Author: mikenevell

I am the Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England, based at the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
General Booking Open for Spring Industrial Heritage Network Meetings

General Booking Open for Spring Industrial Heritage Network Meetings

mikenevell

For the first time since 2019 the Industrial Heritage Support project (IHSO) will be holding in-person industrial heritage network meetings this summer and autumn. The first of these will be the IHN West Midlands which is scheduled to take place at Blists Hill, Ironbridge, on Wednesday 31st May, 11am to 3pm. The second will be the IHN South East which is scheduled to take part at Amberley Museum, West Sussex on 1st June, 11am to 3pm.

The meetings are open to Industrial Heritage Networks members and to all those interested in supporting and helping the industrial heritage and industrial archaeology sector in England. Each network meeting will be split into two parts. There will be a business meeting from 11am to 1pm looking at volunteer engagement since COVID, followed by a tour of the Blists Hill and Amberley sites, respectively. Each network meeting is free and tea, coffee, and water will be provided. Please bring your own lunch. To book please follow the links below:

Industrial Heritage Network West Midlands Tickets, Wed 31 May 2023 at 11:00 | Eventbrite

Industrial Heritage Network South East Tickets, Thu 1 Jun 2023 at 11:00 | Eventbrite

AIM Connected Communities Grants Now Open for 2023

AIM Connected Communities Grants Now Open for 2023

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The Association for Independent Museum’s new grant scheme is now open. This offers grants of £15,000 – £100,000 to Accredited and non-Accredited museums delivering projects to improve community connections through volunteering opportunities and/or reducing loneliness and increasing social bonds. Museums will participate in a capacity-building programme that will support and upskill staff and volunteers, provide mentoring and help build partnerships with local organisations.

Specific locations in each region that are eligible to apply, many of which have industrial heritage sites, are as follows:

  • Barnsley
  • Barrow-in-Furness
  • Blackpool
  • Bolsover
  • Burnle
  • Cannock Chase
  • County Durham
  • Doncaster
  • Fenland
  • Great Yarmouth
  • Halton
  • Hartlepool
  • Kings Lynn and West Norfolk
  • Kingston upon Hull
  • Knowsley
  • Middlesbrough
  • Rochdale
  • Sandwell
  • South Tyneside
  • Stoke-on-Trent
  • Sunderland
  • Tameside
  • Tendring
  • Thanet
  • Torridge
  • Wakefield
  • Wolverhampton

The deadline for expressions of interest is 8th June 2023 at 12 noon. Further details can be found here: https://aim-museums.co.uk/for-aim-members/grants/aim-connected-communities/?mc_cid=5107d12f51&mc_eid=c1aec993c2

Science and Industry Museum Manchester Partners with Landmark Trust to Create Heritage Holiday Home

Science and Industry Museum Manchester Partners with Landmark Trust to Create Heritage Holiday Home

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A pioneering partnership between the Science and Industry museum Manchester and the Landmark Trust will see the Station Agent’s House made available for overnight stay for up to eight people, alongside free public open days. This is one of Manchester’s oldest surviving Georgian houses, and adjoins the Museum’s Grade I listed 1830 Station.

The Station Agent’s House will be the Landmark Trust’s first property in the region, and will join a collection of 200 historic buildings once completed. A final £118,000 is needed to meet the costs of the repair and conversion work, which will include an improved environmental performance through the installation of heat pumps.

The building, on the corner of Liverpool Road and Water Street in Castlefield, was built in 1808 for John Rothwell, partner in a nearby dyeworks. The house then provided accommodation for the Station Agent at Liverpool Road Station before being converted for shop use in the mid 20th century. More recently, the former residential house was used as offices when the Science and Industry Museum opened on the site in 1983. The shop frontage was removed, and a replica of the historic doorway was reinstated. The adjacent 1830 Station is currently being repaired ahead of re-opening to the public in future years as part of the museum’s major conservation and redevelopment plans.

