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 Exhibitions Group (TEG) has announced that ten Access Grants have been awarded as part of its pilot grant scheme to improve accessibility to exhibitions across the UK for disabled people. Amongst the recipients are Clifton Suspension Bridge Trust and Wakefield Museum and Castles.
The pilot scheme awarded grants of £1,500–£4,000 to support practical, meaningful work that advances access to exhibitions. The funded projects reflect the social model of disability, and support a wide range of access-focused activity, including co-creation with disabled people, accessible interpretation, physical adjustments, accessible programming, and staff and volunteer training.
The Exhibitions Group helps everyone involved in exhibition making to connect and create relevant, sustainable, diverse and accessible exhibitions with our training, resources, and networking opportunities.
The Association for Industrial Archaeology’s (AIA) 2026 conference will be based at Norwich, England, from the 4th to 9th September. The East Anglian counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire have a rich history of Industrial Heritage including wind and water mills, maritime and port industries, agriculture, and the associated manufacture of agricultural machinery and food processing.
The 2026 programme will follow the usual format, starting on the Friday evening with an informal dinner followed by a talk introducing the Industrial Heritage of East Anglia. On Saturday there will be a full day of talks on local topics, presentations to and by award winners, and the Conference Dinner. On Sunday morning there will be AIA’s AGM followed by the Rolt Lecture. From Sunday afternoon until Wednesday lunchtime there will be a number of site visits across the three counties. Lunches, informal evening dinners and talks are included. Full details and booking will be available on the conference pages of the AIA website in due course. Recordings of the 2025 Bradford Conference are now available on the AIA YouTube channel.
The Worcestershire Industrial Archaeology & Local History Society (WIA&LHS) is hosting the South Wales & West England Regional Industrial Archaeology Conference (SWWERIAC) on Saturday 18th April 2026 at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, Stoke Heath, Bromsgrove B60 4JR.
Get set for a day of engaging talks from leading speakers and a chance to explore Avoncroft’s remarkable open-air collection. The museum, home to over 30 rescued and reconstructed historic buildings spanning seven centuries, provides a unique backdrop. Highlights include the UK’s National Collection of Telephone Kiosks, working historic windmill, and a selection of timber-framed, brick, and prefabricated structures including a chain shop, nail workshop, sawmill, and icehouse. This inspiring setting promises a rich blend of learning, discussion, and heritage discovery.
Tickets cost £28 per person and include:
Six speakers covering a wide range of industrial heritage in Worcestershire
Access to the museum’s entire collection
Two 30-minute dedicated tours of the telephone kiosk collection and windmill
Buffet lunch including cold meats, new potatoes, crusty bread, and a selection of salads and cheese
Unlimited hot and cold soft drinks
Free parking
Society chairman Dr John Beale said “Avoncroft is home to 30 historic buildings and structures across a 19-acre site. For this reason, we have scheduled a 2-hour lunch break so that delegates can see the museum exhibits either self-guided and/or the dedicated tours of the 19th century windmill and the National Telephone Kiosk Collection. This marks a departure from the traditional arrangement of offsite visits as there is so much to see at Avoncroft.”
Catalyst Science Discovery Centre and Museum, in Widnes, is seeking to expand its team of volunteers as part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund ‘Synergy Project’. The museum hopes to increase volunteer numbers from 24 to 70 by the end of 2027.
Heather Royle, volunteer coordinator at Catalyst, told Runcorn and Widnes World: “Our volunteers play a vital role in helping visitors have a memorable experience. There are so many different roles available, so there really is something for everyone. With all the exciting changes happening through the Synergy Project, this is a brilliant time to get involved.”
No previous experience is needed, and volunteers are only asked to give a couple of hours a week. Full training, coaching, and ongoing support are provided. Roles include helping with events and activities, engaging visitors through science “busking” in the interactive galleries, preparing workshops, supporting the café, and preserving the museum’s archives. Additional opportunities include helping maintain the historic 1860s building and welcoming visitors.
