Summer 2007Number 64

This issue:

POST-MEDIAEVALARCHAEOLOGY

Images of changep16

Residues ofindustry andempirep28

What’s happeningto Scotland’s rural past?p32

Finding andlosing thefortifications ofAntwerpp47

Institute of Field ArchaeologistsSHES, University of Reading, Whiteknights

PO Box 227, Reading RG6 6ABtel 0118 378 6446fax 0118 378 6448

email admin@archaeologists.netwebsite www.archaeologists.net

The ARCHAEOLOGIST

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Contents

Editorial

From the Finds Tray

Heritage Protection for the 21st century Peter Hinton

Merger with IHBC? Your views are needed Peter Hinton

Introducing IFA’s Membership Team Beth Asbury

News from CWPA Patrick Clay and Kate Geary

Names and agenda: industrial and post-mediaeval archaeology today Marilyn Palmer

Post-medieval archaeology in Ireland: a 2007 perspective Audrey Horning

After ‘The Change’: recent military heritage in Europe John Schofield

Images of change Sefryn Penrose

The Van: Screws and Christmas Crackers… Adrian Myers

Beetles from the Van Steve Davis

Edinburgh’s Tron Kirk Martin Cook and John A Lawson

Atherstone: The decline of a Warwickshire industrial town David Gilbert

The Portwall Lane Glassworks, Bristol Reg Jackson

Excavating the Bow Porcelain Factory of London Tony Grey and Jacqui Pearce

Residues of industry and empire: urban archaeology in the post-colonial age James Symonds

Living at the Edge: the Alderley Sandhills Project Eleanor Conlin Casella

What’s happening to Scotland’s rural past? Tertia Barnett

War and peace: recording sites from the post-medieval world Kirsty Nichol and Kevin Colls

Work and play: recording post-medieval buildings of the Midlands Michael Lobb and

Shane Kelleher

The hidden history of Harris Kevin Colls and John Hunter

Industry, image, and identity – archaeology on the Whitehaven coast David Cranstone

A post-medieval Cattle Market at Bury St Edmunds John Duffy

Post-medieval archaeology in the Czech Republic Patrick Foster

Finding and losing the fortifications of Antwerp Karen Minsaer, Bas Bogaerts, Tim Bellens

‘The surface of the earth is covered and loaded with its own entrails’ David Dungworth

An 18th-century corn mill at Stanley Mills, Perthshire Mike Cressey and Peter Yeoman

Historical Archaeology comes to Glasgow Michael Given

Review: The English Buildings Book Oliver Jessop

Review: Archaeological resource management in the UK: an introduction Alison Taylor

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This TA includes news of two significant initiativesthat have reached the public arena and for whichyour views are valuable. First is the Heritage WhitePaper (p5), where we had to consult you with aseparate mailing as the consultation finished on 30May. This includes reforms that should be of realbenefit if – a big if – implementation is properlyresourced and executed. Secondly, we now have thePARN report (p6) on possible merger of IFA andIHBC. In the end this proved not exciting (partly, itseems, because archaeologists are perceived asaggressive and predatory, a fascinating thought).Your views on this report are needed by 26 July.

I chose the title of Post-medieval archaeology for thisissue without much thought about its implications.Fortunately more sophisticated minds, such asMarilyn Palmer (p9), argue the case for theinternationally-recognised term ‘historicalarchaeology’, with no end date. We have certainlymoved far from the traditional cut-off at 1750, witharticles in this TA alone that bring us into the 1990s(eg ‘The Van’, p19) and cover late 20th-centuryconcerns ranging from domestic life in the 1950s tosites for manufacturing mustard gas in Wales, andspine-chilling Second World War and Cold Warmonuments elsewhere in Europe.

IFA’s Annual Conference, held this year on ourhome territory at Reading, was attended by a record460 delegates who enjoyed the campus in springsunshine except on the freezing day chosen for tripsto Silchester and around historic buildings inReading (yes, there are some. Reading Abbey has animpressive history, and many 19th-century housesand industries, such as the Huntley and Palmerbiscuit factory, have survived dreadful late 20th-century decisions). Highlights included a session onGreat Excavations, with misty-eyed nostalgia mixed

with fantastic discoveries, and mind-expandingstuff in Archaeology and the Arts. The next issue ofTA will cover conference sessions, so do please sendaccounts of your sessions and/or talks you gave.Impressions from delegates who were there to listenwould be interesting as well. Planning for the nextconference (in Swansea) is already underway, witha call for papers already posted out. Session slots fillup fast, so respond to Alex Llewellyn as soon aspossible to make sure you will be heard there.

There are now two changes to members’ services.Our Jobs Information Service can now be emailed tomembers for free, and if you are not alreadyregistered for this service and would like it, send youremail address to beth.asbury@archaeologists.net.Also, SALON is no longer being emailed to IFAmembers and instead we have a similararrangement with Heritage Link Update. However,from June regular issues of SALON can bedownloaded from www.sal.org.uk, and if youwould still like to be on the mailing list, emailChristopher.catling@virgin.net. Send him too anynews of discoveries, events and publications thatwill interest other archaeologists.

Alison Taylor

Alison.Taylor@archaeologists.net

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l FROM THE FINDS TRAY

Operators Commended in Marine Archaeological AwardsThe British Marine Aggregate Producers Association (BMAPA) has announcedspecial commendations for member companies following contributions to theadvancement of marine archaeology and understanding of our past. The awardsarrive in the wake of a new protocol, introduced in 2005, which has guided marineaggregate dredging companies in reporting archaeological finds more effectivelyand go to organisations that can make the most of the discovery. Developed inpartnership with English Heritage, the protocol has helped the 800 staff amongst thesector’s operating companies to identify over eighty significant finds in one year.The awards, judged by Ian Oxley, head of Maritime Archaeology within EnglishHeritage, went to Purfleet Aggregates for reporting a mammoth tusk dated around44,000BC, to Solent Aggregates Ltd, Bedhampton Quay, for the efficiency andenthusiasm of staff in reporting to archaeologists and, for the most professionalattitude in applying the protocol at sea, the marine aggregate dredger ‘Arco Humber’operated by Hanson Aggregates Marine, whose staff had been regularly reportingsmall fossil fragments.

For further information on the Guidance Note, the reporting protocol and the findsthat are being reported see www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/marine/bmapa

Profiling the Profession 2007–08 & Discovering the Archaeologists of EuropeThis year, IFA will again be gathering and analysing labour market intelligence on the state of archaeologicalemployment in the UK. This will be the third in the Profiling the Profession series, following work in 1997–98 and2002–03 (see IFA website). The creation of time-series data sets will allow us to see how our profession has evolved (interms of numbers employed, salaries, skills issues and other areas) over the last ten years, and will help individualsand employers position themselves within the workforce. This exercise is part-funded by the European Commission as part of a wider project, Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe. Comparable data will be gathered in ten countries,with a further focus on transnational mobility and ways to overcome obstacles hindering individuals and companiesseeking to work abroad. In the next few months, questionnaires will be sent out to employers. Please complete these as fully as possible – the better the data, the better the analysis!Kenneth AitchisonHead of professional development, IFA

Charlestown Shipwreck andHeritage CentreThe Archaeology DataService/AHDS Archaeology hasjust launched a new resource,Charlestown Shipwreck andHeritage Centre, an importantmaritime collection located in the small harbour ofCharlestown, near St Austell inCornwall. This maritimemuseum houses many objectsrecovered from historicshipwrecks, ranging from the16th century to the present day.The record includes a findsdatabase, a provenance recorddetailing how the objects endedup in the museum and a detailed photographic record of the objects. Seehttp://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/archive/charlestown_eh_2006/

Contributions and letter/emails are always welcome. It is intended

to make TA digitally available to institutions through the SAL/CBA

e-publications initiative. If this raises copyright issues with any

authors, artists or photographers, please notify the editor. Short

articles (max. 1000 words) are preferred. They should be sent as an

email attachment, which must include captions and credits for

illustrations. The editor will edit and shorten if necessary. Illustrations

are very important. These can be supplied as originals, on CD or as

emails, at a minimum resolution of 500 kb. More detailed Notes for

contributors for each issue are available from the editor.

Opinions expressed in The Archaeologist are those of the authors,

and are not necessarily those of IFA.

EDITED by Alison Taylor, IFA,

SHES, University of Reading,

Whiteknights, PO Box 227

READING RG6 6AB

DESIGNED and TYPESET by

Sue Cawood

PRINTED by Duffield Printers

Ltd (Leeds)

Notes to contributors

Themes and deadlines

Autumn: IFA Conference papers and

Annual Report

deadline: 15 June 2007

Winter: Archaeology, sustainability

and global warming

deadline: 15 September 2007

Spring: Training in archaeology

deadline: 15 December 2007

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Arco Humber, whose crew

regularly report fossil finds

Mammoth tusk, c.44,000BC, reported

by Purfleet Aggregates

4 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Adapting Archaeology: foresight for climate change in the UKTuesday 10 July at the British Academy, organised by CBA with the Council for ScottishArchaeology and the Centre for Sustainable Heritage, University College London.

This conference will bring together thoughts on the likely effects of climate change for thehistoric environment and how archaeology and conservation need to adapt to meet this newchallenge. The programme includes current research from the UK Climate ImpactsProgramme, UCL Centre for Sustainable Heritage, English Heritage, the National Trust, theEnvironment Agency and others on the effects of climate change on coastal management, soilsand water, agriculture and the landscape.

Fee: £65 (including lunch and literature). Tickets from Sue Morecroft, CBA, St Mary’s House,66 Bootham, York YO30 7BZ.

Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory (CHAT) conference23–25 November 2007, University ofSheffieldFaith, Hope and Charity: finding belief, desire and benevolence in archaeologies of the recent andcontemporary past is the uplifting topic ofCHAT’s conference next November. This willbe an international conference exploringthemes that will include colonisation of NewWorlds, contemporary and historic slavery,peace movements, spread of world faiths,archaeologies of hospitals, workhouses andconfinement, sport and leisure, urbanregeneration and environmentalism.For further details, contact James Symonds,ARCUS, Graduate School of Archaeology,Westcourt, 2 Mappin St, Sheffield S1 4DTJ.Symonds@sheffield.ac.uk.

FROM THE FINDS TRAY

Missing YearbooksFor some reason we have not yet fathomed thereseem to be several IFA members who did notreceive the 2007 IFA Yearbook and directory. If this applies to you, can you let the office(Kathryn.Whittington@archaeologists.net, or0118 3786446) know SAP and we will make sureyou get one fast.

A new qualification in archaeological practice On April 25 there was launched a new vocational archaeologyqualification, the Qualification in Archaeological Practice(QAP). It is being offered by Education DevelopmentInternational (EDI) one of the UK’s leading awarding bodiesand was developed by IFA with the support of the Creative andCultural Industries Sector Skills Council and EDI. QAP willallow archaeologists to accredit their skills against a nationallyrecognised framework, enabling all who work in archaeology togain formal credits for informal training and on the joblearning. Workplace skills and learning can be used todemonstrate competence, and aspiring archaeologists will beable to acquire vocationally relevant skills.

