an archaeology of the east midlands class 8. radcliffe autumn 2014

An Archaeology of the East Midlands

Class 8: Themes in Industrial and Early Modern Archaeology.

Tutor: Keith Challis

east-midlands-archaeology.blogspot.co.uk

Recap: Last Week

• What is Post Medieval Archaeology

• Transitions in Towns, Countryside and Industry

• Enclosure in the Countryside

• The Great House and Hardwick Hall


Class Summary

• What is Industrial Archaeology?• 1750-1900 Continuity and Change• Primary Industry in the Midlands• Secondary Industry in the Midlands

• Discussion

• Towns• Transport• George Sanderson: Mapping the Industrial

Revolution


Section 1: What is Industrial Archaeology

What is Industrial Archaeology

• The generally accepted current definition of industrial archaeology is, “the systematic study of structures and artefacts as a means of enlarging our understanding of the industrial past”.

• Industrial archaeology is not only be responsible for recording the appearance of structures and artefacts of the recent past, and attempting to set them in an economic and technological context, but also trying to explain how they indicate change or continuity in human behaviour.

• Very rich regionally – “It was the people of Derbyshire who pioneered the industrial development which was to change the world during the last 200 years. Nowhere will you find such a concentration of human genius and heritage sites.”


Origins and Protagonists•For no other period do we have so much physical evidence, so much in the way of material culture.

•Ignored by archaeologists until mid 1980s – excluded from regional surveys, - remained field of enthusiastic volunteer groups and societies

•Because of the sheer numbers of remains, industrial archaeology tends to fix on firsts and lasts (first use of prestressed concrete, the first bobbin net machine, the last remaining example of a conical tip, or the last set of pithead buildings). •Most material culture of this period is neither a first nor a last, and is therefore at great risk of loss.



Science or Fetish?•A discipline of extremes from those who concentrate on the “wheels and widgets”, to the historians, “who are set about with vast amounts of fresh primary evidence, but still capable of wildly differing interpretations of the same black and white texts according to their own political shades”.•The Industrial period is the one which most non-archaeologists think they understand; it is their world or the world of their parents, and grandparents, it is the most accessible bit of the past for the majority of the population.

•Its very accessibility makes it easy to misrepresent, and undervalue.



Archaeology and History

•Industrial Archaeology used to be about the technological development of industry and the examination of these developments using archaeological methods.

•It is increasingly now seen as a study of the society of the industrial age, using archaeological methods to do so in addition to conventional historical methods of research but can also operate without reference to written records or documentary sources



Historical Archaeology

•Question of terminology: for the Old World, this sort of study is known as ‘Industrial Archaeology’ (a term coined in the 1950s).

•In the New World, notably north America, this is ‘Historical Archaeology’ since their prehistory extends up to the 16th cent CE

•Tendency to focus on colonial archaeology – intensely politicised


Section 2: 1750-1900 Continuity and Change

1750-1900 Continuity and Change

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WG Hoskins

Section 3: Primary Industry in the Midlands

Primary Industry

Coal (and Iron)•Based on Midlands exposed coal field. Small scale exploitation to late C18 (eg in 1774 Notts 14 mines from Wollaton to Eastwood)•In Derbyshire similar pits from Dronfield to Belper.•Deep pits from 1850 explored concealed coal field (21 by 1860) using steam power for winding gear and pumping. •Output from Notts collieries 6m tons pa in 1897 – most important export from County.•In Derbyshire coincidence of coal and ironstone led to companies with interests in both (Butterley Co, founded in 1790) and Stanton Ironworks Co


Primary Industry

Coal•Iron industry and railways required coke initially from open oven and later from beehive coke ovens. Very polluting industry!•From mid C20 coal required to supply Trent Valley power stations

•Late C20 decline in industry (demand, technology, politics)•Nottinghamshire’s last deep mine, Thoresby Colliery, to close in 2015•After abandonment mine buildings tend to be demolished. Concerted effort to document and preserve by EH


Primary Industry

Lead•Important regional industry in Derbyshire from Roman period onward – a defining and formative feature of the Peak District•Very extensive earthwork remain of lead rakes – often hard to date•Early mining from surface – following lead veins in limestone•After mid C18 larger deep mines took extraction underground•Improvements in drainage allowed deeper mines – under researched due to difficulties in access•Improvements in smelting techniques also lad to reworking of old veins and waste – destroying evidence for earlier mining


Primary Industry

Lead•Processing of lead ore (crushing and smelting) tended to be at or near point of extraction

