UK Wanderings - PART 2 - Add a bit of Magic of The Large and Small Screen...

[queenie82]

Sounds like you had an awesome time. I am glad you shared it with us. You retain info about things so well. I enjoy the pics. You have done an excellent job! I would be lost in all those museums. That could take awhile.

The show ain't over yet...

I see a cupcake shop but no cupcakes. I'll have to stick with the popcorn.

Nice bridge, tho'.

The shop was closed....I was busy

 

[queenie82]

Our next stop was the Jackfield Tile Museum. This was the one I was most looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint. It reminded me of the Corning Museum of Glass in the USA. A hidden gem. Of course one must always remember…I have a fascination for things others don’t find so fascinating. I love tiles. I love pottery generally. The detail IN tiles can be really beautiful. Or the artistry can be in the way ‘plain’ tiles are put together.

Some of you may be familiar with Maw China? The factory for it is just down the road although we didn’t visit it.

Anyway – this is the museum

I LOVE how they use tiles decoratively above the windows rather than stained glass

The other side of the ‘big red door’

Moving inside

Yep….we are the empire

Something for the kids…

 

[queenie82]

And…
This is some of those…just for me photos as I found it interesting what they had had to do to restore this building. I didn’t capture photos of everything (like the floor) but on this top level of the building they uncovered an original tile floor which they have floored carefully over. Then with the roof structure they cut out rotted wood and braced in new wood to restore the roof beams and trusses. This is the rules you will find with ancient monument and listed buildings in the UK. You MUST keep as much of the old as possible. Rather than replacing timbers they prefer you to cut in new.

Of most interest was that they seem to have spliced the building in two with a fire rated glass wall. Separating it from a room housing moulds used for various tiles etc. It wasn’t open today but on the ground floor under there is a working tile making shop.

Anyway…

Some structural photos

The glass wall and beyond

They’ve even put in ‘glass planks’ in the wall to see through to the room with the moulds

 

[queenie82]

Across from the Museum was a Church, which I could see quite well from that upper floor of the Tile Museum

I love the stunning detail in the laying of the welsh slate roof

Then within and actually partially attached to the Tile museum is the Fusion Gallery and Café

A lovely blend of new and old. Rather than trying to create an old looking new building they have celebrated the art of building in creating a clearly new building using new structural techniques.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Loved the expose "trussed roof"....at least that's what I'm calling it. I'm guessing that the modern pre-made trussed roof used in most house construction these days were based on that design.

The tiles are lovely.

 

[queenie82]

These are some purchases

A lovely hand painted flat tile

Some “Seconds.” If you were looking to tile a room or splashback you could get some serious bargains with plainer tiles and seconds.
I got these seconds as they were the “cheapest” way of getting different types of tiles.

Combining Cast iron and tile

These are 50pence each bags of mosaic tiles

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the one with the IronBridge on it. Nice pick-ups!

 

[queenie82]

Next up was the Museum of Iron and Engenuity as well as the China Museum. There aren’t many photos from here.

This is a couple from the Museum of Iron

Engenuity is next door and as I say like a small Questacon in Canberra. There wasn’t really much to photograph…except the entry apparently

It’s got exhibits showing how dam’s work (which…err…might be of interest to Sydneysiders currently. Though this was a bit of a different set up.)
Plus things about how things work and are made. What materials are used in different products. Stuff like that. Depending on the child you could be there for a half hour or up to 2 hours.

I don’t have any shots it would seem on the China Museum. I think this is because of the weather outside, and poor lighting inside? Or we had run out of camera battery? Or just tired. It is a lovely museum and is literally a museum full of China sets, vases and it IS still a working China Factory. It’s lovely and I did buy a beautiful tall pot there. I saw the artist at work painting a vase with the same design while I was there.

And for anyone interested it is this China Factory that is making Queens Jubilee China. I was tempted to get some but didn’t in the end.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Were they hand painting the china?

I'm gonna be putting Ironbridge on my list of places to go to if they had decent hand painted fine-boned china!

 

[queenie82]

Were they hand painting the china?

