Images show how Ironbridge's history was saved

And if not for the intervention of a museums trust, these landmarks could have been lost forever.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust has shared pictures of some of its museums as they looked decades ago.

Many are boarded up, run down and in a poor state of repair.

But those images can be compared to what the museums look like now, regularly attracting thousands of visitors to find out more about Shropshire's World Heritage site and the history of the region.

One such building is the Iron Bridge Tollhouse, now a key stopping point for visitors taking in the iconic Iron Bridge.

The tollhouse opened for business, charging its first tolls on New Year’s Day 1781, but in 1934 the bridge was closed to vehicles and tolls for pedestrians ceased in 1950.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust later acquired and restored the original tollhouse building and opened a Tourist Information Centre in 1972

·Today the upper floor houses an exhibition about the history of the Iron Bridge, and the lower floor is used as a museum information point and shop.

The Coalport China Works has now become the Coalport China Museum.

The works were opened by John Rose in 1795 and Coalport China was produced there until production moved to Staffordshire in 1926. By 1976 the factory, which had been used for making exhaust pipes was virtually derelict.

It was acquired by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust who restored the building and opened the Coalport China Museum, which went on to win the European Museum of the Year Award.

Today visitors can see collections of Coalport and Caughley china displayed in the riverside buildings and see talented crafts men and women demonstrating different historic skills connected with the ceramics trade, such as decorating china and making saggars.

There are also often chances for younger visitors to have a go at making china creations.

Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron was one of the first museums to open within the Gorge.

The Great Warehouse, was built in 1838 at a time when the Coalbrookdale Ironworks was reckoned to be the largest foundry in the world, and was producing a vast and varied range of iron objects.

It was used for the storage of castings before they were taken by plateway to the River Severn for despatch by barge.

The original Coalbrookdale Museum was opened by Allied Ironfounders on October 15, 1959 and was housed in a modern, single-storey building, adjacent to the Great Warehouse.

On July 5 1970, Prince Charles opened new museum within the Great Warehouse which celebrated the history of iron and of the Coalbrookdale Company

And on June 14 2017 the all new Museum of Iron, still housed in the former Great Warehouse, was opened by The Duke of Gloucester.

2017 has been a significant year for the Ironbridge Gorge Museums; not only because it’s 50 years since the founding of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust in 1967 but also May 5 2017 marked the 300th anniversary of the death of Abraham Darby I, widely regarded as the man who started the Industrial Revolution.