Crossing Paths and Sharing Tracks: future directions for the archaeological study of post-1550 Britain and Ireland

This conference took the place of the annual Ironbridge weekend in 2008. Its proceedings will be published later in 2008.

4-6 April 2008 Joint Conference between AIA, the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology and the Irish Post-medieval Archaeology Group, at the University of Leicester

This was organised by Marilyn Palmer for AIA and Audrey Horning for the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology and the Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group. The conference was the planned follow-up to the AIA Forum in 2004 which produced Understanding the Workplace (IAR XXVII May 2005) and puts the debate in an international context.

The aim of the meeting is explore enhanced understanding between the existing organisations and their approaches. The organisers are interested in sharing ideas on common themes which we all may interpret differently and have planned a programme around topics such as: theory versus practice; buildings, artefacts, machines and people; production and consumption, including the scientific analysis of artefacts and residues; landscapes of industry; later archaeology and heritage legislation; broadening participation, public interpretation and working with communities.

The programme and participants were as follows:

Opening addresses from the President of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, the Chair of the Association for Industrial Archaeology, and the Chair of the Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group

Keynote address *Professor Charles Orser (Illinois State University): The Dialectics of Scale: The Micro/Macro Conundrum in Contemporary Historical Archaeology

Paper sessions:

Of theory and practice Chair: Professor Marilyn Palmer (University of Leicester)
Dr David Gwyn: An amorphous farrago?
Mr David Cranstone: 1500-2000 – Post-Medieval, Industrial, or Historical?
Professor Tadhg O’Keeffe (University College Dublin) t.b.c.
Mr James Dixon: An Archaeological Avant-garde?
Dr Colin Breen (University of Ulster) University-based teaching and research of Historical Archaeology in Ireland

Managing and interpreting Chair: Mr Nick Brannon (Retrospect Archaeology)
Mr Craig Cessford (Cambridge Archaeological Unit) Post-1550 urban archaeology in a developer funded context: an example from Grand Arcade, Cambridge
Mr Shane Gould (English Heritage) The role of English Heritage in post-medieval and industrial archaeology
Mr Tony Crosby (HLF) The role of HLF in funding industrial heritage projects
Dr John O’Keeffe (Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland): Interpreting and Managing a Contested landscape
Ms Caron Newman 'Historic Landscape Characterisation more than just a management tool?

Producing, consuming, and analysing Chair: Dr Kate Welham (University of Bournemouth)
Dr Hugh Wilmott (University of Sheffield): Producers or consumers? Developing an integrated study of the glass industry
Dr Richard Thomas (University of Leicester) Agricultural improvement and the 'sagacity' of the tortoise
Dr Alasdair Brooks (Cambridge City Council) International Comparisons and the Analysis of Post-1750 Ceramics in Britain
Dr David Dungworthy and Ms Justine Bayley (English Heritage) Science for historic industries

Landscapes of industry Chair: Dr Jago Cooper (University of Leicester)
Mr Paul Belford (Ironbridge Archaeology): English Industrial Landscapes: design, Evolution, and Management
Dr Chris Dalglish (University of Glasgow) Understanding Landscape: the historical archaeology of the Scottish Highland estate
Dr Colm Donnelly (Queens University Belfast): Landscapes of Coal: North Antrim and the Isles
Mr Richard Newman The changing countryside: the impact of industrialisation on rural settlement in the 18th and 19th centuries
Dr Colin Rynne (University College Cork) The British naval base and victualling yard at Haubowline Island, Cork harbour, Ireland 1826-1900: a new archaeological perspective on Ireland’s ‘coloniality’

Of people and things Chair: Dr Christopher King (University of Leicester)
Dr Geoff Egan (Museum of London and President, Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology):
Dr Roger Holden : Understanding weaving mills
Ms Emma Dwyer (Museum of London Archaeological Services) Underneath the Arches: the afterlife of a railway viaduct
Mr Michael Berry (University of York): Finds, Deposits, and Assigned Status: New Approaches to Defined Relationships
Dr Eleanor Casella (University of Manchester) You Knew where you were: An Archaeology of working households in 20th century Cheshire
Dr Alastair Owens, Dr Karen Wehner, Mr Nigel Jeffries, Mr Rupert Featherby: Living in Victorian London: a material history of everyday life

The Way forward? Chair: Dr Audrey Horning (University of Leicester)
Dr Dan Hicks (University of Oxford): Decentring the Britishness in British historical archaeology
Dr Paul Courtney: Post-medieval archaeology- an anarchist's approach!'
Dr Mike Nevell People versus machines or people and machines?
Professor Marilyn Palmer and Dr Audrey Horning Forging the future

Closing address
*Professor Stephen Mrozowski (University of Massachusetts, Boston) Pulling the thread together; exploring the fabric of the modern world.