Ironbridge Coracle Heritage

Ironbridge Coracle Heritage

Three people stand outside a large closed shed with a sign saying awaiting restoration
Trustees outside the last remaining coracle shed.

Start Up Grants

Ironbridge Gorge
Telford and Wrekin
Ironbridge Coracle Trust
£10000
A small group of volunteers set out to preserve the last remaining coracle maker's workshop on the River Severn and started the Ironbridge Coracle Trust.

The grant paid for a professional conservation plan to assess the site’s condition, look at different options for its future use and explore how it could be best managed and restored. A new website and regatta event recruited new volunteers and five additional trustees, strengthening and diversifying the board. Training helped these volunteers develop skills in understanding traditional coracles, event management and in maintaining the new website.

A new information panel, pop up exhibition and leaflets raised the group’s profile and encouraged local people to realise the site’s significance and donate items and memories. The project finally enabled the trust to become a registered charitable incorporated organisation, secure a council grant to purchase the site and build momentum for the shed’s eventual restoration.

Trust secretary Jude Walker, said: “We knew what we wanted to achieve with the site but not sure the best way to go about it. The start up grant helped us concentrate on setting up the group, getting professional advice and making contacts, channelling our enthusiasm rather than dissipating.”