Heritage Open Days - Coalbrookdale

As part of the national Heritage Open Days Festival, we're offering FREE access to all our Coalbrookdale sites for one weekend alongside a jam-packed itinerary of special events and activities for all ages.

Dates: Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 September, 2024

Timings: From 10am until 5pm

For this weekend only, visitors will get free access to Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Enginuity, the Darby Houses, the Coalbrookdale Gallery and the Old Furnace.

Across the five sites, all within walking distance of each other, there will be an array of walks, talks and crafts demonstrations, including...

• An IGMT curator making fruits from marzipan in the Darby Houses to show how the kitchen would have been used
• Visitors will have the opportunity to try intaglio printing with Birmingham City University PhD student Rosie Smith, who has been researching promotion and advertising in the past using the historic catalogues of the Coalbrookdale Company
• In Enginuity, design a patchwork outfit inspired by the ravishing Reuse and Recycle dress and train made from hundreds of fabric scraps by the Trust’s Costume Project team
• Also in Enginuity, children can take part in bridge-building sessions 
• In the Old Furnace, experience a sound installation produced by Nathan Tromans at Birmingham City University which will bring to life the Old Furnace with sounds of the Gorge
• Take a guided visit of Coalbrookdale with IGMT curators

We will also be joined by academics from Birmingham City University, Keele University, University of Liverpool and University of Wolverhampton (School of Engineering).

See the full event timetable here

Also, don’t miss...

• Holy Trinity Church, Coalbrookdale (just across the road and up the hill) will be open both days from 10am until 4pm.
• The Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Festival based in Ironbridge runs from 26 August until 15 September
• The Secret Severn Art trail runs at the Fusion Gallery Jackfield Tile Museum from 6 September until 15 September