Sally MacDonald, Director of the Science and Industry Museum said “We are delighted that the Landmark Trust will be bringing their expertise in sensitively restoring incredible heritage buildings to enable Station Agent’s House to be experienced by the public for the first time.”

Anna Keay, Director of The Landmark Trust, said the Station Agent’s House “is an outstanding piece of industrial heritage. The building will be sensitively repaired and made available to all through self-catering stays and free public open days. As a charity, the Landmark Trust is committed to saving and sustaining outstanding heritage, and is thrilled to be playing a role in Manchester.’

Second Stage of Conservation Works Starts on the Museum of the Gorge

Second Stage of Conservation Works Starts on the Museum of the Gorge

mikenevell

The next stage of conservation work on The Museum of The Gorge began in May 2023, as part of a £9.9M grant by the National Heritage Memorial Fund to help secure the future of the buildings that form the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The building was built in 1840 as a river warehouse for the Coalbrookdale Company for the onward transport of its goods down river to Bristol and beyond.

Work on the Grade II* Listed building has already seen internal beams replaced prior to this second stage of work which will deal with the leaking roof, re-pointing brickwork, restoring the parapets, re-building the original roof for the Lady Chapel and removing the vegetation.

The £9.9m will be used for restoration on buildings across the Trust, but also includes £4.5m in endowment funding, which will be invested to ensure income generation for ongoing conservation maintenance. One of the sites which will be restored throughout the project is the The Old Furnace at Coalbrookdale, where Abraham Darby I developed the production technique for smelting iron with coke – a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution that transformed much of the wider world in the 18th centuries.

Others sites include the Bedlam Furnaces, the impressive clock tower which was added to the Great Warehouse of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1843, and Coalport China Works. The Museum Trust’s ‘Conserving the Historic Estate Project’ is managed by Lucy Oldnall and focuses on heritage buildings and structures within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site that are in the care of the Trust including, five Scheduled Monuments, one Grade I Listed structure, 10 Grade II* Listed structures and 19 Grade II Listed structures – all within an area of 5.5 square km.

Call for Volunteers on the Oral History of London’s Holiday Camps Project,

Call for Volunteers on the Oral History of London’s Holiday Camps Project,

mikenevell

Digital Works is running a project collecting oral histories relating to London’s holiday camps. The ‘Hello Campers!’ project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, is looking for project volunteers and for people to be interviewed regarding their reminiscences on this subject.

Oral history specialists Digital Works are working at The British Film Institute to explore the history of Londoner’s experiences at places such as Butlins and Pontins from the 1950s until now. No previous experience is required for volunteering, as full support and training will be on offer. Digital Works have previously work on a very successful project collecting oral history of Wimbledon Football Club and the origins of AFC Wimbledon, culminating in the release of an associated film. All training is free and will be at the BFI Southbank. You will need to be available on the week beginning May 22nd 2023.

To find out more visit their website http://www.hellocampers.org.uk or email Sav Kyriacou at: sav@digital-works.co.uk

East of England Region Industrial Archaeology Conference, June 2023

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This year’s East of England Industrial Archaeology Conference will be on the 10th June 2023. EERIAC is held once a year and rotates round the region. 2023 is the turn for Essex, and will be held at Chelmsford Museum. EIAG (Essex Industrial Archaeology Group) is bringing to you EERIAC 2023, focussing on the Industrial Heritage of Chelmsford.

Talks include Chelmsford’s industries, Marconi, and visits to industrial sites in the Moulsham area, on the Chelmsford’s Industrial Trail. Please bring your own lunch. If you are interested in booking a place contact Jane Giffould via email: jgiffould@aol.com

New, Free, Exhibition Opens at Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust: ‘The Daily Grind: the Industrial Workers of the Ironbridge Gorge’

New, Free, Exhibition Opens at Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust: ‘The Daily Grind: the Industrial Workers of the Ironbridge Gorge’

mikenevell

From bone washers and moulders to pit girls and painters, this exhibition shines a spotlight on the lives and voices of the people who have worked in the industries of the Ironbridge Gorge from the early days of the 18th century until the end of the First World War. 

