Jackfield

This article is about the village in England. For the device used to route electical signals, see Patch panel.

Jackfield is a village in Shropshire, England, bordering the small town of Broseley.

Location

Level crossing gate at Jackfield sidings

It lies on the south bank of the River Severn, in the Ironbridge Gorge, and opposite the village of Coalport. Jackfield is in both the Telford and Wrekin Council area and the Shropshire Council area of Shropshire — the border runs through the settlement.

In older times, Jackfield village was a group of 5 smaller settlements: Preens Eddy, The Werps, The Tuckies, Salthouses and Jackfield itself.

The central portion of the village was constructed on a particularly unstable part of the Ironbridge Gorge, where several landslips have been recorded. The landslip of 1952 devastated the core of Jackfield. Flooding also badly affects the part of Jackfield by the river from time-to-time.

The Severn Valley railway line ran through the area and there were sidings to support the several tile works in the area, along with a passenger halt station. Little remains of the railway except the unusually large level crossing gates, now the largest surviving in the UK.

Attractions

Jackfield Bridge

Less than a mile upstream is the world famous Iron Bridge. In Jackfield itself, there is the Jackfield Tile Museum, housed within the former Craven Dunnill factory. In fact tile manufacturing still takes place there today, by the same company albeit on a smaller scale. Today, Craven Dunnill Jackfield manufacture hand made wall and floor tiles in true Victorian fashion. [1]

Half a mile below the Iron bridge is Jackfield Free Bridge. The old Jackfield Free Bridge was built in 1909 by local subscription to avoid tolls on the Iron bridge and Coalport bridge. It gave trouble in the 1930’s and required repeated repairs until in 1993 beyond repair it was knocked down and replaced with the present bridge. The new Jackfield Free Bridge is a striking structure.

The Memorial Bridge is a footbridge spanning the River Severn, linking Jackfield with Coalport.

Three quarters of a mile further downriver are the Jackfield rapids. These are popular with canoeists which grade rapids according to how difficult they are to navigate. Those here used to be grade 2, but following bank stabilisation work on the south bank in 2001 has become more difficult and are now grade 3 or 4 in some levels. There is now a stopper and a difficult wave train for the less experienced.[2]

A number of historical sites in Jackfield comprise waypoints on the South Telford Heritage Trail.