The New Coracle shed – Ironbridge Coracles

The New Coracle Shed contains a FREE exhibition telling the fascinating story of the coracle men in Ironbridge, their lives, humour and imagination.

But first the Covid information:

But our priority is for you to have a safe visit:

From a one-way entrance and exit, and hand sanitiser stations, we’ve introduced a range of measures to ensure your visit is both safe and seamless.

We will be able to manage a family group or up to 6 people at a time. We expect a visit will take about 30 minutes. At the door you will be able to see if there is room for you to enter.

We will have a volunteer in the shed who will welcome you and explain how to get the most out of the visit. They will ask you to fill in an NHS Test and Trace form which we will keep for 21 days. This will be passed on to the NHS if we discover that a visitor has tested positive for the virus. The volunteer will also sanitise the exhibition between visits for you safety.

They will also be able to answer questions and play you various bits of historic film and audio footage with the coracle men talking about life on the river.

We would be very grateful if you could leave them a comment about the exhibition. They can write it down for you.

We hope you have a great visit.

Coracle Stories

The New coracle shed is where you can see the Coracle Stories exhibition.

The Ironbridge Coracle Trust rediscovered many of the tools and strange animated characters which had been in the old shed and have built this new shed to show them and tell the stories, often in the coracle men’s own words.

During the Corona virus period the New Coracle Shed is closed, but you can make a virtual visit with this film.

The Glass Shed. This shed safely displays many of the original items from the old shed.

There is a replica of one of the witches. The real witch is in the glass shed, with a fox, tools and many mysterious objects! A real old curiosity shop!

There are also fascinating historic photos and films, many supplied by local people.

Local artists and craftspeople have been helping to tell the stories.

A coracle following an old car during the floods. Photo: IGMT, colorised by Adrian Brown.

A closeup of the diorama about poaching by Chris Cox and Tania Harvey

We made the exhibition imagining we were the ingenious coracle men, so we made our own television.

The local Men in Sheds group helped make replicas of many of the old animated models.

A classic Ironbridge style coracle made by Eustace.

We have been conserving the coracle collection. Why not volunteer to help?

Many local people have volunteered their time to help with conservation of parts of our collection and other activities.

Go to Activities