EDI were chosen to award the qualification as they have thebackground, expertise and experience that meshed with IFA’srequirements to deliver the qualification to professionalarchaeologists, students, and unpaid participants. EDIunderstood the particular needs of our sector, havingsuccessfully delivered Cultural Heritage NVQs in museumsand galleries. The qualification will be offered by existing EDIheritage centres, IFA and new assessment centres. Thoseworking towards the qualification will study core units in areassuch as research, conservation and health and safety. TheNautical Archaeology Society will be offering the qualificationas part of their own internationally recognised trainingprogramme. Future plans for the qualification include possibleincorporation into volunteer training projects and excavationssuch as Dig Manchester. Kenneth Aitchison and Kate Geary

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The Heritage White Paper, largely restricted toEngland and Wales but in some important aspectsaffecting the entire UK, has been heralded as a‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to reform acomplex and confusing aggregation of laws andinstruments into a coherent, transparent, effectiveand efficient system for providing legal protectionto the most important physical remains of thehuman past. It is principally concerned withreforming the regimes for designating andmanaging change to important historic assets.

IFA has responded to all the consultations that havefed into the White Paper and I have been involvedin the committee advising on its drafting, as haveother IFA members wearing other hats. To view theWhite Paper, see www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_library/Consultations/2007_current_consultations/hpr_whitepaper07.htm; for analysis by IHBC seewww.ihbc.org.uk/papers/herwp_ihbc_cons.pdf,and for a view from the The Archaeology Forum seewww.britarch.ac.uk/archforum/index.html

As recounted at the last two IFA AGMs, the WhitePaper seeks to unify the present disparateapproaches to the legal protection of the historicenvironment, to maximise accountability and public involvement, and to ‘support sustainablecommunities by putting the historic environment at the heart of the planning system.’

Key reforms for England and Wales are• replacement of the existing designations for listed

buildings, scheduled monuments, parks, gardens,battlefields and World Heritage Sites with a singleregister of assets

• a single set of criteria for designation based on‘special architectural, historic or archaeologicalinterest’

• English Heritage and National Assembly of Wales(through Cadw) to be responsible for designation

• improved records of designated assets, accessiblethrough a new internet portal

• improved public consultation about designation • encouraging local designations by local

authorities• interim legal protection for assets being

considered for designation – to preventunscrupulous owners from (for example)demolishing buildings before they are entered on the Register

• rights to appeal designation decisions• bringing protection of buildings in Conservation

Areas back to pre-Shimizu levels (ie removing aloophole that can permit demolition)

• giving protection to World Heritage Sites withinthe planning system

• reform of the class consents that permit ploughingof many (presently scheduled) archaeological sites

• a unified consent regime for registered assets inEngland, administered by local authorities: inWales Cadw will continue to make decisions oncurrently scheduled monuments and localauthorities on those that are currently listedbuildings

• potentially merging Conservation Area Consentwith planning permission

• encouraging pre-application enquiries• the option for EH/Cadw, local authorities and

owners of designated assets to enter into ‘HeritagePartnership’ management agreements to avoidtime-consuming repeat consent applications forforeseeable works

• a statutory requirement for local authorities tomaintain or have access to Historic EnvironmentRecords (provided in Wales by the four Trusts)

• guidance on local authority historic environmentservices

Reforms covering the UK comprise• broadening the range of maritime heritage assets

that can be designated• new criteria for designation on the basis of ‘special

archaeological or historic interest’• interim protection for assets being considered for

designation• improved records for maritime heritage• consideration of a more flexible consents/licensing

regime• a statutory responsibility for the Receiver of Wreck

to report marine historic asset to heritage bodies(over-riding confidentiality constraints)

The consultation period is now over, although nodoubt there will be other opportunities to expressopinions when legislation is proposed. To see IFA’sresponse, which was guided by Council and bymembers’ views sent after our postal consultation,see www.britarch.ac.uk/archforum)

Peter HintonChief Executive, IFA

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Heritage protect ionPeter Hinton for the 21st century

7T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t6

The potential and need for fuller integration ofarchaeologists and building conservationprofessionals have never been greater. Incentives forexploring a strategic partnership – or more –between the two institutes are the opportunities for• more coherent advocacy on behalf of professionals

in the sector• more efficient working by the professional

institutes in a range of standard setting, self-regulatory functions and membership services

• reliable and recognised systems for accreditingprofessional competence and ethics, potentiallyincluding chartered status

• a professional sector capable of meeting rapidlychanging public demands, including thosereflected in the Heritage Protection White Paper(p16)

• closer correlation with integrated historicenvironment practice, as reflected in the heritageagencies, Royal Commissions, many localauthorities and private practices

Last year IFA and IHBC (Institute of HistoricBuilding Conservation), with financial support fromEnglish Heritage and encouragement of the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group,commissioned Professor Andy Friedman andChristina Williams of PARN (ProfessionalAssociation Research Network) to look at optionsfor the institutes ranging from full merger via afederation model and joint service provision model(eg for accreditation) to ‘do nothing’.

Following consideration of a preliminary report oninterviews between PARN and key officers of theinstitutes and their stakeholders (revealing someinteresting perceptions of what both archaeologistsand building conservation professionals do and howthey think), an elaboration of the options and astudy of mergers by professional associations,PARN convened a joint meeting of representativesof the two Institutes’ councils with a view torecommending a way forward about which they

could consult with their memberships. At thatmeeting IFA Council expressed its strong view thatthe two institutes’ members work in closely relateddisciplines in a single professional sector and thatwe should explore the possibility of merger (theintermediate options were considered potentially afudge, not strategic progress). IHBC Council’s viewwas that although a holistic approach to the historicenvironment is needed, its membership stronglyopposed any consideration or discussion of mergeror federation, though ‘closer working’ would beacceptable.

In that context a new option has been proposed byPARN: a joint committee to• review the Memorandum of Understanding

between the two institutes• develop further understanding of each other’s

memberships, strategic objectives and values• produce joint responses on relevant consultations• review joint projects with a view to improving the

process, and initiate new projects particularly intraining, career development and best practiceguidance

• define occupational roles within the historicenvironment

• review options for accreditation and considerwhether a scheme would be better undertakentogether or separately

• establish shared Special Interest Groups where thetwo memberships overlap

• explore shared member benefits

PARN’s report can be read at www.archaeologists.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=156.Council isseeking IFA members’ opinions and recommendationson the proposed way forward. Please reply to theoffice address or alex.llewellyn@archaeologists.netby 26 July 2007 (any feedback relayed to IHBC via ajoint committee can be made anonymous onrequest).

Peter Hinton

Merger with IHBC? Your views are neededPeter Hinton

Introducing IFA’s

Beth Asbury

Membership Team

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

This year IFA is celebrating its 25th

anniversary. From its inception in 1982,

we now have almost 2400 members and 55

Registered Archaeological Organisations,

including avocational archaeologists and

a significant number of students. In 2006

we received 461 new and upgrade

applications, and membership rose by an

impressive 12%, a net gain of 247.

Because of the increased number of applications,Validation Committee now meets every six weeks to consider applications for PIFA, AIFA and MIFAgrades, with Rachel Edwards as Chair. The joiningpages of the IFA website provide step by stepinformation on the application process and thedocumentation needed. Beth Asbury and KathrynWhittington look after those who apply formembership, existing members who are upgradingtheir membership, rejoiners and the RAO scheme.We are the ones who you should contact if you everwant to speak to anyone about these subjects.

We know that the application process may appeardaunting, but the Applicants’ Handbook is updated roughly every year and we try to make the information in it as straightforward as possible.In the current version we have adapted a table tobetter define the differences between levels ofmembership, moving from the commonmisconception that the required levels ofresponsibility for different grades are just aboutmanagement of people, but instead management of processes and the archaeological resource as awhole.

The ‘Join/register’ pages of the website containdates of future Validation Committee meetings, atemplate for the essential Statement ofArchaeological Experience, a template referenceform, and Validation Committee’s guidelines. In thenear future, Validation Committee will incorporate

the new NVQ in Archaeological Practice and theNational Occupational Standards (NOS) into itsprocedures, following consultation with theProfessional Training Committee.

We hope that the increase in applications and theservice we provide to members and prospectivemembers continues. We are always available toanswer the questions of applicants, referees andanyone who simply has an interest in knowingmore about the IFA.

Beth AsburyIFA Membership TeamSHES, The University of ReadingWhiteknights, PO Box 229Reading RG6 6ABBeth.asbury@archaeologists.com

Beth Asbury (right) and

Kathryn Whittington (left) in

their office. Photograph:

Alex Llwellyn?

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t8 9S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

CWPA stands for the Committee for WorkingPractices in Archaeology, which is rapidly deflatedwhen its acronym is so easily modified to ‘Cowpat’.So what is it contributing? Covering such a widesubject as working practices it has a huge remit but,as working practices are fundamental to all ourwork, it is pretty important.

As the professional institute for archaeological andother historic environment work IFA is concernedwith maintaining (and improving) standards.CWPA is the first port of call for new standard andguidance documents. Currently, important new S &G in preparation include Conservation & managementof the historic environment, a joint IFA, IHBC, andALGAO project looking at curatorial practice, andmaritime archaeology documents on nauticalarchaeology recording and reconstruction, while theMaritime Affairs Group is looking at archaeologicaldiving practices, concentrating on health and safetyrequirements for commercial divers. An S & G forarchives is in progress and one for geophysical andmeasured survey is proposed.

‘Conditions of contract’ is a standing item on theagenda. Work is ongoing on model contracts forsub-contractors aimed at the self-employedspecialist. TA 63 included an article by Phil Mills oncharge out rates for self-employed specialists.

Health and safety always figures high on thecommittee’s agenda (as it should) especially at atime when new guidelines, procedures andlegislation (and interpretation of all these) occur ona regular basis. Increasingly clients are requiringarchaeologists to carry skills cards, whether ‘Quarrypassports’ for the aggregates and mining industriesor Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS)cards for construction sites. Both require health andsafety training. The committee has been looking intoways of entry to the CSCS scheme.

Nor can we ignore the long running issue of payand conditions, as poor pay and conditions meanspoor working practices. IFA is pursuing abenchmarking exercise whereby pay scales forcomparable responsibilities in other professions areused as a basis to calculate a pay scale for our own.I know this has taken some time but there isprogress and we expect a result later this year.

So the committee is at the sharp end in attemptingto change working practices in archaeology and thehistoric environment for the better. This cannothappen overnight but we are seeing progress. Atpresent the committee comprises contracting stafffrom all levels, curators, consultants, finds staff,English Heritage and even a member from thecontinent. Expertly guided by Kate Geary, we covera wide range of expertise but are always looking forother volunteers. So if anyone out there would liketo be involved please contact me or Kate.

Patrick ClayULAS, University of LeicesterChair CWPA

Kate GearyIFA

■ BRITAIN’S ROLE IN WORLD INDUSTRIALISATION

Twentieth-century industrial archaeology wasdriven by the need to ensure that structures fromthe industrial past were recorded or preserved, and

In the second half of the 20th century

historical, post-medieval and industrial

archaeology grew and developed side by

side in Britain and America. Although Pedro

Funari in his influential HistoricalArchaeology: Back from the Edge (1999)

stated ‘Americans will not agree to include

medieval archaeology under the field of

historical archaeology, as there no castles in

the United States, nor will Europeans dissolve

the specific identities of medieval, post-

medieval and industrial archaeologies’, recent

conferences in both countries have indicated

greater understanding of similarities in the

various sub-fields than this would indicate.

