Ironbridge Gorge 'will be preserved for future generations' thanks to new £10 million funding

The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is to receive £9.9 million in government support to counter the long-term impacts of the Covid pandemic.

The cash will be spent on vital conservation work on 35 scheduled monuments and listed buildings at the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

It comes as the gorge continues to deal with the aftermath of three years of lockdowns and serious flooding which has forced the Museum of The Gorge and Coalport China Museum to close.

The money is the first grant to be awarded from the Cultural Assets Fund and represents almost half of the £20m government funding stream to protect treasured heritage assets in England from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is the second boost to the trust, which runs 10 museums including Blists Hill and Enginuity, after it was handed more than £1m in arts and culture funding for repairs.

Visitor figures to Ironbridge dropped by almost 75 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019 due to the pandemic and the lack of income means the organisation has been struggling to pay for conservation work.

The pandemic also meant that volunteers were unable to offer their usual help with site maintenance, including flooding repair work. In contrast, more than 400 individuals volunteered almost 25,000 hours of their time to support the site in 2019.

Repairs will now be carried out to 49 historic buildings and structures across the site, including five scheduled monuments and 30 listed buildings which are recognised individually and collectively for their architectural and historic significance. The grant also includes £4.5m endowment funding which will be invested to ensure income generation for ongoing conservation maintenance and to help safeguard the future of the heritage assets.

Elements of the site to be saved from critical deterioration include:

• The Old Furnace at Coalbrookdale, dating back to 1658 and where, in 1709, Abraham Darby I successfully smelted iron using coke as a fuel instead of charcoal. This action was a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution that transformed Britain and much of the wider world in the 18th and 19th centuries

• The Clock Tower, with a gilded finial, added to the Great Warehouse of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1843

• Madeley Wood blast furnaces, better known as Bedlam Furnaces, built in 1757 to specifically smelt iron with coke

• Grade II* listed Coalport China Works, which produced some of England’s finest china in the 19th century, and now the site of Coalport China Museum. The grant will also enable endowment investment to support maintenance of the heritage assets.

Nick Ralls, chief executive officer of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said he was "incredibly grateful" for the funding.

"The level of support is testament to the importance of this historic site and the buildings and monuments in our care," he added.

"As we emerge from the effects of the pandemic we can address the backlog of maintenance and repair for some of the UK’s most significant industrial heritage in the knowledge that these important assets are protected for future generations.”

Meanwhile the area's Conservative MP Lucy Allan described the funding as a "huge win" for Telford.

She said: This exceptional award will secure the future of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums.

"There has long been much-needed repair work to do at every one of the museum sites, in order to the preserve them for future generations. These are historic monuments and part of our cultural heritage. This is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and we have a duty to preserve it.

"I am so glad that Government has recognised the important and valuable contribution of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums to Telford’s visitor and leisure economy and to the wider West Midlands.

"I am very grateful to the minister and the National Heritage Memorial Fund for working with me and with the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust to gain an in-depth understanding of why this funding was so critical to the future of this extraordinary cultural asset."

The funding will support repairs to some of Ironbridge’s most important structures, which reveal how its rural landscape was transformed in the 18th century to provide transport links, raw materials and natural resources required for industrial processes such as iron and brickmaking and ceramics.

The gorge is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Shropshire, the nearest being the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the border near Chirk.