United Kingdom Canyon World Heritage
Ironbridge Gorge
95 m of rock, cut by the River Severn.
Matt From London · CC BY 2.0
The cut
95 metres, to scale.
A slice through Ironbridge Gorge where it is deepest and narrowest, measured on the Copernicus relief model every 30 m. Same scale as the landmark standing on the floor.
Standing on the floor, to scale: Tower of Pisa · 56 m
Depth is measured to the lower rim; the width is from rim to rim. A 30 m relief model smooths the narrowest walls, so a slot canyon reads shallower than it is.
95m
Depth
measured on the 30 m relief model
2.2km
Rim to rim
measured on the 30 m relief model
13°
Steepest wall
average over 300 m, from the relief
33m
Floor altitude
Rim to floor
Afternoons, up top and down below.
In July the afternoon reaches 21 °C. The best months to hike are from June to September.
- 7°6°Jan
- 7°7°Feb
- 10°9°Mar
- 13°13°Apr
- 17°16°May
- 20°19°Jun
- 21°20°Jul
- 21°20°Aug
- 18°18°Sep
- 14°14°Oct
- 10°9°Nov
- 7°6°Dec
Afternoon highs, 1991–2020 averages (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the rim and of the floor with the standard lapse rate (6.5 °C per 1 000 m). Shade, wind and rock change this on the day. Not a forecast.
Canyon in The Gorge, Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England, UK
Ironbridge Gorge is a canyon in United Kingdom, cut by the River Severn. The relief model measures 95 m from the floor to the lower rim. Rim to rim it is 2.2 km wide where the cut was taken. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Getting there.
- Ironbridgenearest town · 0.8 km in a straight line
- Parking 670 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
- The Rotundanearest viewpoint · 3.8 km from the floor
- Birmingham Airport (BHX)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 53 km in a straight lineCar hire at BHX airport (Birmingham, West Midlands)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
- From June to Septemberbest months to hike (estimate)
Plan the visit
Guided hikes, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The river
The River Severn runs highest from October to March.
The River Severn carries about 92 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from October to March.
- 130 m³/sJan
- 102 m³/sFeb
- 91 m³/sMar
- 71 m³/sApr
- 57 m³/sMay
- 52 m³/sJun
- 53 m³/sJul
- 58 m³/sAug
- 42 m³/sSep
- 102 m³/sOct
- 141 m³/sNov
- 148 m³/sDec
From about 42 m³/s in the lowest month to 148 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 3,730 km².
Follow the River Severn from source to mouth on Riveryas
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From the sky.
The canyon from above, with the relief shaded, the line of the cut, the river and what people have mapped around it.
N
1.2 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 5.0 × 5.0 km, north up. The line is the cut above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the canyon.
- 5viewpoints within 5 kmThe Rotunda and 4 more
- 11marked hiking routes within 4 kmMonarch's Way, South Telford Way, South Telford Heritage Trail and 8 more
- 22footbridges and suspension bridges within 3 kmThe Iron Bridge, Jackfield & Coalport Memorial Bridge and 20 more
- 1named waterfalls within 4 kmLoamhole Waterfall
- 146car parks within 3 km
- 7information boards and visitor centres within 4 km
- 38bus stops within 2 km
- 6campsites within 8 kmIron Gorge Camping, Wrekin Scout Camp, Sytche Camping and Caravan Park and 3 more
- 38hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmPremier Inn (Telford Central), Clairmont Guest House, The Hundred House Hotel and 35 more
- 29restaurants and cafés within 4 km
- via ferrata routes within 4 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- rafting, canoe, kayak or canyoning spots within 4 km
- swimming spots within 3 km
- caves within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the floor of the canyon. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Ironbridge0.8 km in a straight line
- Broseley1.6 km in a straight line
- Telford5.8 km in a straight line
- Much Wenlock6.7 km in a straight line
- Oakengates7.8 km in a straight line
- Hadley8.2 km in a straight line
- Shifnal8.4 km in a straight line
- Ryton8.4 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Ironbridge Gorge.
The river that carved it, the waterfalls inside it, the mountains on the rim, the lakes, beaches and island nearby — from our six sister atlases, each with its own figures.
Peakyas2 mountains within 15 km
Lakeyas1 lakes within 15 kmComing soonFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather, at the floor and at the rim.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon · floor | 7 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 17 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 7 |
| Afternoon · rim | 6 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 6 |
| Night · rim | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Rain (mm) | 68 | 55 | 57 | 51 | 64 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 56 | 82 | 79 | 76 |
| Rainy days | 15 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 15 |
| Sun hours/day | 1.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 5.7 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 5.9 | 5.1 | 4.7 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Afternoon · floor | Afternoon · rim | Night · rim | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 7 | 6 | 1 | 68 | 1.5 |
| Feb | 7 | 7 | 1 | 55 | 2.5 |
| Mar | 10 | 9 | 1 | 57 | 4.0 |
| Apr | 13 | 13 | 4 | 51 | 5.7 |
| May | 17 | 16 | 6 | 64 | 6.4 |
| Jun | 20 | 19 | 10 | 70 | 6.3 |
| Jul | 21 | 20 | 11 | 74 | 5.9 |
| Aug | 21 | 20 | 11 | 74 | 5.1 |
| Sep | 18 | 18 | 9 | 56 | 4.7 |
| Oct | 14 | 14 | 6 | 82 | 2.8 |
| Nov | 10 | 9 | 4 | 79 | 1.7 |
| Dec | 7 | 6 | 2 | 76 | 1.2 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the floor (33 m) and the rim (129 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Seen from the trail.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 98% | 252% | 84% | 78% | 14% | 146% | 92% | 138% | 63% | 164% | 76% | 164% |
| 2021 | 192% | 121% | 79% | 30% | 195% | 61% | 97% | 59% | 114% | 140% | 38% | 112% |
| 2022 | 36% | 158% | 81% | 55% | 123% | 66% | 35% | 39% | 122% | 121% | 143% | 84% |
| 2023 | 88% | 24% | 192% | 135% | 51% | 75% | 131% | 93% | 124% | 162% | 100% | 182% |
| 2024 | 90% | 199% | 183% | 143% | 142% | 49% | 104% | 45% | 215% | 118% | 86% | 96% |
| 2025 | 122% | 90% | 26% | 68% | 43% | 74% | 65% | 32% | 149% | 74% | 158% | 154% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Compare with the neighbours.
Ironbridge Gorge
United Kingdom
- 95 mDepth
- 2.2 kmRim to rim
- —Length
- 13°Steepest wall
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length | Wikidata (Q647958) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The cut: depth, width, wall and 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Viewpoints, trails, bridges and the river line | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.You are here