The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology

has abandoned its original terminal date of

1750, while industrial archaeologists now

consider the social context of both

consumption and production. This article will

explore this increasing congruence in the

hope that greater cooperation will follow.

only in the 1990s were industrial sites routinelyadded to SMRs. Much of the impetus came from thevoluntary sector, and CBA formed a ResearchCommittee on Industrial Archaeology in 1959.Recognition has now been largely achieved, andBritain’s role in world industrialisation recognisedin the designation of six industrial World HeritageSites since 2000. Industrial archaeologists can nowtake a more holistic approach to rural and urbanindustrial landscapes, an outstanding examplebeing work by John Barnatt of the Peak DistrictNational Park Authority, working with the PeakDistrict Mines Historical Society on the lead mininglandscapes of Derbyshire, recognised by the SilverTrowel Award at the 2006 British ArchaeologicalAwards. One only has to look at the entries for the2006 awards to see the scale of work on industrialsites by both volunteers and professionals.

News from

Patrick Clay and Kate Geary

NAMES AND AGENDA:

Marilyn Palmer

industrial and post-mediaeval

archaeology today

Today’s Working Practices in

Archaeology. Archaeologists

working alongside contractors

during redevelopment at Sanvey

Gate, Leicester. © University of

Leicester Archaeological Services

Ken Smith and John Barnatt of the Peak

District National Park Authority, with Jon

Humble of English Heritage, receiving

the prestigious Silver Trowel Award from

Mick Aston at the 2006 British

Archaeological Awards. Their work has

included mapping mining sites in

conjunction with the Peak District Mines

Historical Society and the production of

The Lead Legacy. © PDNPA

C W P A

10 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

■ HUMAN IMPACT

Industrial archaeology needs to contribute to ourhistorical understanding of the processes ofindustrialisation, not just in landscapes andbuildings but its human impact. In the last 250years, everyday life has been radically transformed,with upheavals in patterns of class, status, identity,exercise of social power and of resistance, but thenecessarily fragmented nature of archaeologicalwork can rarely illuminate these importantquestions. There are some notable exceptions, suchas the methodology devised by Michael Nevell andJohn Walker of the University of ManchesterArchaeological Unit to relate the introduction ofnew monument types to distinct social classes intheir region. Jim Symonds and his team at ARCUS,University of Sheffield, have carried out extensivework to unravel the relationship betweenworkshop-based and large-scale production in thesteel industry, while Peter Neaverson and I alsoworked to a similar agenda in The Textile Industry ofSouth-West England: a Social Archaeology.

■ RESEARCH CONTEXTS AND QUESTIONS

To enable deeper meanings to be extracted fromfieldwork, the Association for IndustrialArchaeology took part in English Heritage’s projectto develop research frameworks in archaeology.Understanding the Workplace: a Research Framework forIndustrial Archaeology in Britain, published as Vol.27(1) of Industrial Archaeology Review in 2005,formulates a research context. As well asmethodological concerns, themes were geared tounderstanding social change. These themesincluded • continuity and change. How far did industrial

production replace or supplement production in

the home? Did new patterns of settlement displaceexisting ones or did existing settlements respond tochanges in working patterns? Is social continuityamong the workforce more characteristic of Britainthan the patterns of transience and mobility seen,for example, in the USA?

• production and consumption. How wastechnological change in production reflected inpatterns of consumption? Were changestechnologically-driven or consumer-led?

• understanding the workplace. How did changes inpower and lighting sources change the use ofspace? How far did new mills and factoriesdetermine working patterns within them? Arethere identifiable patterns in the surveillance andcontrol of the workforce? How far did theworkforce resist such changes? Is there evidencefor survival of workshop production and how didthis interact with factory production?

• industrial settlement patterns. What weremotivations for new settlements? Did existingsettlements change to accommodatemanufacturing processes? Can archaeologicalinvestigations accommodate the household, theneighbourhood, the town and even specialisedmanufacturing villages?

• class, status, gender and identity. How is socialclass affected by industrial developments? Howimportant was status in creating manageablehierarchies in working communities? Did the roleof women change in the household or workplaceas a result of industrialisation? How far was asense of identity developed by entrepreneurs andamong working groups? Is this identity expressedin buildings and structures which indicatepatterns of leisure, practice of religion andcommemoration of death?

• social control, paternalism and philanthropy. Howfar are paternalism and philanthropy reflected inthe historic environment? Was it restricted toemployers in certain industries? How far didemployers manipulate the workplace orsettlement to achieve social control? Whatevidence is there for resistance to control andpaternalism?

• international context. Can we exchange data onan international scale, to assess the significance ofsurviving sites and monuments? Can we identifypatterns of international technological exchangein buildings or artefacts? What evidence is therefor mobility of the workforce on a global scale?

Such a comprehensive framework will not be easilyachieved, especially as the term ‘industrialarchaeology’ is sometimes seen as restricted to apreservation movement. Contributors toUnderstanding the Workplace suggested terms such as

11

‘the archaeology of the modern period’ or ‘thearchaeology of the later second millennium AD’ or‘later historical archaeology’, leading to howls ofprotest. As Keith Falconer of English Heritage hassaid, ‘just as Britain is perceived to have pioneeredthe industrial revolution and have bequeathedindustrialisation to the world two centuries ago, so,in the last half century there is a similar perceptionthat this country has pioneered and given thesubject of industrial archaeology to the world’.

■ CHANGING TERMINOLOGY?

The heritage aspects of industrial archaeology haveensured its strong representation at both nationaland local levels. English Heritage has an internalStrategy Group as well as an external AdvisoryGroup on industrial archaeology and the disciplinehas long been represented in the National Trust,which maintains many industrial sites. Numerousregional panels bring volunteers and professionalstogether to advise on conservation issues, and thereare many county industrial archaeology societies.The discipline has a less strong, although growing,foothold in the academic world where bothindustrial and post-medieval archaeology tend to beclassed under the generic term of ‘historicalarchaeology’. How far should Britain accept theterminology in use in America, South Africa andAustralasia rather than, as Funari says, refuse to‘dissolve the specific identities of medieval, post-medieval and industrial archaeologies’?

In April 2008, the Society for Post-MedievalArchaeology, the Irish Post-Medieval ArchaeologyGroup, the Association for Industrial Archaeologyand the group for Contemporary and HistoricalArchaeology in Theory meet in Leicester Universityto discuss what we have called ‘Crossing Paths andSharing Tracks’, not dissolving our identities,which do have contemporary relevance,but acting in our common interests.Meanwhile, industrial archaeologistsmay have to use a term such as‘historical archaeology’ for academicstudy, but a continuing professionaland popular recognition of ‘industrialarchaeology’ as the study and

conservation of the monuments of past industrialactivity, generally synonymous with ‘industrialheritage’.

Industrial archaeology has been extremelysuccessful in achieving recognition for theimportance of remains of the industrial past andtheir survival in the contemporary landscape. Butindustrial archaeology has also developed into ascholarly discipline which seeks to contribute to thedebates on the nature and outcomes ofindustrialisation. It has also spread beyond industryinto the archaeologies of warfare, agriculture,religion, gardens, settlements and buildings. Coulda name change strengthen all our studies ofarchaeology in the modern period?

Marilyn PalmerProfessor of Industrial ArchaeologyUniversity of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RHmai@le.ac.uk

(contact James Gardiner jeg17@le.ac.uk for details of 2008 conference)

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

The strong-armed women or balmaidens

employed to break up ore at tin and

copper mining sites of Cornwall. The role

of women in mining is often neglected

but they played a major role in

preparation and dressing work on the

surface while their menfolk extracted ore

underground. (author’s collection)

Wellbrook Beetling mill in

Northern Ireland, a small

water-powered mill for

beetling or refining woven

linen cloth, now in the

possession of the National

Trust. Photograph: Marilyn

Palmer

Albert Dock, Liverpool,

before its restoration and

nomination as a World

Heritage Site as part of the

Liverpool Waterfront in 2004.

Photograph: Marilyn Palmer

...industrialarchaeology hasdeveloped intoa scholarlydisciplinewhich seeks tocontribute tothe debates onthe nature... ofindustrialisation.

Industrialarchaeology

needs tocontribute toour historical

understandingof the

processes ofindustrialisation,

not just inlandscapes

and buildingsbut its human

impact.

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t 13

The development of post-medieval archaeology in Ireland, north and south, was never going to be straightforwardor painless. Long overshadowed by spectacular remains from more ancient times, post-medieval sites have also beentarred by their association with the turmoil of recent years, turmoil rooted in the early modern period. Unavoidablyviewed through sectarian lenses, it is hardly surprising that the study of the archaeology of the last five hundred yearswas pioneered in the north, as 20th-century nationalist sentiment in the Republic directed archaeological attention toperiods deemed untouched by British colonialism.

This situation has altered over the last decade,particularly since the founding of the Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology Group (IPMAGwww.science.ulster.ac/crg/ipmag.html) in 1999. Itsinaugural conference in Belfast was so well attendedthat there have been five more, including one jointlywith the UK Society for Post Medieval Archaeology(Derry 2004) and with the Group for the Study ofIrish Historic Settlement (Cork 2006).

Counting the post-medievalOne incentive is the need to cope with the vastamount of post-1550 material culture beingunearthed throughout Ireland, particularly in theRepublic where massive motorway anddevelopment schemes, coupled with stronglegislation to protect the archaeological heritage,require ‘mitigation’ for archaeological sites up anddown the country, as will be obvious to anyone whoreads the job adverts. Excavators are hampered bylack of basic knowledge about material culture and

history, exacerbated by widespreadmisunderstanding of archaeological legislationbecause, although protection can be extended tothese sites, county inventories and surveys employ1700 as a cut-off date, leaving the impression thatlater sites ‘don’t count.’ Clearly, Irish universitiesneed to expand course offerings while governmentagencies need to promote post-medieval sites andstructures as legitimate archaeological resources.

Despite these difficulties, recent growth of thediscipline in Ireland reflects expansion of historicalarchaeology around the world. Once mainly thepreserve of North America and the UK,archaeologists in most countries now study the‘traditional’ post-medieval period (1550–1750) andalso periods up to and including the 20th century.Similarly, discussion over how to interpret this richand complicated material heritage has become moreinformed (and sometimes divided!) by theoreticalapproaches borrowing from anthropology,

sociology, history, and even literary criticism. A widerange of papers presented at IPMAG conferences, aswell as at the 2005 Dublin conference of CHAT(Contemporary Historical Archaeology in Theory),suggests that this situation is evolving, albeitcharacterised by intense debate.

Public engagement and contested pastWhile post-medieval archaeology in Ireland mayhave much to learn from more well-establishedpractices world-wide, it also has much to contributeby way of a model. For example, from its inceptionIPMAG has sought to encourage interdisciplinarycooperation. On an island as small as Ireland, whereheritage plays an important economic role, suchlinkages are, if not inevitable, certainlyadvantageous. Furthermore, a proactive approach topublic engagement is evolving within the disciplinethat is both pragmatic and practical, particularlygiven the contested nature of the Irish past.

In a land where history really does matter, post-medieval archaeologists have to balanceresponsibilities to the past and to the present. As ademonstration, the upcoming IPMAG conference ismarking the 400th anniversary of the Flight of theEarls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell in 1607 – an event thatopened the north of Ireland to British plantationsettlement under James I (VI). The conference will beheld in a community centre in Rathmullan, Co.Donegal, 26–28 April, near the location where theGaelic leaders and their followers set sail on theirflight to the continent. Neither a celebration nor alamentation, the conference aims to explore thecharacter of Ireland on the eve of the UlsterPlantation, encouraging a dialogue about the complexlegacy of the events of 1607. In a year of anniversaries,the Irish approach to commemoration seems moresensitive and mature than the patriotic rhetoriccurrently employed in Virginia to ‘celebrate’ the 1607establishment of Jamestown (despite the concerns ofthe native population), and the paucity of publicdiscussion about racism in Britain in light of theanniversary of the 1807 abolition of the slave trade.

