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!
Heritage Open Days has released their events directory for the 2023 festival that will take place from 8-17 September. The events directory will enable interested individuals to search for events nearby during the festival, with more to be added in the run-up to it. In 2022 there were over 100 industrial heritage and archaeology sites open to the public.
2023 industrial heritage sites open to the public include the Armley Mills in Leeds, Finch Foundry in Devon, Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch, the 1900 cable station at Cuckmere Haven in Sussex, Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, Somerset brick & Tile Museum, Torr Vale Mill in Derbyshire, Thwaite Watermill in Leeds, Wheatley Windmill in Oxfordshire and many more.
After the success of the recent Friends of Bennerley Viaduct open day event, the Friends are hosting two more big events for the public this summer under the Iron Giant.
Nature Day at Bennerley Viaduct. 29th July 11am-3pmFamily fun exploring the amazing new paths and habitats created underneath Bennerley Viaduct. Fun science and nature themed activities. Ranger skills, wood art workshops and bug hunt. For further details email: info@bennerleyviaduct.org.uk
Family Fun Cycling Day at Bennerley Viaduct. 12th August 11am-3pm Join the Friends for a free fun day celebrating cycling. Borrow or bring a bike to try out the skills course or slalom fun zone. Bring your bike to Dr. Bike to get road worthy. Enjoy a fun trail in the nature paths. Browse stalls from local community groups, health and cycling groups and independent retailers. Get in touch if you want are a charity or community group who want a stall by emailing: info@bennerleyviaduct.org.uk
The AIA’s 50th Anniversary Conference will take place online via Zoom and in-person at the University of Bath this September! Full details of this historic event are now available on the AIA website https://industrial-archaeology.org/conferences/service001/ .
Want to attend online? The seminar and conference take place from Friday 1st September – Sunday 3rd September. Tickets cost £10 for members or £20 for non-members. Book online (see point 7 of the booking form available from the AIA website) to secure your spot.
Want to attend in-person? The full programme runs from Friday 1st September – Wednesday 6th September and includes a suite of brilliant talks and tours. You can pick and choose from the sessions to build the perfect programme for you. Book online.
And remember…the AIA want to make this historic conference accessible to all, and there is plenty of financial help available if you need it. A legacy from the late Patrick Knott, a former member of AIA, can provide a 50% discount (up to a maximum of £500) on the conference fees to eligible attendees from the UK or Ireland. Visit the AIA website for more details here: https://industrial-archaeology.org/index.php/aia-awards/peter-neaverson-awards/
As part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage 2033 strategy, their new 10-year strategy, they have increased the upper limit of their National Lottery Grants for Heritage supporting larger-scale heritage projects across the UK. The new strategy acknowledges that the old £5m grant threshold – which has been in place for over 20 years – was limiting opportunities for some potential initiatives.
NHLF want to invest in more ambitious heritage projects that share their belief in the power of heritage to bring people together, build pride in place and connection to the past. Therefore, 2023–2024 is a transition year ahead of full implementation of the new 10-year Heritage 2033 strategy. They will be making a series of changes as part of this transition, and the first change, from June 2023, is increasing the amount you can apply for to £10m.
Historic England has launched a new ‘History in the Making’ fund aimed at encouraging work with young people (aged 13-25) to create place markers across the North of England. These projects will mark and celebrate important local histories that have been overlooked and bring them to a broader audience. The scheme is about a place’s identity and what makes it special, from remembering local inspirational events, figures and histories, to physically connecting them to the places and spaces they occupied.
Historic England will provide grants of up to £15,000 to organisations or community groups who want to work directly with young people out-of-school hours, across the North of England in Levelling Up category 1 places, many of which contain industrial heritage and archaeology sites. Projects must be co-created, with young people’s voices at the heart of decision-making.
The deadline for applications is 14th July 2023. Details on how to apply and guidance notes on what might be funded can be found by following this link: https://historicengland.org.uk/get-involved/help-write-history/history-in-the-making/
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:
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:
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.’
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 riverwarehouse 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.
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.
Industrial Heritage Networks 