Mysterious 250-year-old tunnels are opening as an immersive attraction

What do you know about British glassmaking? There are few better places to learn all about it than Stourbridge Glass Museum. Set in the Black Country, the museum traces 400 years of glassmaking in the area with a huge 4,000-piece collection of glass masterpieces and glass maker’s tools alongside regular live demonstrations and interactive exhibits.

Now, the venue has ambitions to step its visitor experience up a notch. Stourbridge Glass Museum has revealed plans to permanently open up the 250-year-old glassmaking tunnels that lie underneath it to the public. 

The tunnel network is beneath the ruins of the White House Glass Cone. It was once used to store glassmaking materials, control heat and support the production process. The museum wants to turn it into an immersive visitor experience and bring the Stourbridge glassmaking history to life using VR and projection-mapping technology. Projections will show the glassmaking process from start to finish. 

Before the tunnels are opened to the public, the museum will carry out health and safety improvements and upgrade signage, accessibility and lighting to ensure a ‘safe and free-flowing visitor experience’.  This won’t be the very first time that the public has had access to the tunnels. Every so often, the museum will run tours of the network

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.’

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