The national body Historic England responded to the Covid -19 crisis by setting up an Emergency Response Fund to help historic attractions survive the lock-down and to move forward.

The Etruria Industrial Museum, which is the home of Shirley’s 1857 Bone and Flint Mill, has been selected as one of the 70 organisations from 300 applicants to receive significant funding to work with Historic England to install IT and audio-visual systems to bring the museum to the public and help visitors to better understand the operation of the potters’ mill, even when it’s not in operation (in steam) or they are not on the site. Volunteer and trustee Peter Vigurs said, “You could say we are bringing the 19th Century into the 21st Century, down by the canal junction in Etruria! It’s a much-needed boost for this important piece of Potteries’ heritage.” Stoke-on-Trent has several outstanding museums, telling the story of hundreds of years of pottery production in this area but Etruria Industrial Museum is truly unique  housing the world’s only operational 19th Century steam-driven bone and flint mill, showing how raw materials were prepared for the process of creating world famous English Bone China!