Jackfield Tile Museum facts for kids
Welcome to the Jackfield Tile Museum! This amazing museum shows you the history of beautiful decorative tiles made in Britain. It focuses on the years between 1840 and 1960. During this time, the factory where the museum is now, and another nearby called Maw & Co, were very important for making tiles.
The museum is in a village called Jackfield. This village is close to Broseley, on the south side of the River Severn. It's part of the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England. This whole area is a World Heritage Site. That means it's a very special place recognized globally for its history. It's known as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, a time when many new factories and machines were invented.
The Jackfield Tile Museum is one of ten museums in the Ironbridge Gorge. They are all looked after by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. The museum itself is inside an old factory building. This building used to belong to a company called Craven Dunnill. Guess what? They still make tiles there today! They are especially known for making encaustic tiles, which have patterns made from different colors of clay.
Jackfield has been a place for making pottery and ceramics for a very long time. People have been creating things from clay here since the 1500s! In the early 1700s, a family called Thursfield moved to Jackfield. They were famous for making special "Jackfield wares."
Contents
The Factory's Journey
The Craven Dunnill company stopped using their Jackfield factory in the early 1950s. They moved their business to Bridgnorth. After they left, other companies used the buildings. For a while, a company that made iron and bronze parts worked there.
Saving the Historic Site
In 1983, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust bought the old factory buildings. They got help from a group called the Architectural Heritage Fund. This fund helps save important old buildings.
Just a few years later, in 1989, something exciting happened. Tile making started again at the site! Then, in 2001, the original company, Craven Dunnill, took over the tile-making business there once more.
In 1992, some of the factory buildings were given special protection. This means they are very important old buildings. These included the main office at the front and some workshops. These workshops were the Blunging House, Clay Arks, Tile Press Shop, and the Kiln House.
Amazing Tile Collections
The museum has many wonderful collections of tiles. You can see work by famous artists like William De Morgan. He was known for his beautiful and colorful tile designs.
One special part of the collection includes tiles from a children’s hospital ward. These tiles used to be in the Middlesex Hospital. Imagine how these colorful tiles might have cheered up children in the hospital!
In 2014, the museum received a very generous gift. A person named John Scott gave them a collection of 1,300 tiles! These tiles were made in the 1800s and 1900s. It's like a huge treasure chest of tile history!
See also
- Listed buildings in Broseley
External links
- Jackfield Tile Museum website
- Shropshire Tourism information
- Virtual Shropshire information
