The Square

Ironbridge Market Square

It's hard to picture now, but Ironbridge Market Square was once the beating heart of the town. After the Iron Bridge opened in 1781, the old Madeley market was relocated here to a new Georgian Butter Market.

The Butter Market

A neat line of brick arches hosted the Friday market — butter, cheese, eggs, poultry and vegetables. Those arches still survive; over time some were infilled, but the footprint is still visible. Traders came from Coalbrookdale, Broseley, and Madeley. By the 1950s and 60s the open-air market was shrinking as shops took over.

The Market Buildings — A Row of Shops Through Time

• c. 1790s — Built as open arcade for butter, cheese, eggs, and poultry
• Early 20th century — One arch signed "Café"
• 1930s–50s — Slater & Co (printers & stationers); N. Dixon (draper); P. B. Shaw (haberdashery)
• 1960s — Wozencroft (stationery and printing) — the go-to for school books and pens
• 1970s — Ironbridge Antiques; C. Ellis (Charlie Ellis), greengrocers
• 2000s–2020s — The Ironbridge Bookshop; later Donutology (Sept 2022); today a pharmacy with Post Office

Housed in a Grade II listed 1791 building, Bears on the Square has been one of the UK's most recognisable teddy bear shops for over 30 years.

Pharmacy

Originally part of the Butter Market, later adapted to a chemist. Williams' Pharmacy's last trading day in Ironbridge was Saturday 2 August 1969 before moving to Wensley Green, Woodside. The shop later became Ironbridge Pharmacy; in 2013 the Post Office moved in.

The Bartlett Fountain

The Reverend John Bartlett, vicar of Buildwas from 1823, was deeply concerned about residents drinking from the Severn. After his death in 1861, his widow Susanna (daughter of ironmaster William Reynolds) paid for a red granite drinking fountain, erected 1862, with water from Strethill courtesy of Mr Darby. In 1863 it was moved to the centre of the steps beside the Tontine Hotel.

When Telford Development Corporation restructured the Square for buses, the fountain was dismantled and re-erected in a car park behind Waterloo Street. A campaign is now raising around £40,000 to reinstall it as a working fountain in the Square.

The Bank (No. 1 Market Square)

Built in the late 1700s (Grade II listed). Lloyds Bank bought it in 1874 and used it until 1983/84. In the 1990s it was converted to flats ("Lloyds Bank Chambers"). Today the ground floor is the Severn Hospice Shop — Ironbridge's only charity shop.