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Worcester r H y I Eighteenth-century RE hospital now dedicated to the history of medicine Design by Brigitte Winsor: www.icedesignbox.com. Reproduced from Ordnance Survey map data by permission of the Ordnance Survey © Crown copyright 2010. 30 31 THE ENLIGHTENMENT LANDSCAPE JOSEPH WRIGHT GALLERY, DERBY THE WEDGWOOD MUSEUM, BARLASTON, STOKE-ON-TRENT MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY pottery and ceramics industry of the West Midlands. The Museum has a wide range of exhibitions tracing the PLACES TO VISIT history of the Wedgwood family and business from the eighteenth to the ERASMUS DARWIN HOUSE, LICHFIELD twentieth century and offers innovative BERSHAM HERITAGE ways of exploring an important part of CENTRE AND IRONWORKS It has been said of Erasmus Darwin that no the region’s industrial heritage. Guided NEAR WREXHAM, POWYS one since has rivalled him for tours of today’s factory are also on offer.

- physics, chemistry, geology, meteorology Tailby © Richard Housed in a new, purpose-built museum Trent ST12 9ER and all aspects of biology. Joseph Wright was born in Derby, the son of a local and visitor centre, the Wedgwood Museum Phone: +44 (0)1782 371902 Erasmus Darwin House is run by The lawyer. Among his patrons were Josiah Wedgwood tells the story of Josiah Wedgwood and his Website: Erasmus Darwin Foundation and aims to and Richard Arkwright. Although some of his family and explores their significance to the http://www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk raise awareness of the life and achievements paintings have been associated with the Industrial of this great eighteenth-century polymath. Revolution of the eighteenth century, Wright's THE BLACK COUNTRY LIVING MUSEUM, DUDLEY

Bersham Heritage Centre near Wrexham has and can be accessed through the herb Darwin Foundation © Erasmus light and shade offered by such subjects. There is a The Black Country Living Museum offers visitors the remains of John Wilkinson’s East Works, gardens, which are formally divided Erasmus Darwin House, Lichfield WS13 7AD major collection of his work to be found in the a chance to experience what it was like to live in part of the Bersham Ironworks complex. into Mrs Darwin’s culinary herb garden Phone: + 44 (0)1543 306260 Joseph Wright Gallery at Derby Museum and Art the area as it became industrialised. The ‘village’ has There are two exhibits: ‘John Wilkinson, Wales and Dr Darwin’s medicinal herb garden. Website: www.erasmusdarwin.org Gallery. been reconstructed brick by brick, and has, among and the Wider World’ concerning the history The Gallery is open from 10.00 to 17.00 Tuesday - other attractions, a working bakery, a nail of Bersham Ironworks and the career of John THE INFIRMARY, UNIVERSITY CROMFORD MILLS, MATLOCK Saturday and 13.00 to 16.00 on Sundays. Admission shop…and a traditional pub. You can also take a Wilkinson, and ‘Sharp as Steel’ about the OF WORCESTER to the Gallery is free. trip along the canal and go down a coal mine. Of history of Brymbo Steelworks and its Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby DE1 1BS particular interest is the full-size working replica of connection to Wilkinson. Phone: + 44(0)1332 641901 Thomas Newcomen’s ‘atmospheric’ engine. 2012 Admission is free and the Centre is open from Website: www.derbymuseums.org marked the tri-centenary of the invention of this January to October. Check the website for 'fire engine', as it was known, the first one of opening times. PICKFORD’S HOUSE, DERBY which was installed in 1712 at Lord Dudley’s Bersham Heritage Centre, Wrexham Coneygre Colliery in Tipton. LL14 4HT Black Country Living Museum, Dudley DY1 4SQ Phone: +44(0)1978 261 529 Phone: + 44 (0)121 557 9643 Website: http://www.wrexham.gov.uk and Website: http://www.bclm.co.uk © Black Country Living Museum enter ‘Bersham Heritage Centre’ into the search box IRONBRIDGE GORGE MUSEUMS, SHROPSHIRE SOHO HOUSE, HANDSWORTH, BIRMINGHAM Often referred to as the © The Infirmary © Arkwright Society birthplace of the The former Infirmary, or Worcester Royal Cromford Mill, the world’s first successful Industrial Revolution, the Infirmary as it was later known, has a rich water-powered cotton spinning mill, was built Ironbridge Gorge is a © Derby Museums & Art Gallery and varied history spanning some 240 in 1771 by Sir Richard Arkwright. The site UNESCO World A short walk from Derby Museum and Art Heritage Site. The years, with the impact of its staff extending presents a remarkable picture of an early Gallery is Pickford’s House. Joseph Pickford centrepiece of the Gorge well beyond the immediate area. The textile factory complex, which was quickly moved to Derby in about 1760, after serving an is the world’s first cast- building has been restored by the copied by mills in Lancashire, Germany and the United States. Although under threat of apprenticeship with his sculptor and stonemason iron bridge, built over the University of Worcester and now houses an uncle in London, and became acquainted with a © Birmingham Museums Trust demolition in the early 1980s, Cromford River Severn in 1779. exhibition financed by the Heritage group of Midland intellectuals associated with the Home to industrialist, entrepreneur and Lunar Mills have been restored and granted Grade I Among the ten different Lottery Fund, which explores that history. Lunar Society. In addition to St Helen’s House in Museum Trust Gorge © Ironbridge Society member Matthew Boulton, Soho listed status. museums in the area is House contains an impressive collection of Scientific exploration is encouraged Derby and Etruria Hall in Stoke-on-Trent, the Museum of Iron at Coalbrookdale. Close by the Museum are the former The Cromford Mills site is open daily from ormolu and silver manufactured at Boulton’s through a range of hands-on, interactive Pickford designed and built several houses in It is housed in the Great Warehouse homes of the Darby family, packed with 09.00 to 17.00 (except Christmas Day). Soho Works, as well as Georgian furniture, displays, which are intended to be as much Derby’s Friar Gate. Number 41 Friar Gate, built adjacent to the site and includes the family belongings, from which there is a including items used by the Boulton family. fun for adults as for young people. Admission is free. There are three tours in 1770, was the Pickford family home and remains of the water-powered blast view of the restored Furnace Pool that The dining room where the Lunar men Admission is free and the gallery is open available, details of which can be found on workplace. furnace where Abraham Darby I once helped power the ironworks. regularly met to talk, debate and carry out from 09.00 – 17.00 Monday - Friday. the Cromford Mills website. It should be The house is open 10.00 to 17.00 Tuesday - perfected the smelting of iron with coke many of their experiments is a highlight of the School and group visits are welcome. noted that, owing to the nature of the site, Saturday, 13.00 to 16.00 on instead of charcoal. There are models, The Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Sunday and Bank Holidays and closed on house. The Infirmary, Worcester WR1 3AS access for visitors with disabilities and films and displays of domestic and Coalbrookdale TF8 7DQ wheelchair users is restricted. Monday. Open during the Spring and Summer months. Phone: + 44 (0)1905 542373 decorative ironwork that bring to life the Enquiries are dealt with by email rather Soho House, Handsworth B18 5LB Website: Cromford Mills, Matlock DE4 3RQ Pickford’s House, Derby DE1 1DA revolutionary techniques that made than phone and should be sent to Phone: +44(0)121 554 9122 http://www.facebook.com/TheInfirmary Phone: + 44 (0)1629 825995 Phone: + 44 (0)1332 715181 Coalbrookdale the most famous [email protected] ironworks in the world. Website: http://www.bmag.org.uk/soho-house Worcester Website: www.cromfordmill.co.uk Website: http://www.derbymuseums.org Website: http://www.ironbridge.org.uk 32 www.historywm.com www.historywm.com 33