Abraham Darby's Bridge, Ironbridge

This iconic bridge was constructed by Abraham Darby III, beginning 1777 and completed in 1779. It is the first ever to be made of cast-iron, and surprisingly one of the first, of those surviving today, to be built across the River Severn,^[1] at a time when ferries were the customary means of crossing. It was preceded by Llandrinio Bridge (1775), and Atcham Bridge (1776). Other bridges built before them have since been replaced. As a consequence, of what was, for the time, a ground-breaking engineering project, Coalbrookdale, in which the bridge is set, has become known as the “cradle” of the Industrial Revolution.^[2]

(Information provided by Rosemary Lockie)

Reference
[1] Article featuring a List of crossings of the River Severn (Wikipedia)
[2] See for yourself by taking a Virtual Tour on the Ironbridge Gorge Museums website: www.ironbridge.org.uk/