Coalbrookdale is a work of fiction based on the life of Joseph Bangham, living with his family in the Severn Gorge three hundred years ago. He worked for the Coalbrookdale ironworks when Abraham Darby was perfecting the use of coal in the production of iron. These developments facilitated the mass production of iron and as the technology spread, industry thrived. This was a pivotal moment in the history of the modern world.

The story depicts the lives of an ordinary family living at an extraordinary time, in this district known as the 'cradle of the Industrial Revolution'. It traces the journey of the Bangham family as they move from Banghams Wood, where they have been coppicing and making charcoal for generations, across the Gorge to Coalbrookdale.

Their way of life changes fundamentally, no longer dependent on the seasons, but on the demands of the furnace. As with any family there is joy as well as tragedy, all played out against the backdrop of the often brutal 18th Century in England, when even a child could be hanged for poaching a rabbit for the pot.