Bersham Heritage Centre & Ironworks

Bersham Heritage Centre and Ironworks
Bersham
Wrexham
LL14 4HT
Wales

Website

www.wrexham.gov.uk/heritage

E-mail

museum@wrexham.co.uk

Telephone

01978 318 970

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
Cartoon of John 'Iron Mad' Wilkinson, 18th century inventor and entrepreneur.
Food icon Guided tours icon Shop icon Wheelchair access icon

Bersham Ironworks is where John Wilkinson, the late 18th industrial pioneer, developed some of his most important inventions. The site was excavated in the early 1990s and you can see the remains of the ironworks. Inside the old mill (open by arrangement only) there is a "son et lumiere/light and sound" interpretation of life as a foundryman.

Bersham Heritage Centre is the industrial history museum for Wrexham, situated in the attractive Clywedog Valley. The centre is an ideal stop-off point on the Clywedog Trail, a nine mile footpath that links all the local industrial heritage sites between Minera Lead Mines and King's Mill, near Erddig. There is a seasonal exhibition programme aimed at families and schools:
2011 - Coal Mining in North Wales
2012 - Made in Wrexham
2013 - Clockwatching

Venue Type:

Museum, Industrial heritage site

 Opening hours

Bersham Heritage Centre
April - October
Mon - Fri 10.00 - 16.30
Sat - Sun 12.00 - 16.30
November - March
Closed

Bersham Ironworks is open to organised groups between April and October

 Admission charges

FREE

 Getting there

Follow brown signs marked Bersham and Clywedog from either the A525 onto the B9058, or the A483 onto the B5605 and the B5098 and the Heritage Centre is just off the B5099 west of Wrexham. The ironworks is about ten minutes' walk from the heritage centre.

 General services and facilities
  • Brochure or leaflet available with directions to museum
  • Guided tours
  • Information point provided
  • Pre-booking service for groups
  • Parking for coaches
  • Picnic area
  • Refreshments
  • Shop
 Children and families
  • Events and resources for children and families
  • Children's play area
 Disability access
  • Parking for disabled available
  • Toilets for disabled
  • Wheelchair access to some public areas
 Schools services and facilities
  • Primary school education service available
  • Printed/audio-visual information available for schools
  • Secondary school education service available
  • Education facilities available
 Research and adult learning
  • Teaching/resources available for HE/FE students

Additional info

Directions: For Heritage Centre: as above but Heritage Centre is just off the B5099. Look out of signs marked Canolfan Dreftadaeth Y Bers - Bersham Heritage Centre
For Ironworks: Follow Brown signs marked Bersham and Clywedog from either A525 onto B5098, A483 onto B5605 and B5098, or B5099 west of Wrexham. Look out for brown signs marked Gwaith Haearn Ironworks. For off road parking continue past the Ironworks for 150m and turn right opposite Bersham Church. Please contact the Heritage Centre for the Ironworks opening times.

Bersham Heritage Centre and Ironworks
Bersham
Wrexham
LL14 4HT
Wales

Website

www.wrexham.gov.uk/heritage

E-mail

museum@wrexham.co.uk

Telephone

01978 318 970

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

excavation finds from Bersham Ironworks, the local industrial history collection related to the Denbighshire coalfield, Brymbo Steelworks and Minera Lead Mines.

Collection details

Archaeology, Archives, Industry, Science and Technology, Social History

Collections services

  • General guide to collections available
  • Specialist publications on collections available

Bersham Heritage Centre and Ironworks
Bersham
Wrexham
LL14 4HT
Wales

Website

www.wrexham.gov.uk/heritage

E-mail

museum@wrexham.co.uk

Telephone

01978 318 970

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.
Bottle label, Wrexham Lager

Made in Wrexham

31 March — 31 October 2012

Wrexham's many manufacturing industries put the town on the world map and a strong smell in the air. Beer and lager, brick, tile and terracotta; diamonds, leather, chocolate, chemicals, engines and motorbikes - all were produced in Wrexham and the surrounding district. This exhibition explores these once great industries and their impact locally and nationally.

Suitable for

  • Family friendly
Old Number 1 furnace at Brymbo Steelworks

Sharp as Steel, Tough as Iron

31 March — 31 October 2012

Brymbo Steelworks was the heart and soul of a community for nearly two hundred years. Created in partnership with the Brymbo Heritage Group, this exhibition brings old Brymbo back to life, explains how the steelworks operated and remembers the lives of the steelworkers and the community they created.

Suitable for

  • All ages

Languages

  • Welsh

Admission

FREE. Donations welcome.

Website

http://wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/john_wilkinson_index.htm

Silver token, head of John Wilkinson, ironmaster and inventor

The Iron Man of Industry: John Wilkinson, Wales and The Wider World

31 March — 31 October 2012

John Wilkinson was a pioneer of the Industrial Revolution and Bersham was the site of his greatest achievements. In this exhibition you can find out about his inventions, why it all happened here and enjoy the many stories, both fact and fiction, involving Wilkinson and his workforce.

The exhibition explores Wilkinson's life story with a trail and hands-on activities for families.

Suitable for

  • Family friendly
  • All ages
  • Family friendly

Languages

  • Welsh

Admission

FREE.Donations welcome.

Website

http://wrexham.gov.uk/english/heritage/john_wilkinson_index.htm

Bersham Heritage Centre and Ironworks
Bersham
Wrexham
LL14 4HT
Wales

Website

www.wrexham.gov.uk/heritage

E-mail

museum@wrexham.co.uk

Telephone

01978 318 970

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.
Resources listed here may include websites, bookable tours and workshops, books, loan boxes and more. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all.
 Face to face resources

The Iron Man of Industry: John Wikinson

With John Wilkinson's important ironworks in Bersham, this is local and international history rolled into one. In a two hour workshop: explore the new exhibition with facilitated activities and learn why Bersham was a great location for an ironworks, discover the different jobs in an ironworks and how cannon were made, decide if he was a good employer, take a tour of the ironworks to see the archaeology and make a John Wilkinson token.

Creator

  • Lynn Podmore
  • Karen Teasdale

Publisher

  • Wrexham Heritage Service

How to obtain

Please contact the Learning & Access Officer on
museumeducation@wrexham/gov.uk.
There is a charge per child, depending on whether the school is in or outside Wrexham County Borough.

Bersham Heritage Centre and Ironworks
Bersham
Wrexham
LL14 4HT
Wales

Website

www.wrexham.gov.uk/heritage

E-mail

museum@wrexham.co.uk

Telephone

01978 318 970

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Getting there

Follow brown signs marked Bersham and Clywedog from either the A525 onto the B9058, or the A483 onto the B5605 and the B5098 and the Heritage Centre is just off the B5099 west of Wrexham. The ironworks is about ten minutes' walk from the heritage centre.

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