Moira Furnace Museum

Moira Furnace is one of the best examples of an early 19th Century iron-making blast furnace anywhere in Europe. It was built in 1804 by Francis Rawdon Hastings, the Earl of Moira, to exploit the wealth of coal and iron ore in the area.

The furnace site includes the museum itself, which is within the original blast furnace building; restored lime kilns; woodland; and the restored section of the Ashby Canal, complete with narrowboat. There are three parts to the museum:

The Bridge Loft – where the raw materials for smelting were assembled and fed into the top of the furnace. This now houses interactive displays showing how the furnace worked.

The Hastings Room – where the furnace building was converted into cottages after it stopped working. This now houses displays of the working life of the furnace and the history of the buildings on the site.

Mary’s Kitchen - a reconstructed Victorian kitchen. This contains authentic objects giving an insight into the everyday lives of the mining families who lived in the furnace later in the 19th century.

Ashby Canal

The canal was dug to transport locally-mined coal and the iron produced at Moira Furnace to markets in the Midlands and the South of England. It also carried the raw materials that the furnace needed to operate. The canal was re-watered in 1999 and boat trips are available through the Moira Lock, the first to be built on the Ashby Canal, to the basin at Conkers in the heart of the National Forest.

Moira Furnace Museum has its own narrowboat named after the entrepreneur Joseph Wilkes who helped finance the construction of the original canal.

The Moira Furnace Museum site

As well as the spectacular furnace building itself, the museum site has attractive woodland, pathways and play areas for the whole family to enjoy.

Woodland - a boardwalk trail, specially designed for visitors with disabilities to enjoy, has been provided in the deciduous plantation that links the playground and car park to the main museum site. Here you can see all kinds of plants and animals throughout the year.

Lime Kilns – the path through the woodland leads to a wildflower meadow and the seven lime kilns that were built to burn local limestone.

Playground – there is a superb, modern, adventure play complex next to the main car park.

Pathways and cycleways - As well as the woodland and towpath walks that the site offers, the Furnace is a good starting point for the many local family cycle trails which have been created in the Ashby Woulds and National Forest area.

Moira Furnace Museum and schools

The Moira Furnace site offers a wealth of activities for schools and helps meet National Curriculum requirements in History, Science, Geography, Literacy and Numeracy. The museum has been designed to show how science and industry have shaped the local landscape and the lives of local people. Its resources offer a range of experiences for children at all key stages.

An education pack, containing resources to help children explore and interpret the site, is available to schools.

The museum also offers a number of activities that can be combined with the museum experience to provide a full day of educational value. These include:

• Victorian washday
• Victorian games
• Soap making
• Clay modelling
• Wildflower and tree identification
• Bug hunting

All activities and tours are ranger-led.

Tea Room, Gift Shop and Craft Workshops

The museum’s tea room serves home-made hot and cold meals, snacks, cream teas and drinks. The gift shop, where you can buy your tickets for the museum or boat trips, has an attractive range of gifts for all ages and many books on the history and development of the local area. The ticket office courtyard also contains several craft workshops including a pottery, stoneware and metal sculpture.

Opening times:

Summer (1st April – 30th September)
Tuesday – Sunday 10.00 – 5.00

Winter (1st October – 31st March)
Wednesday – Sunday 11.00 - 4.00

Open Bank Holidays
Closed Christmas and New Year period

Moira Furnace Museum
Furnace Lane
Moira
Swadlincote
Derbyshire
DE12 6AT

Tel: 01283 224667 or 07976 637858.
Email: moirafurnace@hotmail.co.uk