The AIA was very saddened to hear the announcement last week that the AGA foundry in Coalbrookdale, near the place where Abraham Darby first smelted iron in a furnace fuelled by coke, is to close.

The AGA was invented in Sweden and first imported to Britain in 1929 but began to be manufactured here under licence in the early 1930s. The Coalbrookdale plant began making AGAs in 1946 on this site which has been in continuous operation as a foundry for well over 300 years. Aga Rangemaster was sold to US company Middleby in 2015.

The foundry was visited by members of the AIA during the Annual Conference last year when we were told that recent improvements to production techniques had greatly improved the efficiency of the plant and it was hoped that production in Coalbrookdale would continue but it seems that is not to be the case.

A spokesperson for the AIA said:
“This is devastating news for a community that has faced and bounced back from de-industrialisation before. It is also an opportunity for comprehensive understanding of the industrial archaeology of Coalbrookdale’s iron furnaces now that iron founding will cease. We hope that part of the process for winding down and planning for the future will ensure that a thorough record will be made, by moving images of the modern plant in operation and then through below-ground archaeology, of a place that made the world we know today.”