The story of the Ironbridge Gorge and the Industrial Revolution often revolves around famous ironmasters, inventors, and entrepreneurs. While their stories are well known, less attention has been paid to the lives of the workers. Drawing on the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust’s extensive archive collections, including oral histories, diaries, and photographs, this exhibition will explore who they were, the work that they did, the vital contributions they made to the Gorge’s world changing history, and the hardships they faced whilst doing this. It also considers local industrial workers’ lives beyond their employment and the important role that religion, hobbies, and leisure pursuits played in their identity.

The exhibition is hosted in the Coalbrookdale Gallery, inside the offices of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, Coalbrookdale. It is free to enter and runs from the 28th April to 5th November 2023.

East Midlands Industrial Archaeology Conference Back for 2023

East Midlands Industrial Archaeology Conference Back for 2023

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For the first time since 2019 the East Midlands Industrial Archaeology Conference is returning as an in-person event on the 17th June. The venue will be the Old Gasworks, in the Derbyshire village of Sudbury. This was opened in 1875 and was designed by George Devey, a noted architect of the time. EMIAC 2023 will be one of the first chances to see the gasworks in its new guise, learn about the development of artificial lighting and its use on country house estates, and the extensive improvements made to Sudbury Hall and the village in the 19th Century.

Gas was produced from coal at the plant and piped to provide lighting for Sudbury Hall and houses in the village. The gasholder was dismantled in the 1930s and the building stood empty and deteriorated for many years. Ten years ago, people from the village came together to form a building preservation trust to save the gasworks. Grants from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Association for Industrial Archaeology and other sources, enabled the restoration of the the original retort house, whilst a new circular meeting room has been constructed on the footprint of the former gasholder.

The architects and volunteers involved in the project will describe the challenges they faced to restore the building and make it into valuable community asset during the conference. Speakers on the day will include freelance industrial archaeologist Dr Ian West and architectural historian Cherry Ann Knott.

Further details of the event and a link to book places are available online at:
http://www.derbyshireas.org.uk/emiac

4th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology

4th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology

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The latest in the Association for Industrial Archaeology’s joint international seminar series takes place online on 27th May. The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology together with its Young Members Board.

From underground to outer space, from the 14th to the 21st century, the 4th E-W Workshop on Industrial Archaeology explores the interlinkages of archaeology, technology, science and industry with cases from Australia, Asia, Europe and the Universe! This edition of the workshop revisits the original focus of industrial archaeology on the research and conservation of technology, which is expanded and revised with new geographies, chronologies, methodologies and questions.

The speakers will be:

Alice GORMAN (Flinders University, Australia): Beyond the rocket: the archaeological study of space technology.

Shujing FENG (National Academy of Innovation Strategy & Tsinghua University, China): Wenzhou Alum Mine from the perspective of the archaeology of technology.

Geoffrey WALLIS (GW Conservation/Dorothea Restorations & AIA, UK): Developments in practical engineering conservation. The works of Dorothea Restorations Ltd.

Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/4th-east-west-workshop-on-industrial-archaeology-tickets-608294634627

National Mills Weekend 2023

National Mills Weekend 2023

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Each year the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) holds a National Mills Weekend. For 2023 this will take place on 13th & 14th May and will focus on ‘Millwrighting – Past and Present’ to celebrate the repair of wind and watermills up and down the country.

SPAB hopes that many mills will be able to be open to welcome visitors during the weekend of the 13th & 14th May. SPAB are advising contacting any mills you are planing to visit during the National Mills Weekend, prior to the visit to ensure that they will be open. To find mills that are open to visitors and see which are participating in National Mills Weekend follow this link: https://www.spab.org.uk/mills/visit-a-mill

If you are a mill owner, mill manager, or mill volunteer, and intend opening a mill for the National Mills Weekend please consult SPAB details for how to register. The website has more information and a downloadable support pack about the National Mills Weekend here.