement
April 1890
Dated April 1890, this handwritten agreement by Joseph Crowell concerns the lease of the Coalport ferry boat, and is a rare survival of the everyday paperwork behind a river crossing. Documents like this are scarce precisely because ferrying was such an informal trade, rarely thought worth recording in writing at all.
Manuscript, private collection
“Memories of the old ferry”
8 November 2001
Published in the Shropshire Star on 8 November 2001, this feature gathers readers' own memories of the Benthall Edge ferry, including recollections of George Beddoes working the wire rope and fares of just a ha'penny each way. Oral history pieces like this preserved details of the ferry's daily operation that no photograph alone could capture.
Shropshire Star, 8 November 2001