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!
The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) and CBA East Midlands are jointly hosting a weekend of archaeology and heritage activity across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in the English East Midlands on 26th and 27th September.
On Saturday they will be visiting Cromford Mills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the first water-powered cotton spinning mill, and Cromford Village in Derbyshire. On Sunday, in Nottingham, members will explore the UK’s largest network of caves, their changing uses, and their industrial features. There will also be a visit to Brewhouse Yard to discover the stories of Nottingham’s social history and lace making. The weekend will finish at Nottingham Castle, a Stuart Restoration-era ducal mansion, and Mortimer’s Hole, a human-made cave beneath the castle.
The cost is £90pp for the weekend (with people sorting out their own accommodation and transport, though some car-sharing might be possible for anyone arriving by public transport), with tickets limited to 30.
This spring three more Industrial Heritage sites in northern England have been awarded grants from a variety of funding sources. These are the Liverpool Martime Museum, the National Railway Museum in York, and the Oswaldtwistle Mills Heritage Centre in Lancashire.
Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum have received £19 million from the Department of Culture Media and Sport’s Public Bodies Infrastructure Fund. The Maritime Museum was opened fully to the public in 1986 as part of the regeneration of the Albert Dock. The International Slavery Museum opened in 2007. The new redevelopment of both museums is the cornerstone of National Museums Liverpool’s Waterfront Transformation Project, reimagining the area between Royal Albert Dock and Mann Island, combining storytelling, heritage, community and connectivity in the Grade I-listed buildings – Hartley Pavilion and Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building (previously the Dock Traffic Office). The Maritime Museum will see significant regeneration to enable the museum to show a more comprehensive and coherent vision of Liverpool’s maritime story, with a new entrance and new galleries. Further details here: £19 million funding boost | National Museums Liverpool
The National Railway Museum in York has been awarded an addtional £3 million form the UK Government towards the construction work on the Central Hall, a project planned to increase visitors to the museum. Providing level access throughout the site, Central Hall will unify the museum, with new gallery space highlighting innovative technologies and the impact of the railways on everyday life. Further details here: Central Hall | National Railway Museum
The Oswaldtwistle Mills Heritage Centre in Lancashire, has been awarded £178K from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The money will be used to conserve, repair, and re-open the listed weaving shed that houses the Oswaldtwistle Heritage Centre, within the former Moscow Mill. Established in 1996, the heritage centre houses historic Jacquard looms, archives, and personal stories that reflect over 177 years of continuous textile production. However, due to roof damage and resulting safety concerns, the centre has been closed for several years. It will transform access to this heritage by working with nine local primary schools to co-create a modern education programme for Years 1 and 2, ensuring young people can connect with their local history. Further details here: Lottery grant to restore Oswaldtwistle Mills Heritage Centre | Lancashire Telegraph
National Heritage Lottery Funding will help to restore and re-open the Oswaldtwistle Heritage Centre in Accrington. Image courtesy of Oswaldtwistle Mills.
The Bureau for the Contemporary and Historic Consultancy (BUTCH) has been commissioned to support the update of the South West Archaeological Research Framework (SWARF). This is to make sure that it reflects all the research done in the last 18 years and that the priorities for future research are clear.This research framework includes a substantial post-medieval, industrial, and modern section, which will be of interest to the dozens of industrial heritage and archaeology sites, groups, and museums in the region.
The BUTCH team are looking for expressions of interest from experts in their field to fulfil two roles in this process. The roles are (1) Resource Assessment Chapter Team Lead; (2) Expert Panel Member. You may also wish to be involved in their commitment to engage the wider research community.
If you are interested in taking part, please register your interest by completing the form, via the link below, by 7 June 2026 for roles 1 and 2. The form will remain open for those who wish to be updated on the project or who might be interested in being involved in future discussions. The link for the form is here: SWARF Involvementhttps://lnkd.in/e-gu3exM
Charting the impact of climate change on industrial heritage sites often involves recording damage from storms, floods, and prolonged dry spells. However, many industrial sites and museums have been putting plans in place to adapt to changing climatic conditions this decade, and two sites have just announced the installation of solar panels: Whitchurch Silk Mill and the Glenlee hydro-electric power station.
The waterpowered Grade 2* listed Whitchurch Silk Mill, in Hampshire, has installed a solar energy system, with the panels on their modern cafe and visitor entrance building, using support from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Business Investment Fund. Sue Tapliss, director of Whitchurch Silk Mill, said: “We are delighted to complete this project. The waterwheel is a powerful symbol of the mill’s past and its longstanding relationship with sustainable energy. Installing solar panels allows us to honour that heritage while taking a meaningful step forward in reducing our carbon footprint. We are extremely grateful to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council’s Business Investment Fund for making this possible.”
