The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

• 282 • Kate Clark
writing during the Depression saw the industrial revolution as one wave in a pattern of economic
cycles, whereas in the more optimistic 1950s, writers such as Rostow identified the preconditions
for growth that he hoped might be applied to the economies of other developing nations. Against
this view, others saw industrialization as something that was a product of exploitation, with
Britain succeeding only at the expense of the economies of dependent states. Subsequently,
dynamic entrepreneurs, technological innovation and capital formation have all been identified
as prime movers in precipitating change. Underlying all of this was a search for the causes of the
industrial revolution.
In contrast with this approach, social historians have looked at small-scale, local changes, and
feminists such as Maxine Berg have paid more attention to the role of domestic organization and
women’s working patterns. In a period of industrial decline, more pessimistic historians have
seen the industrial revolution as a ‘limited, restricted piecemeal phenomenon in which various
things did not happen or where they did, they had far less effect than was previously supposed’,
although the information revolution has brought a new fascination with the impact of technological
change (Hudson 1992, 37). Historical geographers have borrowed heavily from social theory
when looking at industrialization, moving from positivist, environmentally determinist approaches
to structural and symbolic ones as they debate the role of humans versus environments in shaping
industry (Grant 1987).
What unites almost all of the traditional historical views of the period is the lack of reference
to industrial archaeology or indeed, with the exception of some historical geographers, any adequate
use of physical evidence for the period in general.
INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Origins and development
The origins of industrial archaeology lie in the nineteenth-century fascination with technology.
The enthusiasm for travelling to industrial areas was shared between foreign spies seeking
technical information, fellow industrialists, artists, writers and those seeking the curious and
unusual. Many eighteenth-century writers left descriptions of the way in which the landscapes
and towns of Britain were changing, the origins of the physical remains that they saw and the
impact of the new industries on society. The Great Exhibition of 1851 celebrated the industrial
achievements of some of Britain’s best known firms, and became a showcase for their products.
Items were collected that represented outstanding contributions to the development of
engineering and technology, such as early locomotives, and became the nucleus of museum
collections which remain important, but neglected, sources for industrial archaeology. The
founding of the Newcomen Society in 1919 provided a forum for the study of all aspects of
technology, as well as creating a new awareness of the importance of industrial monuments
and their conservation.
Industrial archaeology as a branch of archaeology rather than a tradition of technical history
dates only to the 1950s, however, when evening classes and local societies sprang up, devoted to
the study of industrial remains. Those who took part in the classes often did fieldwork of their
own, and one of the key themes in the work of this period is identification and cataloguing of
sites. There are a good number of excellent regional and national accounts of industrial remains
in Britain (e.g. Falconer 1980; Trinder 1994; the David and Charles regional industrial archaeology
series, and the county guides published by the Association for Industrial Archaeology). National
bodies such as Royal Commissions in England, Scotland and Wales have taken particular interest
in recording industrial remains either regionally or thematically (e.g. Hay and Stell 1986;