I'm gonna be putting Ironbridge on my list of places to go to if they had decent hand painted fine-boned china!

This is the website

http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/coalport_china_museum/what_you_will_see/

http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/coalport_china_museum/exhibits/

This particular artist was hand painting her China. This piece is hand painted. I was tempted to get more and I might if I go back soon. But I honestly don't know the percentage.

There is plenty of work going on there. Making China. It is a working factory. However I can only guarantee THIS particular artist hand paints and signs her work. Her surname is Frost. Trying to remember the name...

There was also glass blowing but they weren't working that day due to technical difficulties

 

[queenie82]

I just found this for anyone else as interested in Tiles and Ceramics as me...


http://www.tiles.org/pages/tilesite/tileuk.htm

 

[queenie82]

Blists Hill

This Victorian Town was the final destination of the trip. I’ll pull the relevant information from the website as it is the best explanation as to what this place is.
I found it to be really enjoyable and certainly much cheaper than Sovereign Hill in Victoria

http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/blists_hill_victorian_town/

History

When Blists Hill Open Air Museum (now The Blists Hill Victorian Town) opened to the public in 1973 the process of creating a Victorian community had not been envisaged.
The site contained insitu remains of previous industrial activity, a stretch of the Shropshire (later Shropshire Union) Canal, remains of Blast Furnaces built in the middle of the nineteenth century and substantial remnants of a Brick & Tile works which covered the whole of the top of the site by the end of the nineteenth century.

At the far end of the site sat the Hay Incline Plane. This joined the Blists Hill canal to Coalport and from there on to the River Severn.
Early days at the museum saw the rescue of a Thomas Telford designed Tollhouse which came from Shelton, an area west of Shrewsbury.

A canal warehouse from Newport was brought to Blists Hill and converted into a carpenter's workshop. In addition a building was created to hold a collection of printing equipment from Kington in Herefordshire. From then on the museum began to grow at a faster pace and the concept of “a town” began to materialise.

Over the years the town has grown to now contain almost 40 Victorian exhibits. These have generally been created in four different ways.

1. Removed/re-erected buildings.
By rescuing buildings, machinery or objects at risk. Examples of this practice include the Duke of Sutherland Cottage, Stirchley Board School, the Blowing Engines David & Sampson and the last remaining Severn Trow, the “Spry”.

2. Adaptive re-use
By re-using existing buildings on site collections can be displayed more appropriately. The Foundry at Blists Hill is a typical example of this. Originally the building was a drying shed for the nearby Brickworks in about 1900. Foundry items from various sources have been brought together under its roof and today it produces a wide range of iron castings, just as a small jobbing foundry of 1900 would have done.

3. Replica Buildings
Occasionally it has not been possible to find an existing building to move/rescue or re-use to house a collection. In this instance the museum has created replicas of buildings that still exist elsewhere and which are therefore more appropriate to the collection. Lloyds Bank is an accurate copy of a bank still standing to the South of the river Severn in Broseley. Similarly, A F Blakemore & Son, Grocers is a copy of a still existing building in Oakengates.

4. Recreating or making accessible original features of the site.
Blists Hill has seen two hundred years of heavy industry due to the mineral wealth which lies under its grounds. The first known industrial activity on the site was mining which began in the late eighteenth century. One of the first tasks which the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust undertook at Blists Hill was the recreation of a winding engine house and the partial reopening of a shaft originally sunk in the 1770’s. Using a rescued engine from the Ironbridge, Milburgh Tileries the museum has been operating this exhibit almost everyday since 1973.
Substantial parts of the Brick & Tile Works which once covered the whole of the top part of Blists Hill still remain. During the course of an ambitious programme to repair and consolidate the existing industrial remains during the 1990’s the Brick & Tile Works on the east side of the canal were made accessible to visitors. The eventual intention is to bring these works back into operation.
There are, of course exceptions to the four main areas outlined. The wrought ironworks for example is not the result of one rescue operation but two, which have been successfully joined to create a single exhibit. The building is an 1815 cast-iron framed smithy building from the Woolwich dockyard, whilst the machinery and furnaces housed within are from Walmsley’s Atlas works in Bolton.

