Well worth a visit, Blists Hill Shropshire UK

[micktoon]

  Hi All , I was in Shropshire UK on Tuesday and visited Blists Hill Victorian Town Museum , I was pushed for time so only had three hours there, which is no where near long enough. I took some photos so others can see it for themselves. I have been to Beamish Museum in North East England located near Newcastle upon Tyne/ Durham area UK a good few times , it covers a large area and has a mine shaft , farm , mining village , country house, railway , train station , and main high street all of which are very impressive. Blists Hill is like a smaller version but has more metal related things there.
  Imagine my delight when on the map I saw listed, Goods shed , iron merchants , iron foundry , tinsmiths , machine shop , masons yard , locksmiths , Winding engine , brick & tile works , mine , blacksmiths , saw mill , wood turning and carving , iron works , blast furnaces !! alongside other places too.
  All in all I was very impressed and could have spent much longer there , the photos are just some of the sights , there are steam engines, old machines etc lying all over the place , I have just uploaded enough photos to give the general idea of the place , mainly in case someone was wondering if it was worth a visit if planning a trip. This was just one actual part of several linked sites along the Iron Bridge Gorge.

The foundry, they cast nameplates, door stops and other objects for sale









The Trevithick runnning along side the canal.


Inside the machine shop, various machines and steam engines pumps etc.






The Locksmiths workshop


The Tinsmiths


The Ironworks and Rolling mill




Boiler house next to Blast furnaces


The blast furnaces remains




Inside the rolling mill


A big old lathe made by Buck& sons Bolton ..... what a waste !


The Blacksmiths shop , again what he makes is for sale.


David and Sampson Engine


The Spry, a sailing ship that carried goods, its bigger than it looks on the photo.


No photos of the Sawmill which is where the woodturning and carving goes on , this was because I was so engrossed in talking to Malcolm Gibbons ( a relative of Grinling Gibbons ) who was very helpful giving me tips on wood carving and tool sharpening, I forgot to take any at all !.

  Well worth a visit in my opinion , hope the photos are of interest to forum menbers.

 Cheers Mick.

[John Rudd]

One place to visit on me next holidays...

Thanks for that..Always on the look out for places to visit.

[John Stevenson]

You need two full days to do this because it's part of a tour.
Buy a family ticket and it gets you into about 7 different places, Blists Hill only being one.
There is a tile museum and a china museum if you are taking Gert, a museum of the river which explains how important the Severn river was for traffic.

The iron museum which has the remains of the first modern furnace and and some fantastic castings in iron. The tar tunnel,if open where you can go in and see lakes of bituminous tar they they just scooped out.

Not forgetting the first iron bridge in the world.

http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/

About 15 miles away is an awesome air museum, not sure of the name but someone will chime in.

Actually rereading this better make it a week.

[Pete W.]

Hi there, all,

The problem with this place is that different people have so many different names for it.  I recently recommended it on another thread.

My late wife and I visited in 1987 and Friday lunchtime to Sunday lunchtime wasn't time enough then - judging by Mick's photos, they've brought a lot more exhibits onto the site since then.

We stayed in a B&B that had originally been the home of the proprietor of one of the tile factories.

For anyone interested in church architecture, the church in Ironbridge is built the 'wrong way round', the sun lights up the stained glass windows during evensong rather than the morning service.  This is because of the constraints of the ledge on the side of the gorge on which the church was built.  The ground is so rocky and the soil cover so shallow, we were told that only members of the clergy are buried in the churchyard, other people have to be buried in a cemetery some way away.

[doubleboost]

Thanks Mick
I could spend a month there
John

[Rob.Wilson]

I agree with Mr JS you really need two days ,, I spent the weekend there in 2005 , great place  popped into the Anderton boat lift on the way home 


Rob

[mosey]

Is that the home of the Shropshire Slasher?
Too far for my trip, darn.

[Deko]

John, I think the air museum you mention will be at RAF Cosford, which I am sure is open to the public about 6 days a week all year round.

Cheers Dek.

[kayz1]

John, I think the air museum you mention will be at RAF Cosford, which I am sure is open to the public about 6 days a week all year round.

Cheers Dek.

And FREE to get in..

[John Stevenson]

Yup that's the one, not far from Ironbridge. Actually about 3" on my map.

[Ginger Nut]

  Thanks for the post just amazing to see such a great collection preserved.