The decline of Ironbridge | Industrial revolution | Peter Terson | 1970s Ironbridge| 1974

It’s the 1970s but the way of life was still more traditional

Great to see this. Our primary school from Wiltshire did a 4 day trip to Shropshire in the early 80s so we greatly benefitted from this tourism regeneration of a very slecial and historic part of England. I remember all us kids buying lots of souveniers, postcards, sweets and miscelaneos articles at the various gift shops. (I remember Iron Bridge and Blists Hill as the highlights.. oh and our teacher getting pooped on by a bird : ) )

I like these old videos and finding out what happened to the people. The interviewer, Peter Terson, was a successful playwrite and died in 2021 aged 89. Here is a wiki entry for Neil Cossons at 6:38; Sir Neil Cossons OBE FSA FMA (born 15 January 1939) is a British historian and museum administrator. Cossons was born in Beeston and studied at the University of Liverpool.[1] He was the first director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust from 1971 and then at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich from 1983. From 1986 to 2000 he was the director of the Science Museum, London, (awarded Science Museum Fellowship 2019) UK. From 1989-95, and 1999-2000 he was an English Heritage commissioner. He was pro-provost and chairman of council of the Royal College of Art from 2007 until 2015. In 2000, he took over as chairman of English Heritage,[2] a post he held to 2007.[3] He was one of the founders of the Association of Independent Museums (AIM) and its chairman from 1978 to 1983 when he was appointed president, a position he still holds. Cossons was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1982 and knighted for services to museums and the heritage in 1994. He is a Fellow of the Museums Association (FMA 1970) and a Life Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA 1968). A member of the Newcomen Society for the history of engineering and technology since 1963, Cossons was president from 2001–03 and awarded the society's Dickinson Memorial Medal in 2001.[citation needed] In 2016, he was appointed a Trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund/Heritage Lottery Fund. Other appointments include: president of the Association for Industrial Archaeology (1977–80); member of the Design Council (1990–94); non-executive director of British Waterways Board (1995-2001); Collier Professor in the Public Understanding of Science in the University of Bristol (2001–02); president of the Royal Geographical Society (2003-2006) He has been an honorary professor at the University of Birmingham since 1994. Cossons holds honorary doctorates from fourteen British universities, was awarded the President's Medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1993, and appointed an honorary fellow of the RIBA in 2002.[3] Cossons is "Britain's leading authority on the industrial heritage"[4] and has advised on matters of conservation and management widely in the UK and overseas.

How far sighted they were! The dream appears to have come to fruition.

What a post for the Archive. Thank you for posting.

I am glad that the collective benefit of all the buildings was acknowledged but I would fundamentally disagree 50 years on about each building individually not having aesthetic value and being ordinary, but Ironbridge of course is now a Conservation Area and an ever popular attraction to the Telford area. We had a great day out just before the Pandemic.

I enjoyed my visit in the late 90's👋👋👋

8:00+ "...part of the charm.....and what attracts alot of people...is this decrepitude." ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Can some kind soul tell me if they were indeed able to save and restore the irreplaceably essential Ironbridge of its Industrial Revolution birthright?

It had liiiiiiiime, it had saaaaaand, it had woooood, it had coaaaaaaaal, it really had everythiiiiiiing a iron master would neeeeeeeed 😐

Use to go to ti that jumble sale market and get my clothes for school.

Just a shame it floods nowadays.

Great info, but get the guy a dentist and a barber!

now i know where billy bob teeth got there idea

you don't see faces like that presenting TV anymore. political correctness gone mad I say!

A lot could have been learned from West Germany, where standards of living rose at a faster rate after the war. The British problem of trade union activism and militant socialism did a lot of damage to the nation's economy. Socialist industries did not provide much work in the long run. Thatcher did the right thing by introducing privatization, moving the focus of economic activities to Citi, and shutting down unprofitable coal pits, shipyards and other loss-making factories.

Nice teeth 🤣

4.37 With a face like that, he must be a comedian. 4.53 This man still doesn't realise he married a man.."It can be like a mini Stratford -upon -Avon ,when the trees come out " . Sometimes our trees need coaxing out with a jug of water and a handful of organic soil.If they are in a bad mood they tend to wander off up the road I have to look for them and order them home.