IRONBRIDGE GORGE MUSEUM TRUST
Registered UK Charity N0: 503717
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust Limited is a registered charity with the twin aims of education and heritage conservation and is one of the largest independent museums in the world. The Trust cares for 35 scheduled monuments and listed buildings within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site and operates 10 award-winning museums that collectively tell the story of the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
The Ironbridge Gorge is one of the most significant industrial landscapes in the world. In 1709 Abraham Darby I successfully made cast iron using coke as the fuel instead of charcoal at the old blast furnace. The result was cheap iron, produced on a scale much larger than before. This made the Industrial Revolution possible and shaped the world in which we live in today. The story was not just of iron, as a thriving ceramics industry also developed within the Gorge. Coalport China Works produced fine ceramics for European royalty. Jackfield was the world centre of the decorative tile industry and Broseley had a thriving clay tobacco pipe industry.
Broseley was well known for its fine pipes in the 1800’s. ‘Broseley’ white clay pipes were recognised nationally for 300 years and for centuries every smoker knew that ‘A Broseley’ was the finest quality clay pipe you could buy. Pipes made in Broseley factories went all over the world and Broseley pipe makers' fame was based on their high quality, long-stemmed, plain pipes. The best-known of these were the long stemmed 'Churchwardens'.
The Pipeworks factory was abandoned in 1960. All the equipment for making clay tobacco pipes was left inside. The buildings and equipment had not changed hands in 80 years, so the Pipeworks became a true time capsule. It was the last factory in the town to make pipes and when it closed, 300 years of a famous Broseley tradition came to an end.
In 1991 the buildings and content were purchased by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Bridgnorth District Council, and it was agreed that the whole of the main 3 story building should be preserved as a time capsule and museum and now this is the only pipeworks in the country complete with its original equipment.
Abraham Darby the first is also buried here in the Old Quaker Burial Ground.
Clay pipemaking is on the Heritage Craft Association’s list of ‘endangered crafts’ and Oliver Meeson, a demonstrator at the Pipeworks is among the last clay pipe-makers in Britain. It's wonderful that a young man like Oliver is keeping this cherished, heritage craft alive and we are extremely grateful for the support received by The Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders, to help us keep the tradition alive.
For more information please visit Ironbridge Valley of Invention.
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