Ironbridge - West
Ironbridge - West
The Ironbridge Tour again starts at the mini-roundabout where Buildwas Road & Dale Road meet.
Merrythought Factory [15]
 You are facing a brick building that originally belonged to Coalbrookdale Foundry. It was built in 1898 and today is the home of the world-famous Merrythought Teddy Bear Factory.
In September 1930 it was rented by two men from Yorkshire who were looking for a suitable place to manufacture handmade toys from mohair yarns. The toy company was named Merrythought at Dale End. In 1939 there was a brief hiatus when the war started, the building was taken over for map making work and Merrythought made helmet linings, sleeve badges, gas mask bags and various necessities for the war effort in a building in Wellington.
In 1946 the toy company moved back to the Dale and has continued production to this day with a lot of their work being done exclusively by hand.
In 1956 the building was purchased for full time use in toy manufacture. The highly collectible lines of Teddy Bears and other soft toys are changed each year with a new limited issue, though some are still made from the original designs of the 1930's.
The name “ Teddy Bear” originated in America, where it is said that in November 1902 President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt was hunting and refused to shoot a captive brown bear. The incident resulted in a newspaper cartoon. Then a shopkeeper in Brooklyn New York made a soft toy bear and sold it as “Teddy’s Bear” .
Dale End Park
Just beyond the roundabout is a small car park leading onto Dale End Park which is a lovely riverside area for walking or picnicking. The park was originally the gardens of the Rawdon-Smith family whose house you see at the entrance. They planted some lovely specimen trees which have grown to very respectable sizes and make the grounds interesting. There is a cast iron bench made by the Coalbrookdale Company in the round garden bed area. In season there is usually a good variety of colour from the annuals and a nice selection of roses and climbers.
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