More on the recreated town - http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/blists_hill_victorian_town/history/recreated_town/

Now onto the photos

Welcome to Blists Hill

The first buildings you see

ALWAYS get the pure lard

Cycle anyone?

The Pharmacy…one of the highlights for me

 

[queenie82]

Dentistry provided at the local pharmacy…

Haberdashery

No comment…

Foundry

Don’t know where this went…

A dining bar with ‘live entertainment’. There’s a view down into the back of the upper town area from up there.

Print shop

Mason

 

[queenie82]

Machinery

See something I see?

A closer view

Outside again

Candle making

Woodwork

Heading down the hill

A preacher outside the bakery

The original iron works

Blast furnaces

The Spry

 

[queenie82]

The recreated lift hill. This is VERY cool. I can imagine it could get very busy. It takes you both up and down and is like a really really small Hong Kong Peak tram.
We took it to the top and then walked along the bank of the canal to the remaining and best preserved Hay Inclined Plane

Down she comes

Take a seat

Going up!

The view back down

The Hay Inclined Plane

Walking the trail back to the village

Heigh Ho…

A Church

It’s really a great town and a lovely place to look around. There is a little ‘mine train’ that you can pay 2 pounds extra for that supposedly takes you into a recreated clay mine. It’s probably worth it but not quite what I expected. Only takes about 10 mins.

The food there I thought was reasonably priced. We got the fish and chips for about 10 pounds each in canal street. You do get a decent amount for that and is certainly filling. The Bakery had some nice bread and other products. Then there is the café at the above the visitors centre and that dining bar with the entertainment.

All and all a good day out and as you can see the weather delivered!!!

Hope you enjoyed. There are other destinations in the area I hope to visit in the future. A bit south is Warwick Castle. To the north we have Stoke. Plus there’s lots of lovely churches I didn’t get around to visiting.

TTFN!!

 

[usnuzuloose]

I really loved the tile museum. I like the one in the cast iron. I love the pottery. Can you order online? I also enjoy the pharmacy stuff. I love the cupboards with all the little drawers.

I caught your hidden mickey..

Also steel wool underwear? wow!

You did an excellent TR, I hope we dont have to wait to long for another one from you. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Aside from the hidden mickey, like Usnuz, I was most amused by the 'steel wool underwear' sign.

By chance - You didn't get some did you? I think I might have use for them!

Great pics.

 

[queenie82]

I really loved the tile museum. I like the one in the cast iron. I love the pottery. Can you order online? I also enjoy the pharmacy stuff. I love the cupboards with all the little drawers.

I caught your hidden mickey..

Also steel wool underwear? wow!

You did an excellent TR, I hope we dont have to wait to long for another one from you. Thanks for sharing!!

It might be possible to order tiles? But I would imagine they might restrict to locally. Fashion from the UK is increasingly shipped here for reasonable prices. But I'll keep an eye out

Glad you enjoyed it. Everything I wanted to buy in that pharmacy was just for display All they really sold was locally made soaps and stuff...

I wanted the cyanide bandages!!

Aside from the hidden mickey, like Usnuz, I was most amused by the 'steel wool underwear' sign.

By chance - You didn't get some did you? I think I might have use for them!

Great pics.

Glad you both liked the steel wool underwear...

Although you do disturb me with that comment PIO I didn't buy any....

You could buy all sorts of prints from that print shop though. It was really cool. All sorts of old posters they reprint on the old machine.

They also make the candles the old fashioned way and you can buy them.

At certain times you can see them making bricks, making things in the foundry. It really can be an amazing place when everything is up and running. And watching all that stuff made doesn't cost extra. And the cost of purchases was very reasonable in my eyes

And...if you are a local you can go back as much as you want during the year on that 22.50 pound ticket

 

[PrincessInOz]

Me? Disturb you (or vice versa)???



NEVER!

 

[Sugarglider]

You found the carriages for the new Seven Dwarves Mine Ride