Ironbridge Gorge Museums
Spanning the Ironbridge Gorge and set either side of the River Severn, the indoor and outdoor museums offer visitors a chance to step back in history and experience the sights and sounds of the Gorge's past. The museum's take visitors on a journey from the start of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1700's to the Victorian era 100 years later.
The most recent museum is Enginuity, where the workings of everyday 21st Century objects are unravelled.
The museums stand as a testament to the Ironbridge Gorge - six miles that 300 years ago, changed the world forever.
It was here in Shropshire that the Industrial revolution first started. For here, the great Quaker Ironmaster Abraham Darby the First, discovered the secret of smelting iron with cheap and plentiful coke instead of expensive and less efficient charcoal.
Whilst Britain's first iron-making centre may be a peaceful place today, in the past it was filled with smoke, fire and blast furnaces from which the sounds and smells of early industry arose, bearing the first iron rails, wheels, boats, the first steam locomotive, as well as the first iron bridge.
Other industries were also first developed in Ironbridge, ranging from decorative ceramic tile making, to hand-painted porcelain and clay pipes.
Ironbridge was declared a World Heritage site in 1986, following the work of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum trust, set up in 1967 to protect the heritage and remains of the Industrial revolution for future generations.
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The Gorge is easily reached via the M6 and M54 motorways exiting at Telford (M54 Junction 4 or 5)