Etruria Industrial Museum

The Etruria Industrial Museum is located in Etruria, Staffordshire in England. The Museum is a typical and well-preserved example of a nineteenth century British steam-powered potter's mill. It is situated between the Trent and Mersey Canal and the staircase locks flight of the Caldon Canal. The museum has a modern entrance building, leading into a Grade II* listed building which was formerly the Etruscan bone and flint mill. The mill is also a scheduled monument.HistoryThe bone and flint mill was built in 1857 to grind materials for the local pottery industry. It was operated as a family business until 1975.RestorationThe site was given an official heritage listing in the 1970s . After a period of restoration, started in 1978, the museum was opened by Fred Dibnah in 1991. Inside the restored site visitors see displays on the history of the mill and its site, and its original machinery including a working steam engine called "Princess". There is a working historic blacksmith's forge flanking the Museum's modern entrance building. Much further restoration work was completed on the wider landscape setting of the Mill in the mid 1980s, as part of the preparations for the national Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival.Current statusAt 2015 the Museum is operated by volunteers through Shirley's Bone and Flint Mill Volunteer group, although it is part of Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Museum Service, and as such it is open to the public only occasionally throughout the year. The museum website advertises the days when the 1903 coal-fired boiler provides steam to operate "Princess", which then turns the grinding machinery.