The Synergy Project will transform the museum’s ‘Birth of an Industry’ gallery into an immersive, interactive space bringing the story of the chemical industry to life. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Heather Royle at heather.royle@catalyst.org.uk for more information.
The Catalyst Science Centre & Museum. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell
The Shipley Glen Tramway, near Saltaire in West Yorkshire, is launching a fundraising appeal for £89,000, to pay for vital repairs to the trackway after prolonged damage by the weather. It opened in 1895 linking Baildon with Saltaire and is Britain’s oldest working cable tramway. The tramway has two tracks and a pair of tram cars and runs every Sunday between midday and 16:00.
The site has been run by a charitable trust since 2002. Trustee John Pitcher, speaking to the BBC, said that the electrically-powered funicular had been assessed as safe to continue to operate. However, for the works to be carried out it would have to be temporarily closed. “What has happened, over the years, is that the damp has washed away underneath the tracks actually into the track bed, so the track bed is now a little bit unstable. Over the years we’ve maintained it, and you can stick patches on for so long, but there comes a time when you need a little bit more than an Elastoplast.”
The next round of online Industrial Heritage Network (IHN) meetings will provide a lunchtime opportunity to connect in Spring 2026. The IHNs are a vital part of the Industrial Heritage Support Project (IHSO), providing an opportunity for individuals, both professional and volunteer, working at Industrial Heritage sites in England to get together to exchange experiences and catch up with the latest trends in the sector.
This Spring’s online Industrial Heritage Network meetings will be taking place during later February and March at a midweek lunchtime, 1pm to 2pm. Those attending are very welcome to bring a drink and a sandwich whilst we spend an hour talking about updates from individual sites, as well as current trends. The date for the 10 IHN online meetings are as follows:
24 February – West Midlands IHN
25 February – East Midlands IHN
3 March – East of England IHN
4 March – London IHN
11 March – Yorkshire IHN
12 March – South East IHN
17 March – North West IHN
18 March – Cornwall & Devon IHN
26 March – South West IHN
27 March – North East IHN
Network members will be emailed joining details nearer the time. For queries about joining the Industrial Heritage Networks, please email the IHSO, Dr Michael Nevell, at: mike.nevell@mikenevell.org.uk
The IHSO project, which runs the IHNs, is funded by grants from Historic England and the Association for Industrial Archaeology, and is based at the Ironbridge Gorge Museums in Shopshire, England.
To celebrate the National Mills Weekend 2026, 9th and 10th May, the SPAB Mills Section wants to build up a new and comprehensive picture of mills of all types throughout the UK and Ireland. This year’s theme, ‘Now and Then’, invites owners, volunteers, millwrights or anyone interested in the history of a mill to write about how one has evolved.
SPAB would like to understand a mill’s origins and how the structure and uses have changed over its lifetime. This can be a post mill, smock or tower mill, a watermill or tidemill, or an industrial mill. The mill must be located in the UK or Ireland. Up to four photos or drawings can accompany the text.
All submissions must be the writer’s own work, and photographs to be accompanied by the date and name of the photographer and their permission. Or, if it is a historic photo, permission of the copyright holder. Drawings to be similarly annotated.
Entries may be edited, and selected submissions will be incorporated into a SPAB Mills Section publication in 2026. Entrants will need to grant copy and reproduction rights to SPAB in print or online.
The chosen entrants will receive a copy of the publication, which will be available for sale through the SPAB.
The deadline for submissions is Thursday 30th April 2026. All entries to be submitted via email to: nmwsubmissions@spab.org.uk
Heckington Windmill, Lincolnshire. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.
World Heritage UK’s most popular series of webinars to date was 2024’s Industrial Heritage. Over a series of seven talks, six Industrial World Heritage Sites and one roundtable discussion drew in the highest number of attendees any series has achieved. It was noted that not all of the UK’s Industrial World Heritage Sites were featured, and WHUK’s first series of 2026 seeks to address this. The three remaining industrial Sites will each have their own webinar, followed by the launch of the upcoming and new Industrial Heritage Trail.
