Merrythought has handmade traditional teddy bears in the World Heritage Site of Ironbridge, Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England since 1930.

The vicinity is known as Dale End, lying at the bottom of the Coalbrookdale valley, and falls within the wider Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.

The company hired AC Janisch who had been in charge of sales at J. K. Farnell[3] as well as two former employees of Chad Valley, Clifton James Rendle and Florence May Attwood, with Attwood producing the company's first catalogue – an imaginative range of 32 toys[4] including the first Merrythought teddy bear 'Magnet' ('M' series).

Perhaps Merrythought's most famous individual bear was "Mr Whoppit", the mascot of land and water speed record breaker Donald Campbell.

[1] Business grew rapidly, despite the Great Depression, with the Ironbridge site becoming the largest soft toy factory in Britain in 1935[3] and by 1939 over 200 people worked for Merrythought.

In 2007 a catalogue was unveiled, with a "much sharper, collector-focused group of products",[1] focusing on the traditional mohair teddy bears that Merrythought had become most famous for since the 1930s.

This was a short-lived partnership and Merrythought ended up bringing production back in-house in early 2010 and have since then continued to manage all elements of the business from Ironbridge, Shropshire.

The company still uses traditional methods and materials (such as mohair for its bears) to produce a limited range of hand-crafted toys, appealing to the high end of the market.

Recent commemorative bears include those for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton,[13] the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and in memory of the late Oliver Holmes.

Displays of historic and current Merrythought products can be seen at the small shop and museum located at the company's Ironbridge site, which is open seven days a week throughout the year and is free to enter.

The Ironbridge Brewery was located at the Village until 2014 (it moved to Wellington and has been renamed) and brewed real ale in the building closest to the Severn.

[17] In modern times some people now regard the golliwogg, or Golly doll, that is a traditional children's toy dating back to the 19th Century, as a symbol of racism.