Audrey HorningSecretary, Irish Post-Medieval Archaeology GroupLecturer in ArchaeologySchool of Archaeology and Ancient History,University of LeicesterUniversity Road, Leicester LE1 7RH

12

Post-medieval archaeology in

a 2007 perspective

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

(above)

Household

archaeology,

Slievemore Deserted

Village, Achill

Island, Co. Mayo.

Photograph: Achill

Archaeological

Field School

Portora Castle, Co. Fermanagh. Ulster Plantation castle and bawn built by Sir William Cole,

Constable of Enniskillen, c.1613, now in state care. Photograph: author.

Ulster TV filming excavation at Movanagher, an abandoned 17th-

century Plantation village (extant bawn wall in background).

Photograph: Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland

Urban archaeology in Belfast: Waring Street. Photograph: Environment and Heritage Service,

Northern Ireland

Audrey Horning

Ireland:

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

conservation interest across Europe, paving the wayfor a wider consideration of the 20th century,something English Heritage is promoting throughthe Change and Creation programme(www.changeandcreation.org) (p16).

John SchofieldHead of Military ProgrammesEnglish Heritage John.schofield@english-heritage.org.uk

scientific values, and to encourage the preservationand maintenance of fortifications, militarystructures, fortress landscapes and other objects andsites connected with the military heritage’; to helpICOMOS accomplish its role in the context ofinternational convention (specially the WorldHeritage and Hague Conventions); to carry outspecialised studies, promote use of professionalexpertise; and pursue international co-operationover historic military sites. Expertise comes fromcountries such as the US, Poland, Hungary, theNetherlands, France, Spain and the UK. I am theUK’s voting representative. We held a full meetingon the Channel Islands in 2006.

CULTURE 2000Culture 2000 is funding ‘Landscapes of War’, whichwill generate and promote a public inventory ofrecent military sites and landscapes in Europe,documenting conservation policies, approaches andattitudes. It will establish a pan-European researchframework, building on England’s Modern MilitaryMatters 2004. The project has barely started, but theresulting online archive (a virtual atlas isanticipated), books, and other publicity material willpromote this subject. The lead partner is RegioneCalabria (Italy) with English Heritage and theUniversity of Coventry involved from the UK. Much of the English resource for this project iscurrently accessible through www.english-heritage.org.uk/pastscape.

EAC Cold War GroupThe European Archaeological Consilium (EAC) is a network of those responsible for heritage mattersamongst the states of Europe, providingopportunities for special interest working groups in topics such as aerial archaeology, maritimearchaeology and now the Cold War era. Inestablishing this last group I was interested inpromoting awareness amongst countries – especiallyin eastern Europe – for whom this heritage waseither unfashionable, difficult (and dissonant), orjust too recent. An inaugural meeting of the ColdWar group in Krakow in 2006 agreed to focus onmilitary sites, landscape and issues within the widercontext of Cold War era society and politics. Weanticipate an expanding group as this initiativegathers momentum.

We hope these three initiatives will work together,given the common interests in conservation,publicity and research. Several people are involvedin two of these three initiatives, while I am involvedwith all three. With careful handling there is thepotential for recent military heritage to emerge as a significant new area of cultural heritage and

Networks for the Cold WarNow heritage networks are starting to emergeacross Europe and beyond, across the formerborders of the Cold War. Early progress includedconference sessions at the World ArchaeologyCongresses in 1999 and 2003, and at various EAAconferences. A new book emerging from WAC 2003(A Fearsome Heritage: diverse legacies of the Cold War,ed John Schofield and Wayne Cocroft) documentsand deconstructs the legacies of the Cold War onfour continents as well as in outer space and underthe sea. Authors include archaeologists, heritageprofessionals, anthropologists, museum curators, a cultural historian and four artists including onecomposer. Another example of successfulnetworking is the SHARP project, described in TA 62.

These collaborative ventures promote interest incountries where recent heritage remains in itsinfancy and place sites within their global contexts.The well-documented cruise missile site atGreenham Common for example is one of six tohave been built in Europe – how well do the otherssurvive? What can we learn from a comparativestudy of them, and their influence on localcommunities and landscape? There are now threeinitiatives that are furthering international co-operation and paving the way for further pan-European and even global studies in this new andemerging field.

ICOFORTIn 2005 ICOMOS established an InternationalScientific Committee on Fortifications and MilitaryHeritage to promote knowledge of military heritage,including its ‘historical, architectural, artistic and

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

ICOFORT members crossing

the causeway to Fort

Clonque, Alderney.

Photograph: John Schofield

Blankenburg, Harz

mountains, Germany.

1980s entrance into an

underground storage

complex for an East German

motor rifles division.

Photograph: Wayne Cocroft

After

‘The Change ’ :recent military heritage in Europe

John Schofield

Over the past decade our understanding of recent military

heritage in the UK has increased dramatically. Building on work

by enthusiasts and professional archaeologists, new research –

much of it undertaken through English Heritage’s Monuments

Protection Programme, Research and Standards and the

Characterisation Team – has provided valuable new insight. We

now know far more about what was built for the defence of

Britain and which sites have survived. We are in a better position

to judge the relative merits of these sites; we understand what

they mean to society, and to local communities. We have an

agreed research framework which can guide future directions.

And we have a better grasp of relevant conservation principles

and practice. The subject is being incorporated into taught

courses in historical archaeology and heritage, and the potential

for undergraduate and postgraduate research projects is being

realised. Much of this new information is accessible through

www.english-heritage.org.uk/military.

Altengrabow,

Brandenburg – mural

showing the progress

of the ‘3rd Soviet

Shock Army during the

Great Patriotic War’

Photograph: Wayne

Cocroft

14 15

16 17T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

It is sometimes said that the post-war generation haswitnessed more change than any other. True or not,access to this living history allows an archaeologicaleye to excavate the flotsam and jetsam of its havesand have-nots, its built environment, its brownfieldwastescapes reclaimed for a new century. Images ofChange: An archaeology of England’s contemporarylandscape (English Heritage 2007) provides a startingpoint for a deeper, more authentic, excavation of thislandscape with an archaeological eye, but also aninvitation to look harder at the post-war journeythrough a wider lens.

FAST-LIVED LANDSCAPEOld quarry pits became country parks, theme parks,business parks; war time barracks became hospitals,holiday camps, prisons; the houses of the aristocracybecame fossilised for the people along with theworkings of the industrial revolution: the later 20thcentury has seen so much of the old world re-landscaped, re-sculpted as the economic andpolitical status quo has ebbed and flowed. The oldlandscape of creeping villages, ribbon suburbs,railway growth, industrial towns and wealthyresorts has been replaced by the networks of1945–2005 – most obviously the motorway system –that have created a fast-lived landscape of joined upself-contained units of designated space – industrialestates, shopping estates, housing estates – bothpublic and private.

BLIGHTS, BLOTS, SCARS AND SCOURGESAfter the Second World War, England’s populationbegan to be housed as never before, and wasendowed with a mobility and autonomy thattransmuted through affluence, miniaturisation,disposability into a series of landscape types. Thesewere designed to sit in the emptying industriallandscapes or declined rural corners and to provideorbiting services to defence and commercial centres.England’s later 20th century, like any period before,tells a story of changing circumstances, of shiftingdesires, moving people. Its hidden corners tell asmany stories: the underpasses and spaces betweencement blocks became empty canvasses for the‘outsiders’ of this transformed population. As wewalk through these sites now, the temptation is todismiss them, tut at the mass-produced inelegance soinfluenced by modernism, curse the power stationand super-shed as eye sores. Our vocabulary namesthem blights, blots, scars and scourges and so soon

after they were built they are being replaced by anew fast-build vocabulary of glass and steel. Imagesof Change offers the space to consider that our later20th-century heritage is tomorrow’s archaeology.The lifestyle of mass-production is now beingdismantled and reworked even faster than it wentup. Controversy over listing the Sheffield Park Hillestate or Newcastle’s Byker may grab headlines butthe Norfolk and Norwich District General Hospital,a bold monolith proclaiming all-inclusive nationalhealth has disappeared with a whisper, its land morevaluable as a high-end private housing estate.

FRAGMENTS OF EXPERIENCEImages of Change has sorted these landscape typesinto four fragments of the period’s experience.People offers a ground-up view of social lives. Eachtype entry focuses first on a particular site, the hereand now of Thamesmead, the M1, Saturday atBrixton Market, before zooming out to examine thechronological evolution of England’s edge towns,new towns, motorway system, patterns ofimmigration. Politics unravels the activities ofauthority and government that have shaped ourlandscape since 1945: army barracks into openprisons as at Leyhill, Gloucestershire, the neatnessof death in classical memorials, lawn cemeteries andthe post-war boom in cremation. Profit examineshow the landscape of profit has shifted from thehigh labour fields of industrial towns andagricultural areas into the contained units of serviceand support space: cotton towns to computer towns– Basingstoke and Swindon epitomise the growingand adapted work worlds that have triumphed overmanufacturing and raw materials. Pleasure sees howthe units of time that characterise the later 20thcentury’s leisure time – from 45 minute pitchrentals, an hour at the gym, to a bank holiday atThorpe Park – have left their traces in the spacesbetween our work-life and home-life.

Images of Change is the next step in the Change andCreation programme (www.changeandcreation.org):an archaeological dialogue on England’s later 20th-century landscape. It brings the conversation to awider audience, a tool for understanding our ownjourneys in our own landscape, to understandingthe recent past from within.

Sefryn PenroseAtkins Heritage

In addition to the authors,

the Change and Creation

Team are Victor Buchli

(UCL), Dan Hicks

(University of Bristol), Janet

Miller and Andrea Bradley

(Atkins Heritage) and

Graham Fairclough and

John Schofield (English

Heritage)

I M A G E S O F C H A N G E Sefryn Penrose

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Thorpe Park. Photograph:

Anna Nilsson

Thamesmead. Photograph:

Matthew Walter

The M1 in Herts.

Photograph: Matthew Walter

The Nicky Line Underbridge

of the M1 in Herts.

Photograph: Matthew Walter

18 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Questions about the role of archaeologists and themethods we use were recently brought into focus byresearchers at the University of Bristol, who in July2006 meticulously excavated a 1991 Ford Transit Van(British Archaeology 92). The vehicle was donated byIronbridge Gorge Museum, where it was used byarchaeologists and then by works and maintenancepeople. With the excavation of this ‘particular,common, and characteristic type of contemporaryplace’ completed, analysis and interpretation is nowunderway. The exacting treatment of such anassemblage by archaeologists is, to our knowledge,unprecedented and so, as we work, we debate thedifferent ways we might treat the assemblage, andthe questions we might ask.

Fifteen years of depositsAt the time of excavation ‘the Van’was a grouping of artefacts unique

in time and place from diverse spatial and temporalprovenances. Initially created at the Ford assemblyplant in Southampton, the site became rich withfifteen years of intentional and non-intentionaldepositions. Most artefacts can be placed into one oftwo initial categories: parts of the van itself, andsubsequently deposited artefacts.

