Ironbridge Museums

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.  

There are ten places within the Gorge site, including the Blists Hill Victorian Town and Enginuity museums all of which will transfer to our care. 

Investment

This 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. 

Partnership

We will be working closely together with The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust during the transition period and will also 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

Currently, visitors should go to the Ironbridge Gorge Museums website for information on events and opening hours. 

Our project team is working hard to prepare to take on the care of the sites currently under the management of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (IGMT). As with any transfer of this nature and complexity, the transition to the National Trust will take time. 

Once the transfer to the National Trust completes on 2 March 2026 there will be a period of closure 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 will also be welcoming staff and volunteers from IGMT into the National Trust and working alongside them to benefit from their extensive knowledge of the special places entering our care.   

Reopening

This will result in a phased reopening of each site over the following months. Whilst we are unable confirm our exact plans, until we are onsite and work is underway; we anticipate the reopening timeline to be as follows:  

  

• Museum of the Gorge and Toll House from late April 2026  

• Blists Hill, Museum of Iron and The Old Furnace from mid-May 2026  

• Enginuity from summer 2026 (school visits from April 2026)  

• Coalport China Museum, Jackfield Tile Museum, Darby Houses, Tar Tunnel and Broseley Pipeworks will follow with phased opening.  

We look forward to being able to welcome visitors and will update details of our opening timeline as soon as we know more

School visits

Over the next few months, our priority is the successful transfer of IGMT and its assets, while supporting staff and volunteers through this process. We have therefore taken the difficult decision to pause school visits until after the transfer is complete.

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 in the Ironbridge Gorge and will update this webpage with information timelines, access and our plans for this amazing site over the coming months.