Just a ten minute drive from the M54 sits a wonderland so integral to
the industrial revolution yet so pretty and quaint with a laid-back ambiance all
of its own.
Welcome to Ironbridge!
Our day out begins at the Blists Hill Victorian Town, and our first
head-scratcher of the day – exchanging our 21st Century pounds into
Victoria pounds, shillings and pence.
Strangely enough, there isn’t an iPhone app to help us so we have to
rely on good old-fashioned brain power (together with the conversion tables in
many of the shops!) It really is like
stepping back in time, with the Victorian characters going about their daily
business. It doesn’t feel like a museum –
although we are learning so much as we make our way through the 52 acre
site. Oh yes, flat shoes are a
must! Having worked up an appetite, we
treat ourselves to some “real” ice cream before heading off to our next
destination – the Museum of Iron.
And so we find ourselves at the Museum Of Iron in Coalbridge, a true
homage to the early days of the iron industry and Quaker, Abraham Darby, the man
who developed blast furnacing, which was so important to the industrial
revolution. The gift shop sells some
beautiful cast-iron kitchen accessories – yes, cast iron CAN be beautiful! Cookery book stands, kitchen towel holders,
spoon rests and door stops are all hard to resist but you may want to buy them
at the end of your visit and put them straight in the car – cast iron is very
heavy to carry around!
Just around the corner from the Museum of Iron is Enginuity; a
scientific playground for children of all ages …… yes, even those of us who left
school in the 1980s! Here we used a
pully to pull a steam train engine, we got wet trying to figure out how to turn
water into electricity and we saw the insides of many everyday objects with the
brilliant giant x-ray machine. We also loved the scan and learn terminals,
where you can pick a nearby object, scan it with your own scanning
hand-terminal and learn more about it.
Absolutely brilliant!
Our final stop of the day was the Darby Houses, also located at
Coalbridge. A five minute uphill walk
from the Coalbridge car park (the views are stunning, by the way - see below!) takes you to the Darby Houses, where the rooms
have been recreated and set back to the
time when the Darby family inhabited them.
And who said historical houses can be dull? The final room in the main house is devoted
to the art of dressing up! Hats adorn
tables, and grand dresses for the ladies and frock coats for the chaps
await! Don’t be shy – they’re there for
a reason! The curators within the house
will even help you into the costumes and let you have your pictures taken in
the grand kitchen – so much fun!
Sadly, we ran out of time to explore the main centre of Ironbridge but
I am confident that the many gorgeous boutiques and artisan cafes will receive
our patronage later on in the summer months when we go back to this beautiful
Shropshire gem called Ironbridge.
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