Many of the parts of the van have uniquemanufacturer numbers and date stamps. Working totrace where and when each part was made, it isevident that assembly of the van was dependent ona complex, worldwide network of suppliers, fromthe UK to the US to India. With identifying marks,we could investigate the material evidence ofmaintenance, establishing if replacement parts areFord products, or cheaper ‘aftermarket’replacements. Should we categorise replacementparts as original components of the van, asdeposited artefacts, or both?

Crackers and confettiThe assemblage of small findsrepresents the gamut of the van’s

usage: archaeology, maintenance, and ‘play’. Certainfinds don’t fit within a strict interpretation of the‘official’ mandate of a work van: fragments of aChristmas cracker, a single piece of confetti, doghair, and cigarette butts (machine and hand rolled).Such finds suggest that the van was sometimes co-opted for unofficial uses.

The assemblage is dominated by artefacts associatedwith Ironbridge’s works and maintenancedepartment. Nuts, bolts, washers, screws, and nails,representing metal and woodworking, areubiquitous. These are rivalled by the detritus of thework of electricians: bits of wire insulation, fuses,set screws, light bulb glass, a fluorescent bulb

19

starter and various speciality fasteners. Electronicstechnicians from Bristol University’s engineeringdepartment helped assess this artefact group,identifying items and testing fuses and bulbs.Preliminary findings demonstrate that about 30% ofthese discarded electrical artefacts are in perfectworking condition. This would certainly inform adiscussion about waste in the construction trades.

Misplaced artefactsSomething that is commonly foundunder a car’s floor mats was

strangely absent in the van: small change (whetherthis indicates something about archaeologist’s lowpay, we haven’t yet determined!). In the entire van,only one coin was found: an 1893 silver threepence.The coin is part of a group we are calling the‘misplaced artefacts’: finds from otherarchaeological sites that were excavated byIronbridge archaeologists, and subsequentlyredeposited in the van (though the coin,traditionally included in Christmas puddings, couldeven indicate what diggers were eating in the van,as well as pulling crackers). The group includes aclay pipe stem fragment, bits of slag, and variousceramics. Perhaps these items simply fell out offinds trays. One interpretation is that these were infact intentionally deposited – the little bits everyarchaeologist comes across that ‘don’t matter’. Ifthis is so, then their presence may tell us somethingabout how we ascribe value to archaeological finds.

Pioneering work by ‘garbologist’ WL Rathje, andmore recent investigations by Victor Buchli andGavin Lucas, have demonstrated that recentlyabandoned contemporary materials are a viableresource for social trends and values. The VanProject humbly aims to follow in this tradition. Inapplying our particular skills not only to the archaic,but also to the ‘recent and contemporary past’,archaeologists will continue their tradition ofcontributing to the better understanding of thepresent day.

Excavation of the van was undertaken by CassieNewland, Greg Bailey and John Schofield(University of Bristol) and Anna Nilsson (AtkinsHeritage). Greg Bailey’s film In Transit was recentlyscreened at IFA’s conference at Reading. Follow thiscontinuing venture at www.stillintransit.blogspot.com.Thanks go to: John Schofield, the AutomobileAssociation, Sims Metal, the University of Bristol,Ironbridge Gorge Museum, Bristol Institute forResearch in the Humanities and Arts, and the Transit Van Club.

Adrian MyersUniversity of Bristol adriantimothymyers@gmail.com

T h e Va n :

Adrian Myers

Screws and Christmas Crackers…

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Artefact surface scatter. Photograph: Cassie Newland

Countries that supplied

parts (source: Peter Lee,

Transit Van Club).

Image: Eddie Lyons,

English Heritage

The Ironbridge Gorge

Museum van. Photograph:

Cassie Newland

Fragment of a fluorescent bulb starter.

Photograph: Adrian Myers

An 1893 silver threepence: evidence for Christmas

pudding or lost small find? Photograph: Adrian Myers

20 21T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Development of the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile inEdinburgh provided opportunities not just to recordand laser scan the Kirk (IFA Yearbook 2007) but tocomplete the excavation of a section of post-medieval Edinburgh preserved beneath it.

The Tron Kirk was constructed between 1637 and1655 for the congregation of St Giles’ when the latterwas made a cathedral. Earlier excavation haddemonstrated that the Kirk sealed basementremains of post-medieval tenements either side ofMarlyns Wynd, where the artefact assemblageprovided a rare opportunity to study from an urbancontext a tightly dated and sealed assemblage oflate 1630s domestic artefacts. In 2006 we revealedremnants of the post-medieval High Street ofEdinburgh, with the foundation of a shop frontageand at least five cellars/rooms of associatedbuildings. These survived up to 2m in height andeach room contained in-situ floor surfaces andoccupation deposits. One produced seven Charles I‘taylor’ coins.

It was felt that the best way to display the sitewould be to cover the remains with a central glassfloor with interpretative facilities at ground floor.3D plans of the structures will be presented in theinterpretation scheme, exploring the history of thesite and the wider archaeology and heritage ofEdinburgh’s Old Town. During excavations, theTron Kirk attracted over 1500 visitors, and thisredevelopment should bring many more peoplethrough its doors.

Martin Cook AOC Archaeologymartinc@aocscot.co.uk

John A LawsonCity of Edinburgh Council Archaeology Servicejohn.lawson@cecas.freeserve.co.uk

Synanthropic taxa are abundant and diverse enoughto argue for deposition in situ. Perhaps thedecomposing wood acted as an alternative habitatfor ‘grain beetles’. All three grain taxa have alsobeen recorded from decomposing wood, albeit morerarely than their usually assumed environment. Ifthe majority of phytophagous, hydrophilous andground-dwelling taxa, comprising c 20% totalindividuals, have arrived accidentally or post-mortem, this implies that c 80% of the individualswere actually derived from within the van – inwhich case the vehicle supported a thrivingcoleopteran community including wood-borers,mould-feeders and predators.

Archaeologically this represents a buildingassemblage, containing relatively few obviously‘outdoors’ taxa and a number of taxa characteristicof a ‘house fauna’. The number and pristine state ofthe woodworm suggest an infested timberconstruction (presumably the plywood interior). Anenvironmental context for the ‘building’ issuggested by the phytophagous taxa, characteristicof waterside environments. Finally, the assemblageincludes components characteristic of stablemanure, including taxa indicative of stored hay,grain, ‘house fauna’ and stable manuredecomposition. This implies a nutrient rich compostcontaining traces of foodstuffs and deposited withina building, apparently the detritus of many years’field service.

Steve DavisUniversity College Dublinstephen.davis@ucd.ie

Excavation of the Transit Vanproduced a variety of non culturalmaterials, including over one

hundred dead beetles. By far the most abundantspecies was woodworm, a common andoccasionally serious pest of seasoned timber. Someof these were well preserved and partiallyarticulated, suggesting recent death. Thirteen othercharacteristic woodland taxa included taxa whoselarvae develop in old timber, taxa characteristic ofheavily decomposed timber, taxa which live uponthe timber itself, taxa which are predatory uponprimary timber feeders and woodland canopy taxa.

Human-dependent taxa were well represented,including three common and occasionally seriouspests of stored grain; Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L),Sitophilus granarius (L) and Cryptolestes ferruginneusSteph. All are common in urban archaeologicalcontexts and have a long history of association withhumans. A wide range of mould beetles werepresent, particularly those common in decayingplant debris. The assemblage included ten taxacharacteristic of decomposing plant refuse, a singleindividual of the slow water genus Helophorus andrelatively few phytophagous taxa. Of these, onlytwo have specific habitat requirements; one lives onmembers of the borage family, and Phyllotretaundulata Kuts, a common pest of the Brassica family.Excellent preservation of woodworms implies thesederived from a breeding population within the van.The composition of the wood, synanthropic andmould taxa also suggest these lived in the van.Woody taxa include several predators.

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Cartodere constricta. Photograph: Steve Davis

Percentage breakdown

of classifiable individuals

within the van fauna

(GR = grassland;

LATH = Lathridiidae

[mould beetles];

REF = Refuse;

T = woodland;

SYN = Synanthropic;

WS = Slow Water.

Image: Steve Davis.

Steve Davis

Edinburgh’s

TRONKIRK

Martin Cook & John A Lawson

Former street frontage of Edinburgh High Street © AOC Archaeology Group

Screenshot of Tron Kirk Laser Scan Survey © AOC Archaeology Group

Beetles from

GR

LATH

REF

SYN

T

WS

T h e Va n

23S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Excavations of slum tenement dwellingsand converted industrial buildings in thecentre of Atherstone, Warwickshireplotted the decline of working-classhousing and industry within a smallmarket town in the Midlands. Theimportance of such courtyard tenementsto Britain’s industrial heritage has beenhighlighted by the National Trust’spresentation of 50–54 Inge Street and55–63 Hurst Street, Birmingham.

Burgage plotsMaps of 1716 and 1786 show that the town retainedits medieval character into the 18th century, withthe area divided into burgage plots. Informationabout these plots on manor rolls held by

Warwickshire County Record Office document thedevelopment of Atherstone from the 1640s to the1840s, the people who lived here, local industriesand the building they erected. Maps from the 1880sstill show narrow yards perpendicular to the mainroad, Long Street, containing terrace and back-to-back houses and factory buildings. The yards arenamed after either the public houses fronting LongStreet or adjacent factory buildings. Photographsheld in the Record Office still show some of thesebuildings in the early 20th century. The arearemained relatively untouched until clearanceorders of 1935. The Sanitary Inspectors map of 1956shows that much had been demolished by this time.

Felt hatsAtherstone has always been famous for itsmanufacture of felt hats, and manor rolls that listsmaller local industries of the 18th and 19thcenturies paint a vibrant picture of cottage industryand market gardening, citing such activities asbaking, potting, felt making, tanning andfellmongering, as well as associated shops.

Mixed usesExcavations across eight of the terraces or yardsshowed varying levels of preservation. Remains ofpost-medieval buildings dating to the late 17th to18th century were found underlying 19th-centuryhousing and factory buildings, and sixteen large19th-century buildings and several small out-buildings were recorded. The best preservedbuildings were six houses of two rows of back-to-backs with associated outside toilets. Some 19th-century industrial buildings had later beenconverted into houses. One notable feature of theterrace houses were unusual arched foundations. Itis not clear if this was a way of saving materials onalready cheap housing or an attempt to preventrising damp.

The terrace houses and out-buildings had beendemolished to make way for a 50-man air raidshelter during the Second World War. This was itselfdemolished when a modern factory was built. Forsuch a large building its foundations were quiteminimal and it helped to preserve underlyingarchaeological remains. It also highlighted the needfor careful excavations as the structures were veryclose to the surface and could easily have beenmistaken for made ground or make-up layers forthe factory floors.

Remains of local industries included a pottery kiln,tanning pit, rubbish pits and preserved dyed feltfrom felt or hat making.

Industries come and go The excavations showed that as the town grew inthe late 18th to early 19th century, the cottage

industries declined and their infrastructure wasdemolished and replaced with factories andhousing for its workers. As the population rapidlyexpanded the sizes of the houses decreased. Theindustrial boom period came to an end by the early20th century, with declining industries having theirfactory buildings demolished or converted tohousing. This indicated the population was alsodeclining during this period, which is backed up bycensus returns. In 1891 the population was 15,441and in 2001 only 8293.

By the Second World War many of the slum terraceshad been demolished, and in their place stood airraid shelters for the remaining inhabitants. Theseshelters were still standing in 1956 but werereplaced with a textile factory trying to reclaimAtherstone’s industrial glory. This closed in 1998and was demolished in 2005 prior to the excavationfollowed by construction of an Aldi supermarket.

