Industrial Britain

The relics, museums and wonders of Britain's Industrial Revolution

65 Places

Nottingham, England

Papplewick Pumping Station

This Victorian marvel of engineering and artistic prowess is nicknamed the "Cathedral of Steam."

Capemarsh

Added by Capemarsh

Ironbridge, England

The Iron Bridge

This bridge is the first to be made entirely from iron, but designed like it was still made of wood.

Added by Anthony

London, England

Brunel Museum Grand Entrance Hall

The first tunnel to be dug beneath a river, repurposed as an art and museum space.

Molly McBride Jacobson

Added by Molly McBride Jacobson

National Railway Museum York

The National Railway Museum in York is the largest railway museum in the world, attracting almost 1 million visitors per year.

Pontypool, Wales

Big Pit National Coal Museum

Go deep down into the earth to experience the world of Welsh coal miners.

Added by Karitxa

London, England

The Cathedral of Sewage

This elaborate Byzantine-style building was designed for a not-so-pretty purpose.

Rachel

Added by Rachel

Bishop's Castle, England

Three Tuns Brewery

The oldest working Brewery in Britain.

jim hand

Added by jim hand

Brighton, England

Clayton Tunnel North Portal

This tunnel entrance is built to resemble a grand castle but no one is quite sure why.

Russ Arno

Added by Russ Arno

Birmingham, England

Curzon Street Station

This historic abandoned train station looks like a stop for ghost trains.

Added by johnjgoodall

Botallack, Cornwall

Crown Mine Ruins

These picturesque ruins crumble beautifully into the ocean.

Added by Vordenius

Sussex, England

Ouse Valley Viaduct Bridge

The elegant structure of this 19th century railroad bridge creates an illusion of infinity.

npomyateeva22

Added by npomyateeva22

Blaenavon, Wales

Blaenavon Ironworks

This former Welsh metal factory is now a lovely abandoned relic but was once one of the industry's world leaders.

EricGrundhauser

Added by EricGrundhauser

London, England

Crossness Pumping Station

This beautiful Victorian ironwork masterpiece was built to keep London from smelling like poop.

Morpeth, England

Cragside

This enchanting Victorian estate was home to the world's first hydroelectric power generator.

EricGrundhauser

Added by EricGrundhauser

Brighton, England

Brighton's Victorian Sewers

To literally keep their waste out of their own backyards, the citizens of this English city built an impressive sewer system that is still in use today.

Russ Arno

Added by Russ Arno

Norton, England

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet

A preserved 18th century steel factory.

Added by mongoosenamedt

Dunaskin Ironworks

Wonderfully preserved Victorian factory, complete with a preserved steam powered engine house.

stevied

Added by stevied

Birmingham, England

Newman Brothers Coffin Works

England's foremost purveyor of funeral furniture hasn't changed a bit since the 1960s.

MsMoll

Added by MsMoll

Shireoaks, England

The Giant's Staircase at Chesterfield Canal

This centuries-old canal known as the Cuckoo Dyke has a staircase of locks suitable for a giant.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Starcross, England

Starcross Engine House & Brunel’s Atmospheric Railway

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, one of the great Victorian engineers, was the driving force behind the short-lived atmospheric railway.

Added by Vordenius

Egremont, United Kingdom

Florence Mine

The rust covering this old mine's abandoned buildings matches the red pigment it once produced.

escapade1935

Added by escapade1935

Manchester, England

Mayfield Railway Station

Manchester's abandoned train depot lingers in a post-industrial purgatory.

Dylan

Arkwright Town, England

Arkwright Town

When methane gas started seeping up from the ground, they picked up and moved the entire town.

Rachel

Added by Rachel

Middlesbrough, England

Tees Transporter Bridge

Built in 1911, the Tees Transporter Bridge is one of only six transporter bridges still in operation.

Added by DangVarmint

Liverpool, England

Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse

This aging storage facility is the world's largest brick warehouse.

Added by bibsa888

Box Tunnel Entrance

The designer of this railway tunnel added a birthday present for himself.

Cara Giaimo

Added by Cara Giaimo

Leicester, England

National Gas Museum

The world's largest collection of artifacts from our history of industrial gas use is hard to simply pass.

Added by aarn52

Clipstone, England

Clipstone Colliery Headstocks

These abandoned coal mine towers near Sherwood Forest might soon boast the U.K.’s longest zip-line.

Added by tegan83

Town End, England

Crich Tramway Village

A collection of early 19th century trams set in a reconstructed period village.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Elsecar, England

Elsecar Beam Engine

This jewel of an engine is one of Northern England's finest surviving legacies of the Industrial Revolution, even catching the eye of Henry Ford.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Sheffield, England

Bessemer Converter at Kelham Island Industrial Museum

One of the last remnants of the Bessemer process that revolutionized steel production during the industrial age.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Chester, England

Chester Shot Tower

A 168-foot tower, part of the abandoned Chester Leadworks facility.

Molly McBride Jacobson

Added by Molly McBride Jacobson

Brownhills, England

"Jigger" the Brownhills Miner

A giant gleaming memorial named for a coal miner who gave his life to the pits.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Stretford, England

The Barton Swing Aqueduct

A rotating bridge that carries a little canal over a larger one.

Blindcolour

Added by Blindcolour

Cromford, England

Cromford Mill

The world's first successful water-powered cotton mill paved the way for the factories of the British Industrial Revolution.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Manchester, England

Victoria Arches

Hidden on the urban banks of a Manchester river are a series of abandoned waterside industrial sites.

paulypaul

Added by paulypaul

Ponsanooth, England

Kennall Vale Gunpowder Works

A sturdy relic of Britain's once crucial gunpowder industry is now a haunting Cornish ruin.

wasik

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

The longest and tallest aqueduct in Britain can actually be sailed across.

EricGrundhauser

Added by EricGrundhauser

Stoke Heath, England

The Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings

A slightly surreal menagerie of structures that were lovingly spared from demolition and reconstructed in a field.

Capemarsh

Added by Capemarsh

Gerrards Cross, England

Chalfont Viaduct

Locals call it the "Give Peas a Chance" bridge because of its distinct graffiti.

Capemarsh

Added by Capemarsh

Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales

Llechwedd Caverns Trampoline Park

A subterranean playground in an abandoned slate mine.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England

Saltburn Cliff Lift

This beautiful example of Victorian engineering is the oldest water-balanced funicular anywhere in the world.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

Darlington, England

Brick Train

A locomotive made from 185,000 bricks celebrates the town's pioneering railway history.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

London, England

'Potteries and Piggeries' Bottle Kiln

A relic from one of London's worst 19th-century slums.

ariadnemaze

Added by ariadnemaze

Llithfaen, Wales

Nant Gwrtheyrn

An abandoned quarrying village turned commune is now a hub for learning the Welsh language.

cwdmaharan

Added by cwdmaharan

Lanehead, England

Killhope

An iconic waterwheel in the Pennine Hills marks the location of one of Britain’s most profitable lead mines.

Edward Denny

Added by Edward Denny

Ludlow, England

Titterstone Clee Hill

Centuries of human activity have forged an eerie landscape of ruins and craters on an exposed and windswept hilltop.

Capemarsh

Added by Capemarsh

Newport Transporter Bridge

The largest of only eight working transporter bridges left in the world.

Dr Alan P Newman

Added by Dr Alan P Newman

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