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Blists Hill Victorian Town

Blast furnaces in EnglandIronbridge GorgeIronbridge Gorge Museum TrustLiving museums in EnglandMuseums in Shropshire
Open-air museums in EnglandPreserved beam enginesPreserved stationary steam enginesTelfordUse British English from February 2023
Blists Hill Victorian Town Canal Street November 2021
Blists Hill Victorian Town Canal Street November 2021

Blists Hill Victorian Town is an open-air museum built on a former industrial complex located in the Madeley area of Telford, Shropshire, England. The museum attempts to recreate the sights, sounds and smells of a Victorian Shropshire town in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of ten museums operated by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Originally Blists Hill was an industrial region consisting of a brick and tile works, blast furnaces and coal, iron and fire clay mines. The museum was opened in 1973 and has been growing ever since. The museum's buildings fall into one of three categories, buildings that were already part of the industrial site, buildings that represent a generic type and original buildings that have been relocated to the museum. The museum has three districts, a town area with Victorian era shops such as a bank, bakery, bicycle shop and post office. An industrial district that provided various employment from a blast furnace and wrought iron works and a countryside district with buildings such as a squatter's cottage and tin roof church. The museum has been used as a venue for various television programmes and films, including Doctor Who and Blue Peter.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Blists Hill Victorian Town (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Blists Hill Victorian Town
High Street,

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Wikipedia: Blists Hill Victorian TownContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 52.629 ° E -2.451 °
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High Street
TF7 5DU , Sutton Hill
England, United Kingdom
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Blists Hill Victorian Town Canal Street November 2021
Blists Hill Victorian Town Canal Street November 2021
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Tar Tunnel
Tar Tunnel

The Tar Tunnel is an abandoned tunnel located on the north bank of the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge at Coalport, England. It is one of ten Ironbridge Gorge Museums attractions administered by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Miners struck a gushing spring of natural bitumen, a black treacle-like substance, when digging a canal tunnel for the Coalport Canal in 1787, or else digging a level in search of coal. The plan, proposed by William Reynolds, was to connect the canal alongside the River Severn to the lower galleries of the mines below the Blists Hill area. After digging around 3,000 feet (910 m) into the hill the canal project was abandoned in favour of bitumen extraction. The tunnel was a great curiosity in the eighteenth century and bitumen still oozes gently from the brick walls today. Bitumen's chief commercial use at the time was to treat and weatherproof ropes and caulk wooden ships, but small amounts were processed and bottled as 'Betton's British Oil', a panacea remedy for rheumatism and scurvy. After the canal project was abandoned the Hay Inclined Plane was built instead, its base being alongside the canal basin. In the past visitors were provided with hard hats and were able to enter the first 300 feet (91 m) of the brick-lined tunnel as far as an iron gate. Electric lighting is provided. Due to a build up of gas in the tunnel, it is unsafe to enter but visitors can still get a view along part of its length from the entrance.