David GilbertJohn Moore Heritage Servicesdg@jmheritageservices.co.uk

22

The decline of a Warwickshire industrial townDavid Gilbert

A t h e r s t o n e :

Arched foundations of the

terraced houses. Photograph:

D Gilbert (JMHS)

Recording in progress of 19th-

century industrial buildings.

Photograph: D Gilbert (JMHS)

A row of terraced houses

excavated to floor level.

This floor surface only

survived in patches.

Photograph: D Gilbert

(JMHS)

Excavation in progress

of the converted

industrial buildings.

Photograph: D Gilbert

(JMHS)

Alvins Yard, Atherstone

c.1910. © Warwickshire

County Record Office

(PH213/30)

25S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 424 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Portwall Lane glassworks were established in 1768by the firm of Warren, Cannington and Company onopen land to the rear of houses and industrialpremises on Portwall Lane and St Thomas Street.Documentary evidence shows that the firm wereproducing ‘crown’ or window glass which theyexported in large quantities to North America. Thebusiness flourished, their premises were expandedand a second glass cone was built shortly after 1785.However, following the War of AmericanIndependence glass from England was heavily taxedto encourage the growth of America’s own glassindustry, and the war with France at the end of the18th century disrupted Bristol’s overseas trade.There followed a serious drop in glass production,and owners of the Portwall Lane glassworks wentbankrupt in 1798.

• UNIQUE SURVIVALAlthough glass production was a major industry inlate 17th- and 18th-century Bristol part of only oneglass cone survives. Sites of most others have beendestroyed by later buildings, a situation reflected inglass producing areas nationwide. The few previousexcavations of glassworks have concentrated on thecones themselves, so Portwall Lane was perhaps aunique survival in that the majority of theglassworks, including the two cones, workshops,storerooms and yards, altogether covering about

When we excavated the site of the 18th-century Portwall Lane glassworks in centralBristol in 2006 the brief was unusual –remains of these nationally importantglassworks must be preserved intact belowthe new development.

3500 sq m, lay beneath the development area. Under English Heritage’s Monuments ProtectionProgramme these were classed as ‘nationallyimportant’.

• PRESERVING IINN SSIITTUUThe decision was made by Bristol CityArchaeologist, Bob Jones, to preserve the remainsbelow a new office building. Obviously this hadserious implications for the design: there could beno basement car park, bases of lift shafts must avoidarchaeology, the ground floor would need to be highenough to span the tops of 18th-century walls andpile positions must avoid or bridge the 18th-centurystructures. A rolling programme of archaeologicaland design work was implemented to avoid costlydelays and extensive last-minute redesign. Thismeant Bristol and Region Archaeological Services,Deeley Freed Estates the developers, Sir RobertMcAlpine the main contractors, Arup the engineers,and King Sturge the agents all working closelytogether before and during nine weeks ofarchaeological excavation.

• INACCURATE PLANSInitially Arup produced a plan of pile positions andground beams designed to avoid walls shown on an18th-century plan of the glassworks. Drawbacks tothis strategy were that the accuracy of the plan wasin doubt and it also failed to show the location ofthe cone walls or internal detail such as the flues,fireboxes, furnaces, air passages and the massivecentral supports for the crucibles, known as ‘sieges’.As the technology of glass cones was constantlyevolving the internal workings of the cones andpreservation of those structures was of crucialimportance.

Despite the engineers’ preliminary work finaldesigns depended on what was found duringarchaeological work. Every alteration to the pilepositions, the design of the piles and their groupinghad large financial implications to the developers. Itwas also critical that alterations were finalisedbefore completion of the excavation in order that thepiling contractors could start work immediately,avoiding expensive delays.

• SOLUTIONS As preservation was the priority, excavation wasrestricted to defining the extent and state of survivalof the glass cones and other buildings, althoughmore excavation was required within the cones todetermine how they operated and how theircomplex internal structures could best be preserved.As soon as the various components were exposedthey were recorded by archaeologists and theirdetailed plans passed to the engineers to comparewith proposed pile positions, with amended pileplans produced. At weekly meetings, whichincluded the City Archaeologist, solutions weresought which would ensure preservation but enableminimum alteration to the design. To the credit ofall parties it did all work smoothly. Reasoned,though sometimes lively, discussions enabledsolutions to be found, albeit sometimes expensiveones, such as the re-positioning or re-aligning ofpiles, pile caps, ground beams and services, and theuse of steel beams to bridge glasswork structures.

Only half the 1768 cone lay within the site, but itwas 21m in diameter which suggests the cone wasat least 30m high. Sufficient of the furnaces, flues

and sieges survived to enable specialists in glasstechnology to determine how they operated. It issignificant that there had been a radical change inthe technology used between the 1768 cone and thepost-1785 one, which was fully uncovered. Thischange in technology is just the type of informationthat is missing from the documentary record but canbe revealed by archaeology.

For more information about this site contactbaras.org.uk.

Reg JacksonBristol and Region Archaeological Services

THE PORTWALL LANEGLASSWORKS, BRISTOL

Reg Jackson

The two Portwall

Lane glass cones

are shown on the

left of this 1801

painting. Courtesy

Bristol City Museum

and Art Gallery

Part of the post-1785

cone. © BaRAS The Portwall Lane glassworks: post-1785 cone bottom

centre and the 1768 cone above and to the right. © BaRAS

27S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 426 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Excavations at Stratford, London E15

identified nine phases of occupation

which included operation of the Bow

Porcelain Manufactory, which was set up

to imitate and undercut the trade in

imported Chinese porcelain that was

reaching Britain in considerable

quantities. The factory produced some of

the best known and most characteristically

English porcelain made in this country,

and was longer-lived and more prolific

than almost any other 18th-century

porcelain factory. It was in production

c.1747 until the mid-1770s

Kiln furnitureThe factory (also called the New Canton Works andBow China Works) was founded by five partners,the most prominent and influential being EdwardHeylyn and Thomas Frye. The existing site wasredeveloped for the porcelain factory but it isuncertain whether existing structures were adaptedor completely new ones initiated. There was notrace of kiln remains but large waste dumpsincluded vitrified kiln bricks and other buildingmaterial. Kiln furniture that had been employedwithin the kilns was widespread within these wastedumps. Prodigious quantities of kiln furnitureincluded saggars (cylindrical containers for potsbeing fired within the kiln) of various kinds madeeither from coarse, heat-resistant, white-firing claysimilar in character to refractory kiln bricks or fromred-firing clay mixed with fine white clay. Otherkiln furniture comprised the various stilts andsupports needed to separate saggars and pots fromtheir immediate neighbours including pegs of roundsection or triangular section, setter rings, pads etc.The pegs fitted through holes pierced in the sides ofsome of the saggars. Firing accidents could bediscerned such as pottery fragments and contactscars stuck to saggars. Bone china precursor

Fragments of moulds for shaping the porcelain werealso present in the waste dumps in copiousamounts. Some were used for producing wholepieces, such as figures, while others formedattachments such as handles. There were alsomoulds for relief decoration, including thedistinctive and popular prunus sprigs. The ceramicbody developed at Bow, incorporating calcinedanimal bone as an essential ingredient in the paste,was the precursor of English bone china.

Porcelain waresGreat quantities of unfinished or faulty porcelainand wasters were present in waste dumps,including biscuit-fired pieces (the first firing beforepainted decoration and glazing) and wasters fromthe second glost firing. The assemblage includedplain white porcelain made in imitation of Chineseblanc de chine, many sherds decorated in underglazeblue, imitating the ever-popular Chinese exportporcelain, wares decorated in polychrome enamelsand rare sherds with transfer-printed decoration.Tea wares predominate, and sherds fromsauceboats, plates, baskets, cutlery handles andsweetmeat dishes were also found. Severalfragments of figures included a Turk, a nun and apug dog, in both biscuit and glazed ware. Manyclay tobacco pipe fragments were excavatedincluding a pipe bowl with the Hanoverian coat-of-arms, possibly made by Henry Blundell ofSouthwark (1745–64) and a pipe bowl bearing thestamped name J. JONES BOW within a shield,

possibly John Jones recorded as working in MileEnd in 1799.

English Ceramic CircleThe factory ceased operation by the late 18th centuryand some of the dumped kiln furniture and ceramicwasters were incorporated in hardcore for ground-preparation for later buildings. The finds arecurrently being processed and assessed at MoLAS byin-house ceramic specialists working closely withmembers of the English Ceramic Circle. This is theoldest society dedicated to the study of Britishceramics, aiming to advance knowledge bypromoting and publishing new research, and

including amongst its membership collectors,curators, archaeologists, potters and social historians.

The excavations on the site of the Bow porcelainfactory are of considerable importanceinternationally, presenting an invaluableopportunity for active collaboration betweenarchaeological ceramicists and acknowledgedexperts from the English Ceramic Circle.

Tony GreyJacqui PearceMuseum of London Archaeology Service

Excavating the Bow Porcelain Factory of LondonTony Grey and Jacqui Pearce

Part of the moulded figure of a Turk in biscuit porcelain

Moulded figure

of a pug dog in

plain white

glazed porcelain

Complete mould for sprigged prunus

decoration used on plain white porcelain

Part of a

cylindrical mug

with Chinese-style

chrysanthemum

and fence (left)

and patty pan with

scroll decoration

(right), both

decorated in

underglaze blue

Part of a cup and a teapot

lid decorated with

polychrome enamels

Sherds from cups and lids in

plain white porcelain with

sprigged prunus decoration

Porcelain sherds marked

underneath the base with

painter’s numbers

All photographs by Andy Chopping, MoLAS

29S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 428 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

‘Just keep machining the overburden untilyou get to something interesting.’ Aharmless enough instruction one mightthink, but as anyone who was involved inurban archaeology in the ’70s and ’80s willtell you, this usually meant truncating sitesto reveal medieval or earlier deposits. Theshortages of time and funding thatcharacterised urban rescue digs are wellknown, but the extent to which this led tothe destruction of post-medieval deposits isa moot point. The changes brought about byplanning guidance and the introduction ofcommercially-funded investigations haveled to more work on urban post-medievaldeposits, but the situation is still far fromsatisfactory and deposits from the last 250years continue to be destroyed at analarming rate.

Too plentiful deposits?Some would argue this is no great cause forconcern. The scale of production of many industries,along with the enormity of changes to urbanlandscapes by Victorian engineers, has left plentiful

deposits. It is easy to dismiss such large mixeddeposits as having low archaeological potential, butthey are finite and non-renewable. Their abundanceand the difficulty that this may pose for samplingstrategies, notwithstanding health and safety issueson previously developed land, should not beexcuses to avoid appropriate archaeological resourcemanagement. It is heartening to see that EnglishHeritage has recently published guidelines forinvestigation of 17th- to 19th-century industries(Dungworth & Paynter 2006).

Why do so many British archaeologists dismisspost-medieval archaeology? It is curious given thatBritain’s role as the birthplace of the industrialrevolution has been recognised as its uniquecontribution to world heritage. It may be that post-medieval sites are simply too familiar to attractinterest. The term post-medieval, traditionally AD1450–1750, is also unhelpful, leaving the modernworld isolated as a kind of post-post medieval period.

