Industrial

Blists Hill is an open air museum, recreating a Victorian town on an industrial site that included mines, blast furnaces and a section of the Shropshire Canal. Some of the buildings are original, others have been relocated and some are replicas. It's a 52 acre site.  There's a fascinating range of things to see, from shops, a bank and public house, to industrial premises. Costumed staff keep the whole thing themed and there are various demonstrations and events etc. It's a good day out for all ages.

Blists Hill is one of 10 museums in the area run by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.

The Falkirk Wheel is a unique and massive boat lift connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. Completed in 2002 at a cost of £84.5 million, the Falkirk Wheel raises boats 79 feet (24 metres), though there are still a couple of locks to negotiate as well. An engineering masterpiece, there are boat trips, walks, a play park, visitor centre and other activities.

Ironbridge, named for the world's first cast-iron bridge, built in 1779, that spans the River Severn and its beautiful gorge, is a charming, colourful and now relatively peaceful Shropshire town.  You would hardly know that it had been at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, century iron bridge. Part of a World Heritage Site, there are many museums in the town and nearby, as well as walks.

Jack and Jill Windmills is the popular name for a pair of 19th century windmills on a hill overlooking the village of Clayton, 7 miles north of Brighton. Surprisingly, they are also known as the Clayton Mills, the names ‘Jack and Jill’ being thought to date from day-trippers in the 1920s.  In fact, there are the remains of three mills on the site.

Jill is a restored 19th century corn windmill, the restoration work being mostly undertaken by volunteers in their spare time.  She is open to the public on limited days and run by the Jack and Jill Windmills Society, though owned by Mid Sussex District Council.

In fact, the first mill on the hill (so to speak) was Duncton Mill, constructed in 1765. This was demolished in 1866, with part of it remaining as a store, to be replaced by Jack. Jack is a tower mill, used to grind corn, and worked until the early part of the 20th century. It is now a private residence.  Allegedly, a skeleton, dating from the Anglo-Saxon period, was found on the site in the 1920s, when the ground was being dug for a water tank.

Jill was originally Lashmar's New Mill, built in 1821 on the outskirts of Brighton.  The land being required for development, in 1852 the mill was dismantled, the parts hauled up the hill and rebuilt on the current location.

Whether Jill is open or not, a visit to Jack and Jill Windmills is rewarding for the views over the Downs alone. The mills themselves are very photogenic too.

The Ouse Valley Viaduct, aka the Balcombe Viaduct, is a photographer's dream. It isn't just its size - just under 1,500 feet long and about 100 high (450 x 29m), or the elegance of 37 brick arches stretching across the Sussex countryside, but the design. The arches are symmetrical and create an artistic tunnel - quite extraordinary. It is built of 11 million bricks, originally from Holland, but has been repaired so often with different bricks that it's now a kind of brick patchwork. Completed in 1842, it is a remarkable Victorian structure and carries more than 100 trains a day between London and Brighton. There's a small lay-by on Borde Hill Lane, between Balcombe and Haywards Heath, large enough for 2 or 3 cars. Take boots if it's wet.