• Tuesday 20th January – New Lanark WHS, with Head of Heritage Kate Lapping • Tuesday 03rd February – Pontcysyllte Aqueduct WHS, with Claire Farrell, Canal & River Trust • Tuesday 10th March – Blaenavon Industrial Landscape WHS, speaker tbc • Tuesday 21st April – Launch of the Industrial Heritage Trail, with Saltaire’s Brandi Hall-Crossgrove and Derwent Valley Mills’ Sukie Khaira
The Webinar will take place at 7-8pm UK time and all webinars will run on the Zoom platform. Webinars will be recorded and uploaded to WHUK’s private YouTube account. Single tickets are £5 and a series ticket for all four talks is £15. All ticket holders will be provided the link after the webinar.
Kempton Steam Museum has been awarded a £90,000 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to connect people of all ages with the role of clean water in London’s past and present. The project will enable an Audience Development Consultant to develop a strategy to increase visitor numbers and attract new audiences from the local community and beyond. It will also enable a Learning Consultant to develop digital learning materials targeted at Key Stage 1 and 2 that are accessible to all.
Kempton Steam Museum, located at the Kempton Park Pumping Station in southwest London, showcases the world’s largest operational triple-expansion steam engine and a rich collection of historical artifacts and technical drawings. Without this funding from the Heritage Fund, its stories would remain undiscovered by many.
Three new part-time members of staff will build capacity across the museum in a variety of ways. Firstly, to achieve Museum Accreditation by summer 2026, secondly, to implement strategies to increase visitor numbers and attract new audiences, and thirdly to manage volunteers. This initiative will expand our visitor demographic and foster stronger connections with underrepresented groups, local organisations, schools and families. In the long-term, the project will build a resilient and sustainable museum, strengthen the network of groups and organisations working together for the benefit of the local community in Hounslow and raise public awareness of the importance of clean water. Valerie Mills from Kempton Steam Museum said: “We are thrilled to have received this support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to build a museum fit for the future!”
Kempton Steam Museum is an independent museum in London governed by the Kempton Great Engines Trust. The Trust, a registered Charity, was formed in 1995 with the aim to preserve the historic steam pumping engines at Kempton Park Pumping Station and make them accessible to the public. All restoration work and the running of the museum is undertaken entirely by a team of volunteers.
Kempton Steam Museum will be running Steam Weekends throughout the project. The museum is open from March to December offering special events throughout the year. You can follow @Kempton Steam Museum on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok and or visit their website at https://kemptonsteam.org/
A survey of industrial heritage organisations in England during the second half of 2025 has indicated that a majority of sites have still not seen visitor numbers return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, that volunteer recruitment remains difficult, and that a record number of sites have closed. The survey of industrial heritage organisations was carried out by the industrial Heritage Survey project during the regional industrial heritage network meetings run as part of the project.
71 industrial heritage organisations attended 10 in-person regional network meetings between June and December 2025. All the organisations reported an increase in visitor numbers, but a majority reported that these numbers had not returned to pre-pandemic 2019 levels. This trend was noted in the wider museum sector in England, in the Annual Museum Survey undertaken by Museum Development England with support from Arts Council England. Worryingly, 2025 saw a rise in industrial museum closures to eight sites, compared to 2024, a record number of closures since the project started tracking these in 2020, with industrial sites being particularly vulnerable to closure compared to the wider museum sector.
Furthermore, industrial heritage sites reported that the recruitment of volunteers remained difficult for many sites, although numbers a majority of sites have recovered to pre-pandemic levels, a trend in line with the Annual Musuem Survey. All the industrial heritage organisations attending the regional network meetings noted that the continuing rise in the costs of fuel, heating, and maintenance was putting a strain on day-to-day finances and reserves.
The Museum of Cannock Chase, which closed in April 2025. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.
Industrial Heritage Networks 