It’s a bad idea to make a bridge out of cast iron – it’s brittle and doesn’t handle tension well – but the very first major bridge of this type opened to traffic in 1781 and still stands today.

Tk420 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The bridge was only closed to traffic in the 1930s; today you can walk across it and admire this early artefact of the Industrial Revolution.

• The Iron Bridge

Categories: Europe History Modern history Places Sciences Technology

The Generalist

I live in Auckland, New Zealand, and am curious about most things.