Exclusive look at huge £12m project

Site manager and curator of social history Tracey Dix-Williams with project manager John McStay.Site manager and curator of social history Tracey Dix-Williams with project manager John McStay.

These are exclusive photographs of a new-look £12 million-plus Victorian town which is being developed as part of an expansion project at a Telford tourist attraction.

The revamped Blists Hill Victorian Town is due to open in spring and yesterday bosses opened their doors for a special hard-hat tour.

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The project is being funded by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund.

The newly expanded site will open to the public in spring next year.

Guests were given unprecedented access to the expansion site yesterday. When it is completed it will boast a collection of new shops and businesses, including a hardware store, drapers, stationers, photographers and adjacent studio, sweet shop and fried fish dealer.

Ruth Denison, project manager, said: “We’re thrilled work is progressing so well. When this project is complete we will have a heritage attraction the whole region can be proud of.”

A cluster of new manufacturing workshops for decorative plaster goods, a plumbers, tinsmiths, foundry fettling yard and wash house are also being recreated alongside Blists Hill’s Canal Street and the Shropshire Canal.

Mrs Denison said: “We are now at a hugely exciting stage, as the footprints of the buildings are emerging out of the mud.

“Our main contractor Mansell is doing a fantastic job of translating our years of careful planning and research into one of the most accurate recreations of a Victorian street that has ever been attempted.

“Every detail has been addressed, such as the design of the chimney stacks and pots, street furniture, the specification of the bricks and even the depth of mortar.

“The improvements we are making will not only be a valuable educational resource, but also create a must-see attraction for tourists from all over the world.”

A public open night is being held on August 21, from 5.45pm to 7.45pm. The original musem site is still open to visitors.

By Andy Richardson

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This article posted on August 7, 2008 at 11:50

3 Comments

  1. Rob, Telford said: Aug 7th, 2008 at 14:08

    Hmmm, so that’ll mean more cars parked in surrounding roads to avoid the museum’s parking charges.

    It’s a shame Advantage West Midlands (a totally unelected body) doesn’t see fit to spend money on the Madeley part of the World Heritage Site (a real Victorian town) which has been allowed to slowly decay for years.

    No, instead we see yet more cash pumped into the “mocktorian” and totally unrealistic Blists Hill (which for the benefit of readers - despite frequent comments to the contrary by this paper, the BBC and the Museum Trust themselves, is not in Ironbridge, or the favourite “Ironbridge near Telford” but in MADELEY.

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  2. eva land said: Aug 7th, 2008 at 16:27

    Why bother, anyone would think that the Victorian Era was a period in history that we all must want to return to.

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  3. eva land said: Aug 7th, 2008 at 22:17

    That is all we see everywhere anyway mock Victorian pastiche so who is this aimed at?

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