The present town may be said to owe its creation to the construction of the far-famed iron bridge which here spans the Severn, and from which it derives its name. The iron works established at Madeley Wood, together with the flourishing works of Coalbrookdale, and the communication the bridge opened up with those of iron and clay at Broseley, so fostered its trade that it soon sprang into importance as a town. John Locke, the well-known author of the work on “The Understanding,” has somewhere said that he who first made known the use of iron “may be styled the father of arts and the author of plenty.” Next to the discovery of the material, in point of importance, is its adaptation to the uses and conveniences of mankind. No bridge crossed the river between Buildwas and Bridgnorth, and to the noble arch which crosses the Severn the place is indebted alike for its population, its importance, and its name. It has the credit of having been the first of its kind, and in design and construction was a triumph of engineering skill rarely witnessed at the period at which it was built. A great advance upon the rickety wooden structures, affected by wind and rain, it was no less so upon those clumsy-looking ones of stone higher up and lower down the river, which, choking up the stream and impeding navigation, caused apprehensions at every flood for their safety. The design originated at a period interesting from the expansion of the iron trade and the progress of road making; and was opposed by the ferry men, who thought boats a sufficient accommodation in connecting both banks of the river. But as stone succeeded more primitive formations—logs, single or planked, thrown across a stream—so iron from its strength and lightness triumphed over other materials. It may add to the triumph of the achievement to remark, that both French and Italian engineers who, during the last century took the lead in engineering works of this kind, had made attempts in this particular department, but failed—chiefly from the inability of their iron founders to cast large masses of metal. The first attempt, we believe, was made at Lyons, in 1775. One of the arches was put together, but the project was afterwards abandoned as too costly, timber being substituted in its stead.