The Jackfield Tile Museum is located on the south side of the Ironbridge Gorge and housed in the former works of Craven Dunnill and Company. With its displays, educational facilities and manufacturing tenants, the museum is a celebration of the British decorative tile industry between 1840 and 1960 a period in which this works, and that of nearby Maw & Co, played a significant role.

Jackfield background:

Jackfield is one of the oldest known centres for the production of ceramics in Shropshire, a tradition that is thought to date back to the sixteenth century. The Thursfield family came to Jackfield in the early eighteenth century and the famous 'Black Decanters' or 'Jackfield wares' are attributed to them.

Jackfield developed into a thriving community during the eighteenth century due to its close proximity to the river Severn. In 1756 during a period when the number of boats on the river increased dramatically to match the growth in the iron trade there were no less than 55 barge owners in Broseley Parish (of which Jackfield was a part). The majority of owners probably lived in Jackfield. They owned 87 vessels and formed the largest community of Severn watermen between Welshpool and Gloucester. The river remained an important part of the local economy until the arrival of the Severn Valley Railway in 1862. This new line ran between Shrewsbury and Hartlebury (just north of Worcester) passing through the Gorge on the south side of the river. The railway immediately took trade from the river and by 1871 there were only five barge owners operating in the Severn Gorge. By the end of the century all barge traffic had ceased.

The Decorative Tile Industry:

The manufacture of decorative tiles in the Gorge began with the arrival in 1852 of John Hornby Maw and his two sons, George and Arthur. They traded as Maw & Co., initially from their Benthall works near to the Iron Bridge and then from a new factory opened in Jackfield in 1883. Father and sons had moved from Worcester in order to utilise the Shropshire clays which were perfect for the manufacture of decorative tiles. Maw & Co. enjoyed a local monopoly until Hawes & Denny took over a dilapidated potworks in Jackfield in the early 1860s.

The Jackfield potworks was located on the same site as the present Craven Dunnill factory now home to the Jackfield Tile Museum. In the 1860s however the factory had yet to be erected and what buildings there were on site were in a poor state of repair. One contemporary source stated that 'the necessary alterations and improvements would be such as NO tenant would be inclined to undertake as they would so nearly approach reconstruction'. Despite the condition of the old buildings tile production did begin on the site and soon attracted the attention of the entrepreneurial Yorkshire businessmen, Henry Powell Dunnill.

Henry Powell Dunnill:

Henry Powell Dunnill (1821-1895) passed through Jackfield on a Severn Valley Railway train in 1865 and remembered thinking: 'heaven preserve me from having to live at such a forsaken place as that'. Despite this, he quickly became manager of the Jackfield tile works, purchased shares, and on 9th February 1872 Craven Dunnill & Company Limited was formed with Dunnill as the managing partner.

Dunnill was a nonconformist and dedicated to the welfare of his workforce. He established a reading room at the nearby Calcutts House and encouraged his employees to read as much as they could so they would realise that Jackfield was not all the world, 'but a very poor bit of the fag end of it.' He also instigated a profit sharing scheme for the work force.

Arguably his greatest achievement however was the building of the present factory.
On the 2nd July 1870 it was announced in the Ironbridge Weekly Journal that the old tile works was to be pulled down and a 'new works combining all the latest improvements' built to replace it. In April 1871 the same newspaper reported that the contract had been let to the local building firm of William Exeley and the estimated cost for erection was put at £7000. By July of the same year the paper was able to announce that building work was well underway and a section 'comprising in its extreme length 24 windows and 1 door' had already been erected running nearly parallel with the Severn Valley Railway. Unfortunately, progress slowed considerably after that and the new factory was not actually opened until 25th February 1874 some two years later than Dunnill had first anticipated.

The Factory and Architect:

The factory buildings were designed by the Staffordshire architect Charles Lynam (1829-1921) who produced distinctive industrial and utilitarian buildings. He designed the works as a model factory in which the raw material was processed at one end of the site, was transformed into tiles and architectural ceramics as it passed through the various buildings and was finally packed and dispatched at the other end. Lynam had already designed a 'model factory' for Minton Hollins of Stoke and later he designed the new Maw & Co. works at Jackfield following the same linear principles. When the latter opened in 1883 it was the largest tile works in the world.

Jackfield today:

Between 1800 and 1940, the principle employment opportunities in Jackfield were at the two major tile factories of Maw & Co and Craven Dunnill and in the numerous brick and roofing tile works. Since the end of World War II, however, the local environment has changed significantly. After the war the majority of the factories in the area closed down and became dilapidated. A severe landslip in 1952 destroyed many houses in the village and later slum clearance saw vast areas of housing removed. Today nature has regained control of this once industrial heartland of ceramic manufacture and visitors come to enjoy a visit to the Jackfield Tile Museum or walks along the river side or the Severn Valley Way, the former track bed of the Severn Valley Railway.

Jackfield Tile Museum:

Craven Dunnill finally abandoned its Jackfield works in the early 1950s moving to Bridgnorth and the buildings were taken over by a firm making iron and bronze castings. In 1983 the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust (IGMT) recognised the historical importance of the site as an almost complete Victorian tile factory and purchased the works with the aid of a grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund. Since then the IGMT has worked tirelessly to restore the buildings, promote education and encourage the return of ceramic manufacture. In 1989 tile manufacture started again on site and in 2001 Craven Dunnill took over this business, returning to Jackfield after an absence of nearly forty years.

The site is presently nearing the end of a comprehensive restoration programme to maximise the use of existing buildings for exhibition, educational, and tenanted uses; arguably regeneration similar to that commenced by Henry Powell Dunnill over 130 years ago.