The world-famous Ironbridge Gorge museums will start to reopen their doors for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown on July 4, it was announced today.
The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust says Blists Hill Victorian Town will lead a safe, phased reopening of the historic museums in line with Government guidelines.
The Trust says Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron, Museum of The Gorge and The Iron Bridge Tollhouse will open at the same time, with the Furnace Kitchen having already opened for takeaway food earlier this month.
Strict social distancing measures will be in place along with an enhanced cleaning and hygiene regime, measures to control visitor numbers, clearly marked routes through the sites and timed entries.
The move is a major step forward for the Trust – a heritage conservation and education charity which relies on ticket sales to help it fund much of its work preserving the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution - which has been hit by both the three-month lockdown and devastating flooding in February.
Tickets and timed entry slots are due to go on sale on June 23 at www.ironbridge.org.uk. From July 4 Blists Hill Victorian Town will be open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am until 7pm, Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron and the Furnace Kitchen will be open Wednesday to Sunday from 10am until 5pm. The Museum of The Gorge and the Iron Bridge Tollhouse will open Monday to Sunday, 10am until 5pm as visitor information hubs with no admission charges.
Trust chief executive Nick Ralls said the opening followed extensive work by museum staff to ensure the sites could reopen safely and in line with all the current lockdown restrictions and still offer a high-quality experience for visitors.
“We are delighted to finally be able to open up again to the public after an incredibly difficult period for both us and the whole country,” he said.
“We are focussing our initial reopening on those sites where we can fully maintain social distancing and visitor safety and still offer a terrific experience for everybody who comes.
“There will be some changes at the sites to ensure everyone can enjoy them safely and we will be asking people to pre-book tickets and arrive at a specific time so that we can control numbers at all times.
“But Blists Hill and the other reopened sites will offer the absolutely fantastic day out for families that they always have – and with schools being locked down for so long will also offer some excellent educational opportunities for parents too.
“We are lucky that Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open-air museum with lots of outdoor spaces. We’re planning to open most of our Victorian exhibits with one-way routes through buildings. In a few cases this won’t be possible so we will ‘fishbowl’ those buildings so visitors can still see inside from the doorstep. With the addition of queueing systems and enhanced hygiene, many attractions will actually be able to open as normal.
“And we have also created a special Victorian Market area in the Goods Shed which will give a taste of what life was like for retailers in the period. It promises to be a real favourite.”
A special audit of toilet facilities had been carried out to ensure they could be used safely, new hand-washing sites would be in place across the sites and cleaning arrangements had been increased to offer extra peace of mind for visitors.
The Trust says special ticketing and car parking arrangements will be put in place and multiple entrance and exit points have been carefully considered to prevent pinch points building up.
The museums – all in the West Midlands’ only World Heritage Site and the region’s most historically-important visitor attraction – have been closed since the lockdown was announced in March having earlier been hit by the floods along the Ironbridge Gorge in February.
Mr Ralls said that the Trust will consider opening other sites at the museum later this year and that all arrangements would be kept under constant review and in line with Government guidance.
“I want to thank all our staff and volunteers for the work which has been going on behind the scenes to get to the point where we can reopen, and also thank all our supporters for the way they have helped us through this really difficult time.
“The combination of the pandemic and the floods has created the biggest challenge for the Trust and the local community. We are just happy to be playing our part in bringing people back to the Ironbridge Gorge.”
For more information on the reopening visit https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/