The Free Bridge of Jackfield

The Story of the Free Bridge and Jackfield Bridge

For centuries, the people of Jackfield, Coalbrookdale, Madeley and Broseley had only three options to cross the River Severn: the Iron Bridge, the Coalport Ferry, or a long detour to Bridgnorth. The Iron Bridge was famous, but it was also a toll bridge until 1950. Every wagon, cart and pedestrian paid, and for working families and local industries, those pennies added up. The Coalport Ferry, operated by the Oswald family, was useful for foot passengers, but hopeless for carts or livestock. Detours to Coalport or Bridgnorth bridges meant extra miles and wasted time.

Under construction/temporary works– you can see the timber staging and the river running high. That’s the early 1900s work when the bridge was going up.

By the turn of the 20th century, locals were pressing for a toll-free crossing of their own. The campaign gained traction thanks to public subscription and a remarkable legacy. Richard Whittingham Haynes (1820–1905), the son of a Jackfield cooper who had emigrated to Montevideo, Uruguay, left $3,000 (about £642) in his will to Ironbridge. That bequest helped secure the project, and the bridge was officially named the Haynes Memorial and Subscription Bridge, though most knew it simply as the Free Bridge.

Not everyone welcomed it. The Oswalds feared for their ferry trade, while the Iron Bridge Trust worried about lost tolls. They even blocked the road with gates and posts, but these stood on Lord Forester’s land, and he ordered them removed. The way was clear.

Building an Experiment

Work began in 1908. The bridge was an early experiment in a brand-new material: ferro-concrete (reinforced concrete), pioneered by French engineer François Hennebique in 1892 and introduced to Britain by Louis Mouchel. The system integrated steel bars into poured concrete, making a single monolithic structure.

The Jackfield Free Bridge was one of the first in Britain:

• Total span 230 ft (80 ft centre, 60 ft each side).

• Open spandrel arches on eight piled foundations.

• Built by the Liverpool Hennebique Company, engineered by Mouchel & Partners.

• Concrete mixed with Kaye’s cement.

• Total cost: £1,536 (about £200,000 today).

The Opening – 26 June 1909

The bridge opened in pouring rain, but thousands still turned out. It was officially opened by Thomas Parker, the renowned Coalbrookdale-born electrical engineer and inventor, and Alderman Ben Maddox JP, Mayor of Wenlock. Maddox had pushed the scheme through with what one paper called his “indefatigable exertions.”

Three local brass bands — from Coalbrookdale, Jackfield and Madeley — played during the day and again in Ironbridge Market Square that evening.

The bridge had already been tested on 29 April 1909 when a 14-ton steam roller owned by Roberts of Broseley was driven across. That detail would echo down the years when its replacement was opened the same way in 1994.

In recognition of Haynes’ bequest, the bridge carried his name, and the approaches were so significant that Shingler’s Bank and Roper’s Walk were renamed Newbridge Road.

Working Years

The Free Bridge quickly became part of daily life. For the first time, locals could cross without tolls or ferries.

But its location meant frequent flooding. The 1920s saw repeated winter floods. In February 1947, after a brutal winter, thawing snow caused the worst Severn flood then recorded. A famous photograph shows a Midland Red bus crossing the Free Bridge with water swirling at its wheels.

By the 1930s, cracks were showing — literally. In 1937, weight was restricted to 8 tons and speed to 5 mph, sparking heated council debate reported in the Wellington Journal (23 October 1937):

> “The bridge was at present in very bad order… Fortunately they had been able to persuade the County Council to pay more than half towards repairing the bridge and maintaining it until the new bridge was built.”

Councillor Collins pressed for 12 tons instead of eight, warning that the restriction would hit Broseley manufacturers hard. Others called the situation “a disgrace to the County Council,” arguing that a new bridge at Ironbridge was long overdue.

Repairs were made by spraying with concrete (“guniting”) in 1937, 1961, and 1969, but none solved the underlying decay.

Decline and the Bailey Bridge

By the 1980s, the ferro-concrete was failing. In 1986, the bridge was declared unsafe. Engineers erected a single-lane Bailey bridge on top of the old deck, with traffic lights controlling flow. Drivers queued daily; HGVs were forced into a 14-mile detour.

The Bailey bridge, invented for the army in the Second World War by Sir Donald Bailey, was only meant to be temporary. Montgomery once said, “Without the Bailey bridge, we should not have won the war.” In Ironbridge, it kept the Gorge moving for eight years.

Closure and Demolition – 1993

The bridge finally closed on 7 August 1993. The last crossing was a theatrical moment: a horse-drawn cart from Blists Hill Museum, driven by Joe Bowen and carrying Jan Jennings, Peter Benting, Kate Hargreaves, Paul Hall and Jeff Jacques in Edwardian costume. The Jackfield Band played as the cart rattled across. The Shropshire Star (7 August 1993) carried the scene as a symbolic farewell.

Demolition began 30 August 1993. The Shropshire Star (19 May 1993) had already primed readers for the change, explaining that “after more than 80 years’ service the Free Bridge will be dismantled… engineers say the piles are only three metres deep, and will be lifted clear by crane.”

And indeed, the work was surprisingly straightforward: the piles were removed with a crane and ball and chain, and the structure revealed its novel turnbuckle couplers — advanced in 1909, common today.

Permission for demolition had only been granted after debate and inquiry. Some argued for preserving the bridge as a footpath, but the idea was rejected. To soften the loss, a section of the old concrete arch was preserved at Coalford, where it still stands as a reminder.

The New Jackfield Bridge

With the old gone, its successor rose quickly. Work began in October 1993 and lasted 16 months.

• Type: asymmetric cable-stay, span 57 m, tower 30 m high.

• Cost: £1.8 million.

• Built by: Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd.

• Design: Gifford and Partners.

• Architecture: Percy Thomas Partnership.

• Steel: Westbury Tubular Structures.

Pupils Andrea Reynolds and Selina Worth from Coalbrookdale School buried a time capsule in its structure.

For months, old and new stood side by side: the condemned ferro-concrete arch with its Bailey bridge, and beside it the rising steel tower of the replacement. Locals spoke of watching “a century change hands before their eyes.”

The Opening – 18 October 1994

• 27 August 1994: traffic first crossed the new bridge.

• 18 October 1994: official opening by Councillor George Raxster OBE (1931–2008), Chairman of Shropshire County Council.

A 14-ton Wallis & Stevens steam roller, driven by John Challen of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, was the first vehicle over — echoing 1909.

The bridge won a British Construction Industry Award, praised as:

> “The visually stimulating, elegant design makes Jackfield Bridge a worthy near neighbour to the world-famous Iron Bridge.”

But not everyone agreed. Historian Ron Miles staged his own early-morning “tape-cutting” and then told TV cameras:

> “A monstrosity… it does not fit. It looks like the architect dropped two biros and the quiet end of a condom on the plan.”

Others saw something more playful. Its profile soon earned it the nickname “the Batman Bridge,” because the twin arms of its tower resembled the bat-ear silhouette of the comic-book logo.

A Legacy of Freedom

The Free Bridge of 1909 was revolutionary — one of Britain’s first reinforced concrete structures, funded by locals and a legacy from halfway across the world, opened in rain and song. It freed the Gorge from tolls and ferries, served through floods and wars, and held on for over eighty years.

Its replacement, the Jackfield Bridge of 1994, is modern, strong, and still carries its traffic daily. To many, it remains simply “the Free Bridge,” a symbol of local determination that the river should never again be a barrier.