Welcome to the Industrial Heritage Networks and Support website. This site is maintained and updated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust who run the project and the networks. We aim to support industrial heritage in England through networking, information exchange, guidance, and training. Please explore the website and please contribute! For more information you can … Read more Welcome to the IHNs website!
On the 24th February 2025, the Carbon Lieteracy Project will be holding an online Shareable Courses Launch Event. At the event they will be launching six ready-to-use Carbon Literacy courses that can be used to deliver internal Carbon Literacy training within archives, heritage organisations, libraries, theatres, public leisure/culture trusts, and across the cultural sector.
The online launch event is free, and will involve the course creators and people who have been delivering the courses. There will be presentations about the creators’ ambitions for the courses, how to access them, and how they can be used. One of the six new courses is for Heritage Organisations. This course is an affordable, flexible, and sector-specific training programme for heritage organisations based in the UK.
The Shareable Course for Heritage Organisations is built on the success of the Carbon Literacy for Museums Toolkit. Developed by Historic England and Historic Buildings and Places, the course aims to support the wider heritage sector, from organisations that manage heritage sites to those who provide heritage services. Book your place here.
Gloucester’s historic docks. Image copyright Dr Mchael Nevell.
Gloucester and Ramsgate officially become Heritage Harbours on Saturday 7th September 2024, joining twelve other locations across the UK already recognised for their contribution to saving our maritime heritage. The Heritage Harbours project is supported by National Historic Ships UK, Historic England and Maritime Heritage Trust.
Gloucester and Ramsgate join Bideford, Bristol, Buckler’s Hard, Chester, Exeter, Faversham and Oare Creeks, Ipswich, Maldon and Heybridge, Sandwich, Shardlow, Stourport, and Wells next the Sea in the Heritage Harbours National Working Group.
Gloucester, a Roman town in origin, will be celebrating its Heritage Harbour status on Gloucester Day, Saturday 7th September, with a procession through the city and proclamation by the town crier, rounding off with cannon fire from the Sealed Knot re-enactment society. Tony Conder, Chair of the Gloucester Docks Bicentenary Working Team, said: “Heritage Harbour designation is an amazing achievement for Gloucester, building on the work of the City Council, Canal & River Trust, previously British Waterways, in bringing new life to the waterfront. It offers fantastic opportunities for all the current partners engaged within the historic Port of Gloucester to celebrate the Bicentenary in 2027 and to go on to strengthen the Gloucester Docks businesses and enhance the enjoyment of visitors to this maritime heritage site into the future.”
Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour is Grade II* listed and is the only royal harbour in the world, an honour bestowed by King George IV in 1821. “We are thrilled to receive the Heritage Harbour designation,” said John Walker, Chair of the Ramsgate Heritage Harbour Working Group. “It’s wonderful that our amazing maritime heritage, combined with the activities of a working harbour and thriving cafe culture, has been recognised nationally. Ramsgate is a great place to work and to visit.”
“We are very pleased to welcome on board Gloucester Docks, and Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour, during Heritage Open Days 2024, the largest festival of history and culture in the UK,” said Henry Cleary, Heritage Harbours’ convenor and chair of Maritime Heritage Trust. “Heritage Harbours are about capturing the interactions between navigable water and the land and buildings alongside it. No other designation does this and we now have locations which represent the main types of historic port from the Roman period to the 19th century.”
Many of the Heritage Harbours are staging maritime events during Heritage Open Days and deatils can be foundont he Heritage Open Days website here: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/
The Britannia Sailing Trust have launched an urgent appeal for funds to help them complete the restoration of the vessel. Fundraising through the Trust’s regular avenues has been difficult in 2024, and at the moment the money will run out in October. Without additional funding, the entire restoration project and the future of Britannia is currently at risk.
The Trust has the materials ready to re-rig the ship and prepare her for sea trials, but still needs to cover their many expenses, particularly the wages of their skilled boatbuilders and their trainees, which are currently the biggest expense.
Britannia Sailing Trust is a maritime heritage charity, centred around the restoration of a 108-year-old sailing vessel, Britannia, based in Exter. After a decade of dedication from the volunteer-led team, the restoration project is finally on the brink of completion.
Donate to the Crowdfunder page to support the the final stage of the restoration work and help keep Britannia afloat here: Donatation Page
The SS Britannia was returned to the waves in 2o23. Image courtesy of the Britannia Sailing Trust.
Since its launch in 2010, the Shipshape Network has connected historic vessel owners, skilled craftsmen, businesses, heritage organisations, training bodies and maritime enthusiasts. At the heart of the Network is the National Directory of Skills & Services which provides an online database of practitioners who have worked on boat projects of all types and size, whilst the Crew Bank and Job pages offer free advertising space for both paid and voluntary opportunities across the sector.
Featuring more than 100 external maritime projects from across the UK, the Network also provides a dedicated web space and social media coverage to promote their activities and achievements. More details by following this link: https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/shipshape-network
The Network is divided into eight zones, encouraging local organisations and individual vessel projects to work together. Within each zone, Shipshape Hubs are being nominated by NHS-UK to act as local ambassadors who can champion their area, whilst having the infrastructure and capacity to offer support and guidance to other nearby organisations. Our current Shipshape Network Hubs include: ss Great Britain Trust; Lynher Rive Barge CIC; Windermere Jetty Museum; and the Scottish Fisheries Museum.
Industrial Heritage Networks 