[Image from here is not available to guests]
Blists Hill Victorian Town recreates life in 1900

The National Trust is to take over the running of museums in the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, with the help of a £9m government grant.

It will replace Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, which has been operating the locations in Shropshire since 1967. The area was named a Unesco World heritage site in 1986. The trust currently runs 10 museums, and 35 listed buildings and scheduled monuments, including Blists Hill Victorian Town, the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, and the Old Furnace.

The grant will enable the National Trust to fund the upkeep of the properties, part of the government's Plan for Change to help boost the local economy.

The role of the Ironbridge Gorge in the Industrial Revolution owes much to Abraham Darby I's transformation of iron production, as well as the "iron masters" who followed him, with some likening the area to the silicon valley of its day. The innovations which were started there are widely recognised as being the catalyst for the building of the bridges, railways and machinery of the modern world.

The transfer of the assets to the National Trust is due to take place in spring 2026.

It does not include the world's first large iron bridge, a Grade I listed structure spanning the River Severn and giving the area its name, which is owned by Telford and Wrekin Council and cared for by English Heritage.

[Image from here is not available to guests]
One of the attractions visitors can see is the original blast furnace where Abraham Darby I perfected iron smelting

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the move would save and keep open a "key heritage asset", and it is hoped it will boost visitor numbers. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, it is absolutely vital that that the museums in the Ironbridge Gorge are protected."

The £9m from the government, along with support from the National Lottery and the Arts Council, will be used to help with running costs.

[Image from here is not available to guests]
The Jackfield Tile Museum is another of the attractions the National Trust will take on

The National Trust has said it aims to increase annual visitor numbers from 330,000 to 600,000 in the long term, tackle barriers that prevent people from engaging with heritage, and provide events and programming to appeal to families. Its director general, Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, said: "I cannot think of something more at home in the National Trust's care - an institution built to protect and preserve the things our nation loves on behalf of everyone, everywhere."

Mark Pemberton, chairman of the board of trustees of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said: "We are incredibly pleased to have secured the long-term future of the museum by its transfer to the National Trust."  He said the £9m recognised the "global significance and national importance of Ironbridge".

Plans 'absolutely vital' to protect future of Ironbridge museums

The interim boss in charge of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust says the new plan to protect the sites was "vital" after visitor numbers fell.

On Thursday it was announced the National Trust would be taking over the running of its 10 museums and 35 listed buildings and scheduled monuments, with the help of £9m from the government.

Karen Davies, the trust's interim chief executive officer, said the last five years had been "very difficult" and visitor numbers "were just not returning to pre-Covid levels". She said the museums were "not about to go bump", but added: "We recognised to protect the historic assets for the medium to long-term future, it was absolutely vital we put a plan in place."

The Ironbridge Gorge has been described as the birthplace of the industrial revolution, and one of the attractions is the original blast furnace where Abraham Darby I perfected iron smelting. His innovations, and those of the "iron masters" who followed him, are widely recognised as being the catalyst for the building of the bridges, railways and machinery of the modern world.

The museums tell the story of those achievements and of the Industrial Revolution and since 1967 the area's heritage has been overseen by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

But Ms Davies said visitor numbers had fallen from approximately 450,000 before the pandemic to just under 300,000 last year. She said ideally, to be sustainable, that figure needed to be 500,000. For that reason, she said the museum trust had spoken to "lots of organisations" to seek help.

[Image from here is not available to guests]
Blists Hill Victorian Town is one of the biggest attractions in the Ironbridge Gorge

The National Trust has said it aims to increase annual visitor numbers to 600,000 in the long term, and Ms Davies said: "We consider ourselves to be very fortunate the National Trust recognised the absolute uniqueness of Ironbridge."

She said the "stories that we tell you can't find that anywhere else in the world," and it would be up to the National Trust to decide how to tell that story. Ms Davies also said: "The whole idea of government investing the £9m is that the National Trust will have the ability to invest in all our sites and bring them to life more."

Ms Davies said it was too early to talk about the impact on jobs, but in the short term all employees would move over to the National Trust when the takeover is completed in the spring. "We haven't started to discuss operational plans with the National Trust," she added.

The future of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is more certain, however, and she said the organisation would be wound up in mid-2026.

Ironbridge volunteers restore replica 1800s Trevithick steam locomotive

[Image from here is not available to guests]

Volunteers at Blists Hill Victorian Town in Telford have restored a full-scale working replica of the world's first steam railway locomotive.

The Trevithick was first designed by Richard Trevithick in 1802, with the original built in the Ironbridge Gorge by the Coalbrookdale Company.

After about eight months of repairs, the replica is running again for visitors for the first time in 18 months.

"We're thrilled to bits that we've finally got this engine back on its plateway, it's a pretty unique exhibit," said Trevor Barraclough, steam engineer and volunteer with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

"We've done quite a lot of work to it, reboring the cylinders… replacing the heat tubes and the boiler, repairing things that have been done to it in the past, and trying to cope with old technology in a new technological environment. It's a very interesting thing to drive, but there's very little on it that's on a steam locomotive you might find on the Severn Valley."

He described it as a "clockwork version" of a steam train. "We believe it's the first steam powered locomotive to work on a track," he told the BBC.

"Trevithick had built many stationary engines, he came here to Coalbrookdale to produce this high pressure engine, in its day it was like nuclear physics - this thing was working at much higher pressure than the Cornish mine engines.

"It was feared, and rightly so, this thing was operating at four, five times the pressure of the contemporary engines and marked the ability to put a lot of energy in a very compact unit that could then be fitted to something reasonably sized on a set of rails."

He said that this engine industrialised the movement of things like coal, iron and clay. "Before this engine was built, if you wanted to move wagons of coal up and down a plateway... you had to do it either by hand… or with horses. People and horses get tired, they need feeding… whereas a steam engine, the idea was it would do the work for you."

The engine is up and running at the Victorian Town and will continue to do so until the first hard frost in December.

New summer bus service for Ironbridge tourists

[Image from here is not available to guests]
The bus will take people to a number of sites around the Ironbridge Gorge - Image © Getty Images

A new summer bus service aims to help people get to popular tourist attractions in the Ironbridge Gorge.

The bus will run every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday until 13 September and passengers can hop on and off throughout the day for £2.

It will call at The Wrekin, Wellington town centre, Madeley High Street, Ironbridge Wharfage, Blists Hill Victorian Town, Jackfield Tile Museum and other attractions.

Telford and Wrekin said Ironbridge Gorge Park and Ride at Jiggers Bank car park would also be available throughout the summer.

The council said its "Wrekin Connect" bus was being run as a trial service and it wanted to hear people's feedback.

It said it hoped the service would allow people "to enjoy a full day out exploring the area without the need to use their car".

Ollie Vickers, the councillor responsible for transport, said the bus was a "simple and affordable way to travel".

The council has produced a full timetable and route map.