In 1890 a public meeting was called to discuss a new means of communication between the High Town and Low Town of Bridgnorth, avoiding the need to scale the 200 plus steps. The meeting was reported in the local press, and the matter came to the attention of Mr. G. Croydon Marks. Mr. Croydon Marks and Mr. George Newnes, M.P. subsequently laid a proposal before the town council for the erection of a Patent Cliff Railway, or inclined lift.

Plans were finally accepted for a route from the bottom of the Stoneway Steps to the end of the Castle Walk and consequently a company entitled The Bridgnorth Castle Hill Railway Company Ltd was registered in 1891.

The actual start of the construction work began on 2nd November 1891. Initial work was much hindered by the discovery of caves set into the cliff-face - one cave was so large it was necessary to support the roof to avoid slippage and subsidence. Another problem facing the construction work were the many houses built into the cliff face around the site - in some cases, the effect of excavating the cutting was to remove supporting walls from the poorly constructed dwellings. At either end of the track station buildings were constructed.

The original patented design of the railway was for a single track with two cars, with a crossing point mid way between top and bottom, but this was abandoned in favour of a double track. When finished, the track measured 201 ft long, with a vertical rise of 111ft. This gave the railway an incline of 33°, the steepest in England.

The rails were secured to sleepers which were themselves bolted into solid rock. At the upper end of the track, the hauling pulley was built on solid concrete foundations, the supporting buttresses of which carried a considerable distance down the track. Flat bottomed rails were used and the entire line was ballasted with concrete to avoid any slippage. Horizontal rollers were set into the track at regular intervals to support the cables.

Each car was mounted on a triangular frame of steel girders which housed a 2000 gallon water tank. The method of power was simple - the tank on the car at the top was filled with water from a 30,000 gallon tank mounted on the roof of the top station. When the tank was full, the total weight of the car was more than 9 tons, easily enough to counterbalance the bottom car with its 18 passengers. As the top car was being filled, the tank on the bottom car was being emptied, and the water pumped directly up to the top station tank by means of a pair of pumps driven by independent Forward Gas Engines.

The cars were linked by a pair of steel cables, the breaking strain of which was calculated to be 15 times the normal working load of the cars. In addition, the cars were fitted with rapid gripper brakes which automatically engaged should the rate of descent become too great. A second manually operated brake was the responsibility of the brakeman who rode on the bottom platform of each car.

The railway opened on 7th July 1892. The ceremony was performed by the Mayor, and in celebration the local townspeople enjoyed a public holiday. Between July and September 1892 over 50,000 passengers used the railway. The railway ran continuously for the next 41 years, until April 1933. In May 1934 it was reopened by new shareholders.