Global archaeologyOne way forward, as Marilyn Palmer suggests (p9),is to embrace the internationally-recognised termhistorical archaeology for the period 1500 to present.This term has been adopted by several universitydepartments, leading to a proliferation of taught

postgraduate courses and the appearance of severaltext books. The idea that the Post-Columbianperiod, which saw the development of capitalism,and the impact of European colonialism uponindigenous peoples around the world, could form acoherent field of study was advanced by theAmerican archaeologist James Deetz, and morerecent scholars have developed this idea to suggestthat the focus of study within this period should bethe archaeology of capitalism. Others have called fora ‘global’ archaeology of the modern world, withthe instruction ‘think globally and dig locally’(Orser 1996). Critics of this approach have stressedthat such ambitious schemes smack of neo-imperialism, and tend to gloss over local responsesto capitalism and colonialism in favour of grandnarratives (Gilchrist 2005).

Webs of interactionOne of the main points arising from this academicdebate is that the clay pipe stems and transfer-printed sherds that litter the spoil heaps of urbanexcavations can no longer be dismissed as the leastinteresting aspects of a purely local story. Theyshould instead be recognised as vital materialevidence for the webs of interaction that linkedBristol merchants to the Caribbean, Sheffield knife-makers to the American West, or Stoke-on-Trentpotters to the gold fields of southern Australia(Lawrence 2003, 2006). Advances in informationtechnology and internationalisation of academic andworld heritage networks have encouraged closer co-operation between different regions. It is becomingclear that when we attribute a low culturalsignificance to an 18th- or 19th-century deposit andmachine it away then we are erasing one element ofa network of global interaction.

But isn’t historical archaeology just an expensiveway of finding out what we already know fromhistory? Well, no, and we should have theconfidence to point out that the material historiesthat archaeologists assemble offer different but validrepresentations of the past. Archaeologies of theBritish imperial age meanwhile need to avoid therisk of being unintentionally triumphalist. It iscertainly necessary, for example, to resurrect theconcept of the ‘workshop of the world’, but only toreunite this industrial powerhouse with the globalmarkets which it served, and the places whereBritish manufactured goods were consumed. Themovement of people and things took many forms inthe colonial world, and the wider challenge is toshow how successive British governments andentrepreneurs scoured the globe for raw materials,foodstuffs, and profit, and how this impacted uponthe experience of everyday lives.

By re-discovering traces of the ‘world in theworkshop’ our work has the capacity to contributeto contemporary post-colonial debates on identity,multi-culturalism, and sustainable development.

James SymondsDirectorARCUSUniversity of Sheffield

Dungworth D & Paynter S 2006 Science for HistoricIndustries: Guidelines for the investigation of 17th to19th century industries, 4. English Heritage. Productcode 51262

Gilchrist R 2005 ‘Scales and Voices in WorldHistorical Archaeology’. World Archaeology, 37.3,329–36

Lawrence S (ed) 2003 Archaeologies of the British:Explorations of Identity in Great Britain and its Colonies1600–1945. London: Routledge

Orser CE 1996 A Historical Archaeology of the ModernWorld. New York: Plenum.

Ceramics from an Australian

whaling station in Tasmania.

In 1839 shops in Hobart

sold imported English

transfer-printed plates at six

shillings per dozen, less

than half the cost of tin

plates. Photo courtesy of

Susan Lawrence, La Trobe

University, Melbourne

Mug and bowl from Stoke on Trent, excavated in Halifax,

Nova Scotia. On their return journey to the timber colony

of Nova Scotia ships often carried British manufactured

goods. Photo courtesy of Steve Davis, St Mary’s University,

Halifax, and Davis Archaeological Consultants Ltd

19th and 20th-century

industrial sites produced an

enormous amount of waste

material. Daisy Bank, a marl

pit in Stoke-on-Trent was

infilled with waste from the

Potteries. Photo courtesy of

David Barker, The Potteries

Museum and Art Gallery,

Stoke-on-Trent

R E S I D U E So fI N D U S T R Ya n d E M P I R E :

urbanarchaeology in the post-colonial age

James Symonds

30 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t 31

the Barrow, Ellam, Perrin, and Barber families, allworked in the service economy of Alderley Edgevillage. Members of these families were enthusiasticproject participants, their childhood memoriesproviding an intriguing oral history collection nowarchived at Manchester Museum. The cottages wereoccupied until after the Second World War, andwere demolished during the early 1950s.

EXTENSIONS AND INCOME GENERATIONFollowing geophysical and topographic surveys,excavation trenches were opened over structuralremains of Hagg Cottages. While the cottages wereconstructed and occupied at a time of socio-economic continuity, and reflected the durability ofcommunity presence within the landscape, they andtheir inhabitants soon had to adapt to change.

Economic flexibility required of working-classinhabitants was materially expressed throughsequential vernacular additions, adjustments andadaptations of the built environment. Excavationsrevealed a brick lean-to addition on the southernside of the 1740s Stanley cottage, floored with apatchwork of mid-Victorian black and redstoneware quarry tiles. With the mid-19th centuryestablishment of railroad distribution networks,locally produced building materials, including theexcavated sandstone flagged floors of the Stanleycottage, were gradually replaced by decorativearchitectural ceramics manufactured by Midlands’industrial potteries. Since access to the vernacularextension was gained through a kitchen, weinterpreted it as an elaboration of domesticworkspace added to the 18th-century cottage,probably related to diversification of income-generating activities by household members.

MOTHERS AND WASHINGOral histories related to the southern cottagedemonstrated similar patterns of continualarchitectural additions, recycling, and reuse. Theimmediate exterior space around the cottage wasparticularly adaptable for income-generatingactivities. When questioned about the location of thefront door, Mrs Edna Younger instead related hermother’s use of the area for laundry. Contributing tothe family income by taking-in laundry from localelite households, her mother had positioned herwashtub and mangle next to the exterior drain,thereby adapting the paved courtyard as anextension of her workplace. Mrs Younger could notremember the location of the front door; as a child,she had always used the kitchen entrance. Hermemory illuminated a crucial point regardingworking-class settlements: the fluidity betweendomestic spaces and work-related spaces. These

residential sites operated as places of production asmuch as of consumption. By interpreting the HaggCottages as representations of a flexible strategy forsocio-economic survival, the Alderley SandhillsProject has produced new perspectives on thedurability of occupation, material culture and statusin the working-class worlds of rural England overthe recent Industrial to Post-Industrial transition.

Undertaken in partnership with ManchesterMuseum, and funded by English Heritage throughthe Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, this wasthe first project funded by English Heritage to focuson domestic and residential sides of the IndustrialRevolution, and reflected a new interest in thecollection and conservation of 19th and 20th centuryarchaeological assemblages. The project hasmaintained a website for on-line delivery of results.Popular zones included a ‘digdiary,’ updated weekly during the2003 excavation season, and a‘collections gallery’. For a digitaltour see www.museum.man.ac.uk/ASP/index1.htm. A finalreport will be published throughManchester University Press in2008.

Eleanor Conlin CasellaSenior Lecturer in ArchaeologySchool of Arts, Histories andCulturesUniversity of Manchester

How did ordinary English rural working-class households maintain and improve their conditions of everyday

life from the late 17th to the mid-20th century? This project focused on the domestic and residential sides of the

Industrial Revolution, reflecting a new interest in the 19th- and 20th-century archaeological assemblages.

HAGG COTTAGES, ALDERLEY EDGEAlderley Edge is a natural rocky outcrop lookingacross Greater Manchester and the Cheshire plain.The region was mined for copper during the BronzeAge and Romano-British periods. During the 1850s,a series of Italianate ‘villas’ was constructed andsold to mill barons desperate to escape industrialManchester. At the same time, an early rail linelinked central Manchester to the growing servicetown, making Alderley Edge one of the firstcommuter suburbs of Great Britain. From the 1780sto the 1890s, the Edge was extensively mined forcopper, lead and cobalt. The region thus supporteda mix of agricultural, industrial and service basedeconomies.

MEMORIES OF COTTAGE LIFEParish records indicate that the main cottage wasbuilt during the 1740s in a local style known as aStanley type cottage. This was a two-storey brickGeorgian structure, characterised by chimneys oneach end and a central entrance gable. Around theAlderley region these were originally built foragricultural tenant farmers by the local squire as anestate improvement. The date of construction andoriginal function of the second building wasunknown, although excavations revealed anunexpected pipe-stem date of c.1650–1670,suggesting a possible late 17th-century origin.

During the early 19th century the cottages wereinternally subdivided and leased to four householdsof workers from the Alderley Edge MiningCompany. By the turn of the 20th century, miningactivity had ceased, and occupants of the cottages,

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Living at the Edge:

THE ALDERLEY SANDHILLS PROJECTEleanor Conlin Casella

Hagg Cottages in the 1930s. Photograph: courtesy of R Barber

Roy Barber, Edna Younger (nee Barrow), and Molly Pitcher (nee

Barber), site visit September 2003. Inset: Edna Barrow, Roy Barber

and Molly Barber at the Hagg, c.1930. Photograph: courtesy of

E Younger

Flooring types at Alderley

Sandhills, 2003.

Photograph: Alderley

Sandhills Project

Porcelain doll, with

polychrome paint.

Photograph: G.10

(University of

Manchester),

courtesy Alderley

Sandhills Project

Amber glass

Boddington’s beer

bottle, with

‘internal screw’

finish from Alderley

Sandhills.

Photograph: G.10

(University of

Manchester),

courtesy Alderley

Sandhills Project

32 33T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

recorded all structures depicted as unroofed – ieabandoned – when Ordnance Survey maps werecreated between 1843 and 1878. Over 22,000abandoned townships and farmsteads wererecorded, representing over a fifth of knownarchaeological sites in Scotland. Although locationshave been added to the RCAHMS database, veryfew have been visited or surveyed in any detail.Many more remain undocumented, either becausethey were deserted since the creation of the FirstEdition OS maps, or because they were overlookedby 19th-century surveyors – a not uncommonoccurrence. The wealth of archaeological materialencapsulates a vital period of social history,including dramatic changes during the agriculturaland industrial revolutions.

■ Training volunteersBuilding on the results of FESP and following theincentive of the Historic Rural Settlement Group (aresearch organisation comprised of academics andheritage agency representatives), RCAHMS, HLF,Historic Scotland, the National Trust for Scotlandand Highlands and Islands Enterprise are fundingScotland’s Rural Past (SRP), a five year, nationwideinitiative to enable local communities to research,record and promote abandoned rural settlements intheir area. The four-strong SRP team will workclosely with local volunteers to design and developprojects based on their ideas and areas of interest –whether this is recording sites or researching thehistory of the area and the lives of past ruralcommunities. The current estimate is for forty localprojects, each lasting 1–2 years on average. Thisnumber may rise if enthusiasm is high. Techniqueswill include field survey and recording, historicaldocument research, oral history and place nameanalysis. Training and guidance are offered, andRCAHMS surveyors and archaeologists areproviding support through intensive field courses.SRP field officers will also provide bespoke trainingfor each local group. Survey equipment, includingplane tables, hand-held GPS and digital cameras,will be available.

Although many parts of Scotland are sparsely inhabited today, this isquite a recent pattern. Until 200 years ago, around 80% of thepopulation lived and worked close to the land. Literally thousands ofabandoned buildings, overgrown walls, old field systems andenclosures litter the countryside, an eloquent reminder of this ruralpast. However little is known about these settlements or the lives of thepeople that occupied them. Until recently, historic rural settlementremains have not been considered archaeologically significant and haverarely formed the focus of serious academic study. The vast majority areunprotected, and this incredible material resource is rapidly fadingaway through neglect, the impact of construction work and changingdemands of modern farming. There is now growing concern to locate,identify and document abandoned rural settlements across the countryif we are to better understand this important part of Scotland’s past,make it available for further study and preserve it for the future.

