Pride of place COALBROOKDALE GARDEN SEAT

The Shropshire village made famous by the Darby family's adventures in iron is as celebrated for its ornate garden furniture as it is for its ground-breaking bridge, says Janet Gleeson

- Janet Gleeson

As summer beckons, the desire for somewhere to rest and admire our horticultural triumphs comes into sharp focus. At such a time, what could be more fitting than a garden seat wrought with passion flowers, or threaded with lily of the valley, ferns, or blackberries? Even convolvulus can be welcomed if cast in iron, rather than rampaging through the roses.

It's thanks to Coalbrookdale that gardeners today have this array of attractive and robust cast-iron furniture at their disposal. The pioneering company was the brainchild of Abraham Darby I (1678-1717) who, in 1709, took over a derelict foundry in Coalbrookdale, a village crouched in a Shropshire gorge, with coal mines set into the side of the valley.

To begin with, Darby focused on the manufacture of high-grade engineering components and utilitarian cooking pots and kettles, cutting production costs by using coke rather than charcoal to fuel his blast furnace.

By the 1770s, having perfected the technique, the foundry-now run by Abraham Darby III (1750-1789) was also producing cast-iron rails for railways and, in 1779, made the Iron Bridge over the River Severn. It was the world's first bridge made entirely from iron and is now a recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The company's heyday came in the 19th century, after Abraham III's sons, Francis and Albert, joined the company and decided to push the boundaries further, venturing into the manufacture of decorative items for the garden.

Over the following decades, some of the leading designers and sculptors of the age were enlisted, including Alfred Stevens, Dr Christopher Dresser, John Bell and Joseph Kershaw.