Issue No 1, Spring 2007
The Narrow Gauge Nations: Industrial Archaeology beyond the Leading Sectors
The Rolt Memorial Lecture 2006
DAVID GWYN
The paper is offered as a contribution to understanding the scope and range of i. a. by examining the archaeology of industrialisation within the context of economies within Britain and Ireland where industry was limited in its development and did not constitute the main economic activity. It goes on to suggest on this basis that industrial archaeology needs to engage with other forms of archaeological enquiry in order to make a more effective contribution to the debate on the origins, nature and effect of industrialisation.
Percival, Vickers & Co Ltd: The Archaeology of a 19th-Century Manchester Flint Glass Works
IAN MILLER
The Percival, Vickers & Co. Ltd glass works was amongst the largest glass manufactories in Manchester, and formed one of a regionally significant group of 19th-century glass works in the Ancoats district of the city. All of these works have since been demolished, and the paucity of surviving physical and documentary evidence is in stark contrast to the former importance of the city’s glass-making industry. The Percival, Vickers site was recently subjected to a detailed archaeological investigation ahead of redevelopment, providing a unique opportunity to study the buried remains of a 19th-century glass works. In particular, variation in the design of the furnaces provided evidence for the technological development of the later 19th century, which has not otherwise been documented. Additionally, some 110kg of glass fragments recovered from the site furnished important evidence for the composition of 19th-century glass, although the results are beyond the scope of the present paper, which focuses on the documented history, structural, and technological elements of the site.
The Rushenden Estate, Queenborough, Kent: An Early British Industrial Estate
JONATHAN CLARKE
Queenborough, a town with origins as a medieval planted settlement on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, is set for major redevelopment over the coming years as part of the regeneration of the Thames Gateway region. English Heritage has produced an Historic Area Appraisal, and, in the course of its research, documents relating to a hitherto obscure Edwardian industrial estate came to light. Laid out from 1904, the Rushenden Estate is significant because it was one of the first factory estates in the wake of Trafford Park, Manchester (1896), widely acknowledged as Britain’s - or even the world’s - first industrial estate. Despite some economic history analyses and studies of individual sites, the subject of early industrial estates is surprisingly incomplete. Using material evidence derived from documentary research and fieldwork, this paper describes the evolution and growth of the Rushenden Estate, placing it in regional and typological contexts and within the milieu of the ‘Second Industrial Revolution’.
Historic Building Record and the Halifax Borough Market Doors
RON FITZGERALD
In recent issues of Industrial Archaeology Review and Industrial Archaeology News, the debate concerning the form that Industrial Archaeology should take has resurfaced In this contribution the author argues that there is now an ascendant social studies faction in the subject and that this is promoting an alignment with conventional archaeology which is serving to undermine further the original basis in industrial technology that gave rise to Industrial Archaeology. It is further suggested that these trends largely originate in the academic world and are in consequence detached from external developments. These external developments are creating a commercial environment where the paying client is the key force and Industrial Archaeology is failing to equip itself to deal with this situation. The article discusses a number of issues concerned with the debate. It is followed by a description and analysis derived from a recent field study on the doors of the Halifax Borough Market which it is contended represent a philosophy and technique that might form a basis for a more effective and coherent approach to commercialised Industrial Archaeology, whilst at the same time preserving academic credibility.
Issue No 2, Autumn 2007
Industrial Building Design and Economic Context: The Railway Freighthouse in Chicago, 1850-1925
TIM ALLISON
The rapidly increasing scale and broadening scope of railway freight operations in Chicago between 1850 and 1925 offer a unique opportunity to study the impact of factors affecting North American freighthouse design. Early freighthouses were small, single-storey brick and mill buildings designed to handle the straightforward exchange of freight shipments, while later freight houses were large, multi-storey, concrete and steel structures featuring mechanised freight handling systems. A simple analytical framework for studying factors influential in freighthouse size, function and design is provided. Market factors include developments in the railway freight marketplace, notably freight traffic growth and the need to offer storage and warehousing services. Supply factors include those factors that limited or facilitated changes in design resulting from changes in the marketplace, notably local freight delivery costs, increases in land values, advances in construction materials and labour-saving freight handling technologies.
The William James Foundry 1817-1843: An Expose of Local Metallurgical Enterprise
VERONT SATCHELL AND SHANI ROPER
It is a traditionally held view that slavery retarded industrial enterprises, and as such any form of metallurgical industries/activities, for example, would be alien in a slave society. Recent research has, however, indicated quite clearly the technological capacity of slave societies, noting that technological innovations including technical enterprises were evident in slave societies and thus challenges the ‘incompatibility thesis’ that slavery retarded economic development.
The Stone Dam Mill Engine House
RON FITZGERALD
In the previous issue of Industrial Archaeology Review the author argued that Industrial Archaeology has failed to establish a distinctive identity. As a result it continues to fall short of achieving its full potential. This lack of identity has permitted conventional archaeologists to assume an increasingly dominant role in the subject, notwithstanding the fact that they are largely inappropriately qualified and are rarely prepared to acquire the depth and breadth of knowledge necessary to undertake the work. In continuing the argument, the author maintains that the growing predominance of social studies-based graduates within Industrial Archaeology has provided the avenue by which this trend has extended itself. An intrinsic feature of the social studies ethos is its alienation from science and technology, leading ultimately to rejection. Thus the direct study of engineering technology, which was initially of key significance to Industrial Archaeology, is now being abandoned in favour of sociological opinions on technology.
Sublime Cascades: Water and Power in Coalbrookdale
PAUL BELFORD
The Coalbrookdale Watercourses Project took place between 2000 and 2006, and comprised the most extensive renovation of the water-power system in over a century. Ironbridge Archaeology undertook historical and archaeological investigation as part of the project. The archaeological work was closely integrated into the engineering programme, and the results of excavation and research were able to inform conservation. This paper outlines the historic origins of the water-power system in Coalbrookdale, and describes the archaeological work undertaken during the project. The results of the work suggest that the basic layout of the original 16th- and 17th-century system is preserved in the present-day arrangement of culverts, sluices and pools. This inter disciplinary project has provoked new ways of looking at this apparently well-known landscape of industry.