How the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust preserved the birthplace of modern industry
The Ironbridge Gorge shaped the modern world - centuries later, a dedicated community has fought to preserve its legacy, rebuilding the past brick by brick for future generations.
During the 18th century, the Ironbridge Gorge was the epicentre of global industrialisation - the Silicon Valley of its day.
Centuries later, as ideas spread around the world and technology began to move on, many of the Gorge's important sites fell into decline.
Before long, efforts began to be made to preserve the history of the area.
In the 1950s, a group of local people formed the Coalbrookdale Archives Association and began rescuing books and objects that would otherwise have been destroyed.
In 1967, the recently formed Dawley Development Corporation (later, the Telford Development Corporation) set up a museum trust to restore and protect important sites - including Coalbrookdale, Coalport, Blists Hill, Bedlam Furnaces and - of course - the Iron Bridge.
In 1971, the trust began to raise money for the development of an open air park which would eventually become Blists Hill Victorian Town.
Blists Hill
What became the most popular museum in the trust's collection was also the first.
Blists Hill opened to the public in 1973, on the site of former a iron making, mining and brickmaking complex in Madeley.
The museum was created as a way to provide a permanent home for important historic buildings that were being demolished to make way for the development of the new town of Telford.
Relocated buildings include several from Ironbridge, a tallow candle manufactory from Madeley, a bakery from Dawley, the physician's surgery from Donnington, the school from Stirchley and the cafe - the Forest Glen pavilion that used to sit at the foot of the Wrekin.
Over the years, the museum has featured as a filming location for several productions, including Blue Peter, Doctor Who and Antiques Roadshow.
