The museum at Broseley Pipeworks will make 'Church Wardens' of us all, in the pipe-smoking sense that is.The Broseley Pipeworks were abandoned in 1957 closing the door on 350 years of traditional pipe making skills. The site remained abandoned for many years until it was re-opened in 1996 as a part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums. Today visitors will find the traditional tools of the job preserved, lying on benches, just as it would have looked when the workers left and the factory closed all those years ago.
At one time, there were three pipe manufacturers in Broseley, making it one of the largest pipe-making areas in the world. Broseley is the site of the earliest industrial settlements. The museum here acts as a time capsule, preserving the ancient local industry of making clay pipes and other products.