Coalport Bridge Toll House

The building is a combined warehouse and tollhouse, originating in the 1793 to 1808 as a warehouse, used as a house by 1815, and serving as a tollhouse from 1818 following repairs to the adjacent Coalport Bridge, a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Ownership passed to Shropshire County Council in 1922, and it was restored after being taken over by the Buildings at Risk Trust in 1994. The building is constructed of brick with plain tile roofs and brick stacks, arranged in a roughly L-shaped layout, incorporating a former warehouse and a later extension.

The two-storey tollhouse facing the road presents a single-storey appearance, featuring a timber lintel over a plank door to the left of a central stack, and a square bay window to the right. A segmental brick arch covers a 6-pane timber casement in the left-hand gable, while a plank door, formerly with a gabled porch, sits beneath a lintel in the right-hand gable. The ground slopes steeply to the rear, with a truncated stack and copper projection. A mid-19th-century wash house, largely rebuilt in 1994, features central plank double doors.

The rear warehouse range, overlooking the Severn, is built in English stretcher bond brick with dog-tooth eaves, originally featuring two bays with a central entrance. The front has segmental brick arches over a central plank door and flanking 2-light iron casements, each with 3 panes; the left casement’s position was altered following the installation of a stack behind the tollhouse. Above are two similar casements set under the eaves, flanking a fixed-pane 4-light casement. The right gable end has a segmental brick arch over a glazing-bar sash and a blocked ground-floor doorway. The rear of this section has a similar casement above an inserted doorway, and a projecting 2-storey wing dating to approximately 1860 with a lateral stack and, on the rear gable, two glazing-bar timber casements (one with panelled shutters) alongside a glazed door.

The interior, which has been largely restored, retains timber roof trusses and purlins and some salvaged oak beams. Its early use as a warehouse reflects the 18th-century river traffic and industrial activity that contribute to the Ironbridge Gorge's World Heritage Site status. The building represents a fine example of a combined warehouse and tollhouse.