Ornamental and architectural iron: the Coalbrookdale Company 1890–1922

This paper examines the Coalbrookdale Company ironworks at the turn of the twentieth century, focusing on their output of architectural and ornamental castings. Research of a hitherto unexplored part of the Coalbrookdale archive, made possible through a Headley Fellowship with Art Fund, has provided an insight into what was being made at the time, where it was being transported to, and the workers involved in the process of designing and producing the ironwork. Set against the backdrop of the wider iron industry, it reveals a time of turbulence and change at the Company which ultimately led to an alliance with a number of ironfounding companies to form Light Castings Limited in 1922.