Ironbridge Gorge museums
- Last updated:
- 29 April 2026
From spring 2026 we have taken on the care and management of the places that represent the birthplace of the industrial revolution within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire.
Ironbridge Gorge
The Ironbridge Gorge is a globally-important UNESCO World Heritage site, meaning it is recognised internationally as being ‘of outstanding value to humanity’, comprised of buildings, structures and artefacts of international, national and local significance.
Ten museum sites within the Gorge, including Blists Hill Victorian Town and Enginuity, have transferred into our care from their previous custodian, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (IGMT).
Investment
The transfer has been made possible thanks to £9 million investment provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). We are also grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England for funding and ongoing support throughout the process.
Our goal is to grow the number of people that visit Ironbridge Gorge’s sites, tackle the barriers that often prevent people from engaging with heritage and continue and deepen the site’s strong appeal for families through events, programming and storytelling that bring its unique history to life.
Ironbridge Gorge is widely regarded as the birthplace of the industrial revolution, which paved the way for the scientific and technological innovation that defines our world today. The site is an example of British ingenuity, a source of immense national and community pride and a distinct and much-loved icon of our shared heritage. 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.
Partnership
We worked closely with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust during the transfer period and will continue to work with partners up and down the gorge to care for the area, its buildings and collections, creating a fantastic experience for every visitor and a sense of renewal to the local community.
Visiting
As with any transfer of this nature and complexity, the transition to the National Trust will take time. The sites are currently closed as we carry out the necessary assessments and works to enable us to open. This includes the complex operation of installing new IT infrastructure which is needed to operate our tills, membership and ticketing systems. We are also welcoming staff and volunteers from from IGMT into the National Trust and working alongside them to benefit from their extensive knowledge of the special places that have entered our care.
Reopening
Our project team is working hard to be able to open each site in a phased approach over the coming months.
We are making considerable investment in IT and other infrastructure in order to ensure the smooth running of Ironbridge Gorge as part of the National Trust. Unfortunately, the implementation of this work has proved more challenging and time consuming than originally anticipated.
We are still intending to re-open Blists Hill, the Museum of Iron and the Furnace Kitchen as planned in May. Details of timings and prices will follow on our website in the next few weeks.
We are also able to confirm that we intend to reopen Jackfield Tile Museum and Enginuity to schools in June, with bookable visits to the Tile Museum at the weekends for other visitors.
We have however taken the difficult decision to slightly delay the re-opening of the Toll House to mid-June. The remaining Ironbridge Gorge sites, including the Museum of the Gorge will follow in a phased fashion over the rest of the year.
This is the first phase of the reopening of the entire Ironbridge Gorge collection of sites that will continue over the coming months and is a precursor to an exciting summer as we welcome National Trust members and other visitors to this World Heritage site
School visits
School visits have always been a huge part of the work at Ironbridge and we are keen to continue that in the future.
It will take us a little time to develop our plans for school visits, which we know is frustrating for school staff and pupils. We'd love to be able to contact schools as soon as we have finalised our approach, so if you are a school that has visited Ironbridge in the past, or would like to do so in the future, please follow this link to provide some contact details.
The future
We are busy working on our plans for the museums and collections at Ironbridge Gorge and will update this webpage with information timelines, access and our plans for this amazing site over the coming months.
