Ironbridge

Over the last year the BPMA has been working on an exciting project in partnership with the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust (IGMT) in Shropshire. The project has involved building a Victorian Post Office and a contemporary exhibition as part of their Blists Hill Victorian town site.

Blists Hill is a popular visitor attraction set in the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage site, the birth place of the Industrial Revolution. The town consists of original and reconstructed buildings from the Victorian and Edwardian period, set in a street scene. Each building is occupied by a business in keeping with the period, such as a chemist, a bank, a pub and a school, as well as a clay mine and canal nearby. Each of the businesses are reconstructed to appear as they might have done in the late Victorian or Edwardian period, and traditional goods are sold by costumed staff from the premises.

Canal Street, Blists Hill

Blists Hill Post Office

On 4 April 2009, Canal Street opened to the public at Blists Hill. The entire street has been newly built and includes the Post Office of the period. The BPMA have worked with the IGMT to develop this Post Office, complete with stationers and post office counter. On the upper floor of the building the BPMA has created an exhibition called The Museum of the Post Office in the Community.

The Museum of the Post Office in the Community

To find out more about the exhibition itself, and the different subjects that are explored within the theme of the Post Office in the Community, please visit The Post Office in the Community online exhibition, and the BPMA blog.

The Museum of the Post Office in the Community

How to get to Blists Hill

The Ironbridge Gorge is on the River Severn, 5 miles (8km) south of Telford town centre in Shropshire.

Take junction 4 from the M54. Follow brown and white signs to Ironbridge Gorge.

Once on the A442 follow signs for Blists Hill Museums.

For more details and a map, please see the IGMT website.

Images

The images below show the progress of the project. You can see some of these and more on Flickr.


The start of the build on Canal Street, March 2008.		The shell of the buildings start to take shape, 21/07/08.

The roof trusses are now in place, 26/11/08.		The roof is now complete and you are able to go inside the buildings. The Post Office is at the end of the row on the left, 20/01/09.

The front of the Post Office, 20/01/09.		The front of the Post Office; the windows have now been installed, 20/02/09.

Many of the shops on Canal Street will soon be installed, 20/02/09.		The exterior building work in Canal Street has almost finished, 10/03/09.

The windows frames have been painted and the pavement is being laid. The BPMA exhibition will be on the first floor, 10/03/09.		The inside of the Post Office, 10/03/09.

The view of the new photographer's studio on Canal Street, 10/03/09.		Canal Street now it has been completed, with the new Blists Hill Post Office in the foreground, 03/04/09.

The Blists Hill Post Office counter, 03/04/09.		The Blists Hill Post Master, 03/04/09.

The Post Office decorated for the official Canal Street Launch, 30/04/09.		The President of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust officially opens Canal Street, 30/04/09.

Guests visit the Post Office during the Canal Street Launch, 30/04/09.		Guests in the the Post Office filling out envelopes to receive a special cancellation mark, 30/04/09.

The stairwell leading up to The Museum of the Post Office in the Community, 20/10/09		The stairwell leading up to The Museum of the Post Office in the Community, 20/10/09

The Counter Services display with GPO3 model and Hen & Chicks pentacycle, 20/10/09		Counter Services display case, 20/10/09

Counter Services display, 20/10/09		Counter Services display with BSA Bantam motorcycle, 20/10/09

Delivering the Mail display, 20/10/09		Letter Boxes display, 20/10/09

Hen & Chicks pentacycle, 20/10/09		Changing Times display, 20/10/09