Ironbridge abounds in pleasant walks and sunny spots; and right pleasant ’tis to view from some eminence on the opposite bank—Lady-wood or Benthall-edge, the prospect spread out before you. Clustering cottages are seen to perch themselves on ridges, or to nestle pleasantly in shady nooks half hid by rocks and knolls and trees; while bits of nature’s carpet, garden plots and orchards, add interest to the scene. On points commanding panoramic sweeps of country, of winding dales and wooded hills, have sprung up villa-looking residences and verandahed cottages that tell of competence, retirement, and those calm sweet joys that fringe the eventide of prosperous life. There are no formal streets or rigid red brick lines to offend the eye: but that pleasing irregularity an artist would desire. Looking east or west, fronting or turning their backs upon each other, many gabled, tall chimneyed, just as their owners pleased; there is a freedom and rusticity of style that gratifies the sight and harmonises well with the winding roads that meets the poet’s fancy and goes beyond the limner’s skill. To mention severally these suburban hill or tree-embosomed retreats would be sufficient by the name itself to indicate the faithful picture we have drawn. From the Severn to the summit, the hill is dotted over with villas, Gothic and fanciful, fronted by grottoed gardens, flanked by castellated walls and orchards, with ornamental hedge-rows and shady sycamores; whilst in mid-air, lower down, like a gossamer on a November morn, appears the iron net-work of the bridge. We have written so much and so often of these scenes that we are tempted here to hand in copy to the printer of what we have previously said on the subject.
However beautiful these rocks and hills are by day, the view of Ironbridge assumes a character equally sublime when the glare of the sun is gone, when the hills cast their shadows deep and the river gathering the few rays left of the straggling light gives them back in feeble pencils to the eye. At sunset when the hills are bathed in purple light, and the god of day before his final exit between Lincoln Hill and Benthall-edge a second time appears; by moonlight, when rosy tints have given way to hues of misty grey, when familiar objects grow grotesque and queer, and minor features melt away amid the deep calm quiet that reigns below, serial pictures of quaint perspective and inspiring beauty present themselves. To the stranger entering the valley at night for the first time the scene is novel and impressive. Silence,
Faithful attendant on the ebon throne,
sways her sceptre over dim outlines which imagination shapes at will, and the river, toned down to the duskiest hue, whispers mournfully to each smooth pebble as it passes.
ST. LUKE’S CHURCH.
The church occupies a picturesque situation on the side of the hill, opposite to the bridge, from which it is approached by a long flight of steps on one side, and a circuitous path winding round the hill on the other. It was built in 1836, and like the bridge, is of a material with which the district abounds. It would however have been equally in character with the place, and more pleasing to the eye, had it been built of stone. It has a tower, a nave, a chancel, and side aisles, and a richly stained glass window, with full length figures of St. Peter, St. James, and St. John. The endowment has been augmented very much of late years through the munificence of the Madeley Wood Company, who subscribed £1,000, and the liberality of the late Rev. John Bartlett, and others. Also by the purchase of the unredeemed rectorial tithes. The sum of upwards of £1,000 was raised too for better school accommodation for the place.
Ironbridge is one of the polling districts for municipal and parliamentary purposes; and has about 450 electors for the borough franchise. The Mayor and Borough Magistrates hold here alternately with Broseley and Wenlock Petty Sessions, every six weeks. Its central position gives it advantages which outside towns cannot lay claim to; both in point of trade, and as the seat of various local institutions.
It is the head quarters of the Sixth Shropshire Rifle Corps, of which John A. Anstice, Esq., is Captain, and R. E. Anstice, Esq., Lieutenant, and Searj. Johnson drill instructor.
The corps was first formed on the 20th of February, 1860, when the first batch of recruits (fifty in number) were sworn in, in the Guildhall at Wenlock, by Mr. Nicholas, of Broseley, (then Mayor for the borough), Captain Lowndes, Lieutenant Blakeway, and Ensign W. R. Anstice were amongst that number. Only three of the old hands now remain in the corps, Cr. Sergeant W. Y. Owen, Sergeant W. Roberts, and Sergeant Walton. Up to the present time 453 men have passed through the ranks: the last recruit that joined in 1879 being No. 453.
The company stands well in the battalion as a shooting company, having won the county challenge cup twice, viz: in 1876 and 1878. Cr. Sergeant Owen has also twice placed himself in the first sixty at Wimbleton, and consequently has two Queen’s Badges, as well as the St. George’s Cross. He has also been the winner of the Martin’s Challenge Cup. The company are in possession of four of Major Owen’s Memorial Cups out of nine that have been shot for at Berwick since 1870.