Solar panels have been fitted to the 1934, Category B, Glenlee Hydro-electric power station, near Dalry in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, by renewable engergy firm Drax. The power station has been running for more than a century and the new solar panels are designed to meet the sattion’s back-up power needs, which it currently pays to get from the local electricity grid. More details here: First solar panels in place at historic hydro power network
Whitchurch Silk Mill, Hampshire. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.
An online fundraiser has been set up to help the Eskdale Mill and Heritage Trust to raise funds to run community events and support their volunteers in sharing the mill with the public and local community in 2026.
Dating back to at least 1578, and located alongside Whillan Beck in Boot, Cumbria, the stone-built Grade II* listed Eskdale Mill demonstrates 500 years of water power and the traditional craft of corn milling. Last commercially worked during the 1930s to supply animal feed to local farmers, the mill still produces its own flour and has a modern hydro-electric waterwheel making it possible to continue to harness energy through water power. It is the last remaining working water-powered corn mill in the Lake District National Park.
New flood defences have been installed at Museum of Making, Derby. The protective barriers have been placed inside the old Silk Mill, now the Museum of Making, which was flooded by waters from the River Derwent to a depth of 0.7m during Storm Babet in 2023.
Alex Rock, director of commercial and operations at Derby Museums Trust, said “We’re delighted to add further protection to our building, and very grateful for the support of Derby City Council’s planning team and their engineering colleagues. Both departments have been crucial in securing the relevant permissions and funding from DEFRA for this work. It adds another layer of protection to two key operational areas, which means that should a flood event occur again – and it is worth bearing in mind that Storm Babet was forecast as a once-in-a-century event for Derby – then we’ll be able to shorten the period of closure. It protects the two areas of the ground floor that are most impacted by flood events.”
As part of Derby City Council’s ‘Our City Our River’ scheme, flood defences are also to be improved around the museum. Work is underway to demolsih disused office buildings on the eastern bank of the river, close to the museum, at Stuart Street and Phoenix Street. This will allow the construction of a new flood wall, floodgates, and a riverside green area to provide a controlled corridor for flood waters fromt eh River Derwent to pass through the city.
The Council for Britsh Archaeology (CBA) has launched a new volunteering page, listing opportunities across the UK. You can search by your region to find volunteering callouts near you. However, the page doesn’t just listed opportunities for volunteers, but also has a section where groups, sites, and museums can list their own volunteering opportunities in archaeology and heritage.
Current industrial archaeology and heritage volunteer openings include opportunities to help Kingswood Heritage Museum (a brassworks) in South Glouscestershire, digitising opportunities with the Food Museum, and helping out with the North Tynside Steam Railway.
To learn more about new volunteer opportunities sign up for the CBA volunteering newesletter by following this link:
Bookings are now open for the next in-person London Industrial Heritage Network meeting to be held at Merton Priory Chapter House, Wandle, on Thursday 8th August, 11am to 3pm.
Established in 2018, these regional meetings are designed to bring together those industrial heritage sites open to the public in each region, and local groups and individuals working or volunteering on industrial archaeology and heritage subjects and sites in the area. The format is a round-table discussion in the morning, with a tour of the site in the afternoon.
All IHN members are very welcome to attend. You can turn up on the day or follow this link to book a free place via Eventbrite:
The Mills Archive Trust need your help locating the records of past millers and millwrights, preserving them in their archive, and making them accessible to modern craftsmen. With this in mind they have launched a new crowd funding appeal – ‘Caring for an Icon’.
The Trust are looking to preserving these records in their archive and make them accessible to modern craftsmen, thereby helping to train the next generation. In order to do that they need to raise significant sums to safe guard the future of these archives.
The Mills Archive Trust is the custodian of the history of mills and milling. They safeguard the stories, skills, and traditions that mills embody. This expertise allows the Trust to protect, interpret, and open access to this rich history. Mills shaped the foundations of the modern world, and the Trust ensure’s that their legacy continues to inspire.
A millwright at work. Image courtesy of Mills Archive Trust.
Bookings are now open for the next in-person East Midland’s Industrial Heritage Network meeting to be held at Cromford Mills, Derbyshire, on Friday 25 July, 11am to 3pm.
Established in 2018, these regional meetings are designed to bring together those industrial heritage sites open to the public in each region, and local groups and individuals working or volunteering on industrial archaeology and heritage subjects and sites in the area. The format is a round-table discussion in the morning, with a tour of the site in the afternoon.
All IHN members are very welcome to attend. You can turn up on the day or follow this link to book a place via Eventbrite:
Industrial Heritage Networks 