Stourbridge Glass Museum in the West Midlands is set to open its 250-year-old underground tunnels to the public for the first time, creating a new family-friendly immersive experience that combines historic tunnel networks with modern technology.
Tunnel Transformation and Technology
The museum is working to transform the historic tunnel network into an immersive visitor experience using virtual reality (VR) and projection-mapping technology. These innovations will bring local glassmaking heritage to life, allowing visitors to explore the tunnels' history in an engaging way.
The tunnels were once used by generations of local glassworkers to store materials and control temperatures during the production of fragile glass products. They have never before been open to the public.
Economic and Community Impact
The new experience aims to attract more visitors to the area, boosting the local economy through hotel stays and spending at other local businesses. The mayor of Dudley, Pete Lowe, praised the new project, using the Black Country phrase "Bostin" in response to the news.
Museum director Alexander Goodger said: "This is just one part of our new phase of capital development designed to boost the site for locals, expand the offer, give it a wider appeal and bring in tourists to the area who then go on to stay in hotels and eat in restaurants, regenerating the area. We want to bring in investment for the Black Country’s heritage. We have an incredible and unique history."
Health and Safety Improvements
Before opening the tunnels to the public, the museum will undertake essential improvements to health and safety, signage, public access, and lighting, ensuring a safe and free-flowing visitor experience. An opening date for the tunnels has not yet been confirmed.
Stourbridge Glass Museum Exhibitions
The Stourbridge Glass Museum is home to exhibitions celebrating more than 400 years of the town's glassmaking heritage. Displays explore life inside a traditional glass cone – a tall brick structure with a furnace at its centre, where skilled glassmakers shaped and blew molten glass while heat and gases escaped through the chimney above.
Glass cone buildings are unique to the UK, with only four left standing, one of which can be seen over the road from the museum. Contemporary artists are also based at the museum, allowing visitors to watch how glass artwork is made in the modern era.
The museum also exhibits many of the items created by craftsmen over the centuries, including luxury glass art with intricate engraving and delicate twisted stems on drinking glasses, candlestick holders and vases.
