The image of a plump, jolly man who delivers presents wearing a red suit and sporting a bushy white beard is one of the best-known symbols of the Christmas season. This familiar figure goes by many names: Father Christmas, Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas. But what are the origins of this figure and why does he have so many names?
Read more
Discover what life was like for disabled working class people in the East Shropshire Coalfield during the 19th century in this blog post, which was guest written by Melanie Williamson, a freelance researcher, as part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust’s ‘Hidden Histories' project.
Read more
To celebrate the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust have collaborated with Wolverhampton Wanderers Foundation to produce a replica 19th-century women’s football kit.
Read more
An item from the Maw & Co. Collection in the Museum Library & Archives assisted conservators and researchers at Westminster Abbey in piecing together the history of one of their most celebrated treasures.
Read more
Creating a replica debutante gown from the late 19th century is a challenging task. Follow the story, as told by the Trust’s Senior Costume Interpreter, Alison Phillips, of how and why the museum was commissioned to create one of these iconic garments for Lanhydrock, a National Trust property in Cornwall.
Read more
This is the story of a team of working class men from a small mining community in the East Shropshire Coalfield, whose attempts to retain the Shropshire FA Cup had been, in their eyes, thwarted by the unscrupulous ‘County Townites’ of the Shropshire FA. The story of St. Georges expulsion from the 1886-87 Cup is an extraordinary one.
Read more
This stunning section of an encaustic floor was almost destroyed by Nancy Astor, but survived and is now in the collection at Jackfield Tile Museum.
Read more
Holidaying by the sea first became fashionable in the mid-18th century when sea bathing for health reasons became popular. However, this was only affordable to the wealthy in society, and it wasn’t until the Victorian era that a day out to the seaside became affordable for working people.
Read more
The project took place over the course of a year. During that time, the archive was condition checked, catalogued, researched, and then re-housed in new archival-grade materials.
Read more
From fountains to tomb railing and vases, take a look at what was being made.
Read more
Clients included sculptors, engineers, builders, architects and district councils. Take a closer look at who was ordering ironwork from Coalbrookdale.
Read more
’Many workmen and boys were dubbed with nicknames; here are just a few: Raspass, Magpie…Iron Mike, Teddy-lol-lol, Cottage Tom, Spot Tom and 6ft Tom…’ [Charles Peskin, c. 1900]
By the middle of the 19th century, the Coalbrookdale Company employed between 3,000 and 4,000 men. Little is known about them, although census and archival research has shed light on a handful. Below, you can meet a few of the workers who were directly referenced in the order archive.
Read more
The Coalbrookdale Company relied on a team of skilled draughtsmen to produce special drawings called technical drawings. These drawings were used to make, display, and record the Company’s products.
Read more
The Coalbrookdale Company was working with photographers as early as 1855 and had a dedicated photographic studio from at least 1862. The photography department took photographs of new iron products being made at the ironworks, as well as dealing with other printed material such as blueprints and trade catalogues.
Read more
The school at Blists Hill was moved brick-by-brick to its present site from its original location in Stirchley, where it had been built in 1881. One of its many headteachers over the years was Margaret McCallum.
Read more
The mid-Victorian period was the age of imitation and reproduction. Every style from naturalism to Gothic and Classicism was revived in art, furnishings, metalwork and ceramics.
Read more
Many students at the Coalbrookdale School of Art already worked in the industries of the Gorge, including the Coalbrookdale Company, Craven Dunnill & Co. and Maw & Co. These companies often paid for their employees to attend art classes, to learn their craft and develop their designing skills.
Read more
6 February 2018 marked 100 years since the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which allowed women to vote in parliamentary elections for the first time.
Read more
The passing of the Representation of the People Act in 1918 followed more than fifty years of campaigning by suffragists and suffragettes. The fight for the right to vote took place across Britain, including in Shropshire.
Read more
Discover more about some of the women who worked in the ceramic and iron industries in the Gorge and gained the right to vote in 1918.
Read more