Lee Dingle Bridge
Lee Dingle Bridge | |
|---|---|
The derelict Lee Dingle Bridge with the current footbridge across the Coalport Road in the foreground. | |
| Coordinates | 52°37′46″N 2°27′10″W / 52.629319°N 2.45289°W |
| Carries | Meadow Pit Plateway (from Madeley Colliery) |
| Crosses | Lee Dingle (Coalport Road) |
| Locale | Blists Hill, Ironbridge |
| Heritage status | Grade II listed building |
| National Heritage List for England | 1367428 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Truss |
| Material | Wrought iron |
| History | |
| Opened | 1872 |
| Closed | 1922 |
| Replaces | Timber trestle bridge |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | Coal |
The Lee Dingle Bridge is a wrought iron truss bridge across the Lee Dingle in Ironbridge, Shropshire. The bridge is a Grade II listed building.[1] It is derelict and has had no deck since the 1960s.
History
The bridge was built to carry the plateway which brought coal from the Madeley Colliery to the Blists Hill furnaces.[2] It replaced a timber trestle viaduct built when the London and North Western Railway's Coalport branch line was constructed.[3] On the far side of the bridge from Blists Hill was an inclined plane known as Bagley's Wind, which still survives in part as a brick pathway.
Current status
The bridge forms part of the Blists Hill living museum. Most buildings there are reconstructions but blast furnaces, a mine, a brick and tile works and the Lee Dingle Bridge are original to the location.[4]
References
- ^ "LEE DINGLE BRIDGE, Madeley - 1367428". historicengland.org.uk. Historic England. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
- ^ "South Telford Heritage Trail" (PDF). Telford and Wrekin Council.
- ^ "Lee Dingle Bridge and the Railway Sidings". Blists Hill Open Air Museum: a guide to the museum and exhibits (PDF). Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. 1978. p. 10. SJ 693033.
- ^ Goulding, Christina; Saren, Michael; Pressey, Andrew (2018). "'Presence' and 'absence' in themed heritage". Annals of Tourism Research. 71: 25–38. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2018.05.001.