The Jackfield Tile Museum is one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums based in the village of Jackfield on the south bank of the River Severn in the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It is located within a World Heritage Site, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.
The museum is housed in a decorative tile factory building, the former works of Craven Dunnill and Company, that is still used to produce tiles. It presents the history of the British decorative tile industry between 1840 and 1960, the period in which this factory and that of Maw & Co nearby played an important part in this industry.
Jackfield is one of the oldest known ceramic production centres in Shropshire, a tradition dating back to the 16th century. The Thursfield family settled in Jackfield during the early 18th century; Jackfield wares are attributed to the family.
Craven Dunnill gave up its Jackfield works in the early 1950s, moving to Bridgnorth, and the buildings were used by a firm making iron and bronze castings. In 1983, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust purchased the works with the aid of an Architectural Heritage Fund grant. In 1989, tile manufacture restarted on the site and in 2001 Craven Dunnill took over this business again.
The collections include William de Morgan and other historic tilers.
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“Life is in the mouth; death is in the mouth.”
—Hawaiian saying no. 60, ‘lelo No’Eau, collected, translated, and annotated by Mary Kawena Pukui, Bishop Museum Press, Hawaii (1983)