•Numerous survivals of smelting hearths and later more technologically advanced cupola•Lead industry shaped the Peak District landscape, both before and at enclosure

•Pollutants from historic lead working continue to affect vegetation and soils – and pose a problem


Primary Industry

Limestone and Lime Burning•In Derbyshire important extractive industry with stone for construction work from small scale quarries to large quarries

•Post enclosure increasing demand for lime to improve clay soils•Numerous kilns from simple single and double pye to large commecial complexes such as at Grin Low an Dove Holes – usually nar to canals and tramways (later railways – eg Cromford and High peak) for transport of raw material and product


Section 4: Secondary Industry in the Midlands

Secondary Industry

Iron and Steel•In Derbyshire localised ironstone deposits often with coal lead to widespread extraction (surface extraction and bell-pits) and growth of iron and steel industry•In C17 water powered furnaces pioneered blast furnace technology – coincidence of iron, wood and water (eg Sitwell’s 1652 furnace at Foxbrooke with water powered bellows and numerous bell-pits)


Secondary Industry

Iron and Steel•Large iron works (Butterley, Staveley, Codnor Park, etc) developed with technological improvements and increase in demand for iron•Regional focus on iron rails (railways) and iron bridges.•Butterley Co pioneered rolling and forge welding techniques nationally – made possible structures such as roof of St Pancras Station (Midland Railway London Terminus)


Butterley 1817 Photograph

Secondary Industry

Textiles•Lombe’s silk mill in Derby (1721) Britain’s first factory?•Used water power from Derwent to drive 12 large Italian machines for throwing silk

•Demand for cotton lead Arkwright and Strutt to set up mills at Cromford in 1771, the first using Arkwright’s patented spinning technology•Arkwright pioneered the planned industrial town (Cromford) with better quality workers’ housing, a market and hotel


Secondary Industry

Textiles•Strutt developed substantial water powered mills at Belper from 1776 transforming Belper from a small village to Derbyshire second town by 1811•Derwent Valley Mills a World Heritage Site – noted for the concentration of so many important and largely unaltered early factories•Little documentary evidence survives


Secondary Industry

Textiles•Nottingham textile industry – focused on hosiery, cotton and lace – prospered as Hargreaves moved his patented spinning machinery construction to Notts because of impact of machine breaking in Lancashire•Relatively poor water power from River Leen lead to early introduction of steam power to mills in Nottingham

•Both knitting and hosiery manufacture remain largely outside the factory system until relatively late – relying instead on localised networks of framework knitters controlled by overseeing putters out


Secondary Industry

Discussion

Take a look at Marilyn Palmer’s paper on the Leicester Framework Knitters.

Can you summarise the developments in this industry from the 18th to 19th centuries

How did the industry change over this period? What drove the changes? What is the nature of the evidence?


Secondary Industry

Leicester Frame Knitters•Fame knitting a conservative craft/industry driven by changes in men’s fashion•Initially frames rented by individual families of knitters in adapted traditional houses or purpose built houses constructed by speculators


Secondary Industry

Leicester Frame Knitters•Initial phase of home knitting gives rise to concentration of industry in workshops with overseer (“Topshops”)•Cramped, dangerous and unpleasant•Vested interests of middlemen govern industry


Secondary Industry

Leicester Frame Knitters•Move to factory setting comes late (1850s on) with adoption of mechanised knitting and new fashions and products•Factories in Leicester less grand than the Nottingham Lace Market examples as did not serve as showrooms/salesrooms


Section 4: Transport

Transport

Roads•At the beginning of the period the Midlands was distinguished by a road infrastructure in lamentable state of disarray•By late C18 most major roads had been converted to Turnpikes (eg Great North Road re-routed to Retford, 90 coaches/day plus wagons and pack horses).

•Roads have major impact on town development (eg Retford, Tuxfod, Newark)•By Late C18 most heavily used roads unable to support weight of freight movement, which transfers to canals


Transport

Canals•Canal construction in Late C18 largely driven by need to move raw materials around region – eg coal•Coal companies such as Barber and Walker instrumental in setting up canals but later transferring carriage of coal to rail


Transport

The Railway•Initial focus on movement of freight and expansion into coalfield by rival companies – multiplicity of lines and stations•Midlands industrial landscapes see proliferation of tramways and light railways linking scattered industry to wharfage on canals and rivers


Section 5: Towns

Towns

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Towns


Towns

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Towns


Section 6: George Sanderson, Mapping the Industrial Revolution

George Sanderson

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an archaeology of the east midlands class 8. radcliffe autumn 2014

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