National Trust gets £9m for Ironbridge Industrial Revolution museums takeover

The National Trust is to take over the running of museums in the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, with the help of a £9m government grant.

It will replace Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust, which has been operating the locations in Shropshire since 1967. The area was named a Unesco World heritage site in 1986.

The trust currently runs 10 museums, and 35 listed buildings and scheduled monuments, including Blists Hill Victorian Town, the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, and the Old Furnace.

The grant will enable the National Trust to fund the upkeep of the properties, part of the government’s Plan for Change to help boost the local economy.

The role of the Ironbridge Gorge in the Industrial Revolution owes much to Abraham Darby I’s transformation of iron production, as well as the “iron masters” who followed him, with some likening the area to the silicon valley of its day.

The innovations which were started there are widely recognised as being the catalyst for the building of the bridges, railways and machinery of the modern world.

The transfer of the assets to the National Trust is due to take place in spring 2026.

It does not include the world’s first large iron bridge, a Grade I listed structure spanning the River Severn and giving the area its name, which is owned by Telford and Wrekin Council and cared for by English Heritage.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the move would save and keep open a “key heritage asset”, and it is hoped it will boost visitor numbers.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, it is absolutely vital that that the museums in the Ironbridge Gorge are protected.”

The £9m from the government, along with support from the National Lottery and the Arts Council, will be used to help with running costs.

The National Trust has said it aims to increase annual visitor numbers from 330,000 to 600,000 in the long term, tackle barriers that prevent people from engaging with heritage, and provide events and programming to appeal to families.

Its director general, Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, said: “I cannot think of something more at home in the National Trust’s care – an institution built to protect and preserve the things our nation loves on behalf of everyone, everywhere.”

Mark Pemberton, chairman of the board of trustees of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said: “We are incredibly pleased to have secured the long-term future of the museum by its transfer to the National Trust.”

He said the £9m recognised the “global significance and national importance of Ironbridge”.