The National Trust has said it aims to increase annual visitor numbers from 330,000 to 600,000 in the long term, tackle barriers that prevent people from engaging with heritage, and provide events and programming to appeal to families.
Its director general, Hilary McGrady, director general of the National Trust, said: “I cannot think of something more at home in the National Trust’s care – an institution built to protect and preserve the things our nation loves on behalf of everyone, everywhere.”
Mark Pemberton, chairman of the board of trustees of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, said: “We are incredibly pleased to have secured the long-term future of the museum by its transfer to the National Trust.”
He said the £9m recognised the “global significance and national importance of Ironbridge”.