Ironbridge attracts more than 567,000 visitors

Ironbridge was one of the most visited tourist attractions in England last year with more than 567,000 people paying to enter the visitor centre, new figures showed today.

The World Heritage Site came 16th in the list of paid-for attractions and increased its number of people visiting – 567,510 – by one per cent compared with 2009.

However, three other county museums have seen a slump in numbers. The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford fell by more than 10 per cent to 310,089, but still came seventh in a list of free attractions in the West Midlands.

Two other attractions in the region to fall in numbers were the Coalport China Museum, which fell by more than three per cent (77,341), while the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron (72,369) dropped by more than four per cent.

In a top 20 list of paid for attractions in the West Midlands, they came in 16th and 17th place respectively.