Ironbridge Gorge is known as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution (for good and ill!), and is home to at least nine museums celebrating the technological and artistic innovations of the 18th and 19th centuries that have made this area famous. Rather than rushing around trying to see everything in the Gorge, for our two "rest days" from the walk we decided to concentrate on just three museums because we like arts & crafts and because the accommodation we found was in easy walking distance to all of them: the Jackfield Tile Museum, The Coalport China Museum, and the Blists Hill Victorian Town.
Our first day's objective was the Jackfield Tile Museum. We woke at 4:00 a.m. because the skylight was slightly open and the birds were singing loudly. We also had a heavy & consequently hot duvet (bane of all good sleep for us) which ended up uncomfortably wedged between us. I managed to get more sleep, and Ken said not to worry about the morning, we were going to have a good lie-in. So we did.
We arrived at the tile museum around 11:30 a.m. and ordered a ham & cheese panini and a ham & cheese toastie for our brunch at the cafe next to the museum entrance. There was only one young woman at the cafe doing everything. When our sandwiches arrived, they were tomato and cheese with no ham. When we asked about it, she said, "Oh, we don't have any ham." It was a bit odd that she didn't mention it at the time of our order, but the sandwiches were good anyway so it wasn't a big deal.
After receiving our tickets from a woman who was fun to talk with, we entered the tile museum. It was extremely well laid-out and presented. It began with an introduction to the two main tile companies that had factories in Jackfield: Craven Dunnill, in whose buildings the museum resided, and the Maw family, members of whom in the mid-19th century had rented Benthall Hall that we had toured yesterday.
We went upstairs to look at the Craven Dunnill board room and offices as they would have looked in the 1930s, and then into the show room, where samples of tiles and products were displayed. The next room featured the different artistic styles that were used, such as Gothic revival, arts & crafts, and art deco. After that were a series of rooms displaying the various uses of tiles in situ, from a replica London underground station to a 1930s living room. One of the main points about the production of tiles and why they became very popular in the 19th century was "sanitation"—because the tiles were glazed, it meant that it was easier to keep hospitals, bathrooms, and public places clean. There were also several tile pictures that had been saved from old children's hospitals, including one of Princess Elizabeth as a little girl outside of her play house.
A long room displayed the various techniques that were used for glazing the tiles, explaining the terms we had been seeing throughout the museum such as "slip" and "encaustic." The final room housed the personal collection of tiles amassed by John Scott, who bequeathed his collection to the museum. It was a fascinating collection, and it was enjoyable to read Scott's comments about the pieces that he had obtained that were like "old friends" to him.
The tour then led outside, where we could see children in a downstairs studio painting their own tiles, and then adult workers who were currently producing tiles, since Craven Dunnill, after moving operations to Bridgnorth in the last century, had moved back to the factory in 2000. It was cool to see a local industry thriving and to get a brief look at the manufacturing techniques profiled in the museum in action.
We returned to our Airbnb and then had dinner at the Black Swan, a lively "local" in Jackfield. We sat at a small table for two, and the cellar trap door was right behind my chair. Various staff would warn me not to move backwards as they went up and down the cellar stairs. Ken enjoyed a steak and chips, which were excellent. On returning to our Airbnb, we took the duvet out of the cover, which helped resolve the issue of us being too hot in the night. We slept much better.
For the second day of our time in Ironbridge Gorge, we planned to go to Blists Hill, a living-history Victorian town museum and, if we could squeeze it in at the end of the day, we wanted to see the Coalport China Museum.
Both attractions was within handy walking distance from our place in Jackfield, so after crossing a footbridge over the Sever river and walking along a hiking/biking path (the Silken Way), we arrived at Blists Hill around 10:15 a.m. (it opened at 10:00 a.m.). We did not realize there would be such a long queue to get in, though in hindsight we should have known that since it was the "half-term" school holiday, Blist's Hill would be a popular family destination. We finally got in around 11:00 a.m. and went to the refreshments cafe for brunch. Ken had a ham & cheese panini (one that actually had ham in it) and I had a toasted tea cake and a slice of Victorian tea loaf with rum butter. We both really liked the tea loaf—it was full of fruit and had a nice orangey flavour.
Blists Hill is a recreation of a Victorian town ca. 1900, with people dressed in late-Victorian outfits in all of the shops. We went into the bank and changed a £5 note for "old" money to spend in the town. We visited the general store, apothecary, photographer's, and haberdasher's. We bought wine gums at the sweet shop. The fish and chips smelled amazing, but the queue was too long and we had just eaten. The forge was among the most interesting places to visit. There were two men there who were actual iron smiths, and they explained the process and the experience of the tremendous heat. We watched a stationary steam engine operating, that was crushing rocks to use as fill. The bakery smelled amazing, and I had to buy a fruit cob (it cost tuppence). We went into the pub which had quite a smoky fireplace, and joined in the sing-along. We particularly liked the printer's shop. A man was using a small press that was operated by foot pedal, printing paper bags for use elsewhere in the village. At 2:30 p.m. we attended Mrs. Ada Clack's cooking demonstration. She made stroganoff and a rhubarb fool. It was a fun comedic-type show with a farmer "Henery" working with her.
After that we bought more sweets from the sweet shop, and then left to go to the Coalport China Museum, which was located back down the hill near the footbridge. We did make it in time (around 3:45 p.m.) to look at most everything before they closed. The patterns and artwork were amazing. It was helpful to read an explanation of the complex decorating, glazing, and multiple firing processes for making fine china. It was then especially helpful to see how the kilns worked, and then actually to walk inside a kiln and see the saggars in which the china was placed stacked inside the kiln, ready for firing. The tour ended with a winding tour past multiple cases with example after example of simply exquisite china pieces. We took far too many pictures!
We left the museum two minutes before it closed, and after a brief rest, walked directly to the Woodbridge Inn, part of the Brunning & Price chain, for dinner. They had a menu that sounded potentially "gastro"—or what Ken and I call "foofy"—but we had looked up the words before we arrived to see what they meant, so we were prepared. I ordered the sweetcorn maakouda fritters, muhammara, herbed couscous, and salad with tahini yogurt dressing. Ken ordered a steak burger with beer onions, grilled pancetta, Monterey Jack, and spiced tomato mayonnaise, accompanied by chips. Everything was outstandingly delicious, especially my meal. The atmosphere in the pub, a rambling place with multiple dining areas as well as multiple cozy "snugs" was fabulous. Ken ended up talking with a family at the next table, some of whom were currently living in Canada but were revisiting their family roots in the area.
It was good to walk back to our Airbnb having visited two museums and having enjoyed a lovely meal at the end of it; a nice way to end our rest days in the Ironbridge Gorge.
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