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Blists Hill Victorian Town

Blists Hill Victorian Town is a beautiful reconstruction standing on the site of the former Blists Hill Works, a unique mining area from Madeley's industrial past. It now forms part of the Ironbridge Gorge network of museums and is a wonderful day out for the whole family.

Little is known about Blists Hill until the late 18th century, by which time mining was well established. It was the Quaker Ironmaster William Reynolds that brought the area to prominence when in 1786 he tried to connect the mines with the River Severn by tunneling horizontally through the hill from Coalport, in the process discovering a natural source of bitumen. This 'Tar Tunnel' is now a popular visitor attraction.

About this time, the construction of the Shropshire Canal, which ran through the site, linked Blists Hill to other industrial areas and it began to prosper.

One of the most fascinating features of the Blists Hill site is the Hay Inclined Plane, which was completed in 1793 and linked the upper canal system to the lower in Coalport. This 305 metre, 1,000 ft, long inclined plane was a wonderful feat of engineering, which overcame the difficulties created by the geology of the area.

Blast furnaces were build on the site by the Madeley Wood Company in 1832, 1840 and 1844, replacing their Bedlam Furnaces on the banks of the Severn, and they also created brick and tile works on the site.

By the 1950's Blists Hill was an industrial wasteland, but its regeneration as an open air museum has ensured its legacy lives on and that future generations can see how important Madeley and its parish was to the Industrial Revolution.

These vestiges of our industrial past can be seen everywhere as today's visitors stroll through the museum site. The reconstructed Victorian Shops with their shopkeepers dressed in period costume takes the visitor back in time, and at every turn there are exciting things to see and sample from a bygone era.

The site has excellent parking, toilet and restaurant facilities.

Written by Colin Ayling © 2006