■ Abandoned townships and farmsteadsBetween 1995 and 2001, RCAHMS completed the First Edition SurveyProject (FESP) to address this shortfall in our knowledge. This project

The intention is also to train volunteers in historicaldocument research, drawing on the unique andabundant archive material in Edinburgh and on localarchive sources. As SRP matures, there may betraining in areas such as palaeography and 3Drecording. People will therefore build up skills,expertise and confidence to facilitate their ownresearch in addition to contributing to a betterunderstanding and awareness of Scottish rural history.Volunteers will be encouraged to promote access torural history through heritage trails, publications,photographic projects, plays, poetry, and much more.

■ New audiencesThe SRP interpretation officer will work withschools to develop educational material integratedinto the National Curriculum. Ideas and experienceswill be shared through the project website andgroup interaction. An annual workshop will providea context for discussion between volunteers andpractitioners, and the SRP team will tour Scotlandpublicising projects.

SRP has started to tap into the immense enthusiasmfor rural history. Volunteers have alreadydemonstrated huge commitment to the project,boding well for a successful project over the nextfive years.

Tertia BarnettSRP Project Manager RCAHMSJohn Sinclair House, 16 Bernard TerraceEdinburgh 0131 662 1456

www.scotlandsruralpast.org.uksrp@rcahms.gov.uk

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

hat’s happening to Scotland’s rural past?W Tertia Barnett

A typical rural dwelling with thatched

roof, many of which were recently

inhabited. Crown Copyright: RCAHMS

Abandoned rural settlements, such as

these buildings on Eigg, are familiar sights

in the Scottish landscape. Crown

Copyright: RCAHMS

The distribution of settlements depicted as ‘unroofed’, and therefore abandoned, on

Ordnance Survey maps (1843–1878). Crown Copyright: RCAHMS

A range of archaeological survey techniques are being used to

record sites at different levels of detail, including measured survey

and photography. Crown Copyright: RCAHMS

Historical documents such as

this map of Loch Tay form a

crucial part of volunteer

investigation. Copyright: British

Library, Licensor SCRAN

WA

R

34 35T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Post-medieval development in Britain shapedmuch of the rural and urban landscapes we seearound us. Birmingham Archaeology has beeninvolved in excavation and recording manysites of this date of widely different natures,using historical research and archaeologicalfieldwork together to build up comprehensivepictures of past landscapes.

Chemical warfare in the Welsh valleys:Rhydymwyn, North Wales

North Wales is well known for lead mining and thevalley of the River Alyn, in which Rhydymwyn sits,is no exception. Mining in the area was extensive,and a mid-19th century geological section through

the workings depicts a number of shafts withassociated adits. Following closure of the mines inthe early 20th century land reverted to agriculturebut, in 1939, it was purchased by the Ministry forSupply and developed as one of the first purpose-built chemical weapons facilities in the UK: theinnocuously named MS Factory Valley.

Provision for mustard gasIndustrial chemical warfare had begun in 1915,when the Algerian Division of the French Army atYpres was attacked with chlorine gas. The effectswere devastating and the front collapsed.Development of mustard gas followed. During theinterwar period most research was directed at moreeffective respirators and other forms of protectionbut, as war clouds gathered, it was decided that theICI Randle site, Runcorn, should be used for gasproduction, and in 1939 Rhydymwyn waspurchased for below-ground storage, with provisionfor manufacture of chemicals, as well as thecharging and packing of artillery shells, air bombsand sprays. The area was scientifically planned anddivided into distinct and separate zonescharacterised by the activities or processesundertaken within them, ensuring that cross-contamination was kept to a minimum and thatsecrecy was maintained. Staff and welfare facilitieswere also of a high standard.

Testing for the atom bombOver a hundred specialised buildings wereconstructed, linked by an extensive rail networkestablished around a spur off the Chester to Denbighmainline. Other major landscaping includedcanalisation and culverting of the River Alyn, andexcavation of a complex of interlinked subterraneantunnels and caverns into the limestone hillside forstorage. Building P6 was completed but the plantnever installed; instead the building was taken overby the ‘Tube Alloys Project’ (forerunner of the‘Manhattan Project’) where mechanical testing of thegaseous diffusion process for the atom bomb wasdeveloped. Naturally, this research was at the highestsecurity level, and the building was given its ownseparate compound within the factory site, whereengineers and scientists worked.

Activities on filmMS Factory Valley was chosen as the backdrop for atraining film in 1944, only recently rediscovered,which shows the now empty buildings bristling withpeople and activity. The process buildings werefinally decommissioned in 1948, after which the sitewas used to store German nerve agents. In the late1950s, when Britain unilaterally relinquished its

offensive chemical weapons capability, the chemicalstorage facility became defunct. After a period of useto store emergency rations and foodstuffs, the sitewas finally closed in 1994.

The site is being developed as a nature reserve andremains a fascinating and evocative example ofindustrial and military archaeology, so an HistoricEnvironment Management Plan was commissionedfrom Birmingham Archaeology by DEFRA.Documentary research, survey, and buildingrecording revealed good survival of the relictindustrial lead mining landscape, whilst thephysical remains of the later chemical factory tell awider story of Britain’s intention to defend herself.Such a well-preserved group of buildings of thistype do not survive elsewhere in the UK, and linkswith the earliest practical development outside auniversity physics laboratory of processesassociated with the atomic bomb placeRhydymwyn on the international stage. It isplanned to use this historical significance toincrease the site’s value as an educational resource.

Services for beauty: Aston Hall

Very different was Birmingham Archaeology’s workat Aston Hall, Birmingham. The aim of thisexcavation was to rediscover the north range of

WAR &PEACE:recording sites from thepost-medieval world

Kirsty Nichol and Kevin Colls

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

A small section of

Rhydymwyn today

How the site at

Rhydymwyn was

utilised

Chemical weapons production and filling sites in Britain

36 37

Aston Hall stable court,demolished over 135 years ago.Aston Hall is one of the finestJacobean houses in the country,built by Sir Thomas Holtebetween 1618 and 1635 on asandstone ridge. The next 200years in the life of the hall,stables and gardens saw manychanges that reflected thevarying fortunes of the family,

as well as more general social changes in fashionand design, mores and technologies. By the late1860s, the north service range was reported to bevery dilapidated, and instead of repairing it thearchitect recommended demolition – ostensibly toopen up another view of the main house.

No great house like Aston Hall could functionwithout a vast array of services - the dirty work thatunderlay a privileged lifestyle for the rich andfamous. We actually know far less about life in theservice ranges than that in the great house itself,because few service ranges survived withoutconsiderable alteration, and many have beendemolished. Demolition here has meant thatfoundations and floors have been preserved beneaththe soil which, while it makes interpretationdifficult, presents us with archaeological remainsthat offer a unique opportunity to revisit andreappraise historical documentation.

Washrooms and boilersFrom records it is difficult to interpret preciselywhere things were located outside the main hall butthey do tell us that in 1654 there were a wool house,laundry chamber, bake house, brew house, washhouse and malt house. An inventory of 1794 has asimilar list, with the addition of a granary, keeper’shouse, slaughterhouse, drying room and a chamberover a bake house, but these are only partialsnapshots of the changes that took place. Excavationsrevealed a more complex picture. A large culvert

running underneath the building must have drainedfrom the hall, and several drains feed into thisculvert, the sheer numbers of which are suggestive ofa laundry or washing function. Large spreads of ash,coal and clinker have also been found, possibly wastefrom a boiler, together with a succession of plaster,brick and cobbled floors. Several later additions havealso been found to the north side of the range,including the brick dome of a possible icehouse.

The quality and style of the main build is similar tothat of the earliest parts of the hall, although thereare also several phases of later modifications rightthrough into the 19th century. Archaeological workhas added a great deal to our understanding of thedevelopment and everyday workings of the life ofthis great house.

Kirsty Nichol, Steve Litherland, Leonie Driver,Eleanor Ramsey, and Malcolm Hislop were involvedin this work, while the complex project atRhydymwyn included Grant Webberley (DEFRA),Paul Duffy, Dave Williams, and Sando Citra (Citex),Jeff Spencer and Ian Bapty (CPAT), Wayne Cocroft(English Heritage), Martin Brown (MoD), PeterBone, Nigel Pearson and Timothy Peters, also ChrisHewitson and Phil Mann (BirminghamArchaeology). For further information about this sitego to www.rvsweb.org.uk.

Kevin Collsk.s.colls@bham.ac.uk

Kirsty NicholK.L.Nichol@bham.ac.uk

Birmingham Archaeology’s specialist buildingrecording team has just surveyed tworemarkable buildings. These are contrasted indesign and function but are both essential tounderstanding aspects of our industrialheritage.

The Royal Theatre, Cradley Heath, is an early exampleof a purpose-built cinema, constructed in 1912 andopened the following year. The building retainedthe stage of earlier theatres, which was utilised forperformance of variety acts between films but,having been erected only three years after theCinematographic Act of 1909, was custom built toreflect the safety standards required to housecinematic equipment. The Theatre had a simplelayout, with a projection room at one end and astage and screen at the other, the auditoriumshowing nothing of the fan-shaped plan that was to evolve as designers developed a distinctarchitectural type removed from theatricalinfluences.

Floor plans and analytical descriptions wereprepared, but the most useful technology was aLeica laser scanner which captured the principalelevation in 3D, allowing more detailed drawings of the decorative terracotta and sandstone dressingsto be produced in AutoCAD at a later stage.

Analytical assessment at Tutbury Mill, Rocester,Staffordshire revealed a site with a long history inthe production and processing of textiles. Locatedon the outskirts of a Roman fort and settlement, the site is within the immediate environsof an Augustinian abbey and may haveserved as the abbey’s watermill. It alsocontains structures built by RichardArkwright, one of the key catalysts andpersonalities of the Industrial Revolutionand credited with the invention of thespinning frame in 1769 (later renamed the water frame following the transitionto water power). Knighted in 1786, hedesigned the world’s first water poweredcotton mill at Cromford, Derbyshire in1871. Seven separate phases of post-medieval construction began with themill constructed by Arkwright in 1781and ended with 20th-century additions.

Michael Lobb iaa-lobbm@adf.ac.uk

Shane Kelleherfau-kellehers@adf.bham.ac.uk

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

The below ground

foundations of the

north range, Aston

Hall

A culvert beneath Aston Hall

The remains of an icehouse

All images are by

Birmingham Archaeology

Royal Theatre laser scan.

© Birmingham Archaeology Tutbury Mill. © Birmingham

Archaeology

WORK &PLAY:recording post-medievalbuildings of the Midlands

Michael Lobb and Shane Kelleher

PE

AC

E

38 39T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Harris, one of the islands of the Outer

Hebrides, has appeared less

archaeologically-rich than its

neighbours. One reason may be the

extreme topography of Harris – from

steep mountains to machair – in which

earlier settlement remains may have

been subsumed under blanket peat or

sand blow. However, little attempt had

been made to undertake a systematic

analysis of the current Harris

landscape until 2004, when

partnership between the University of

Birmingham (with Birmingham

Archaeology) and the Harris

Development Trust Ltd undertook a

programme of survey and excavation.

Important prehistoric evidence was

identified, but also a wealth of post-

medieval archaeology.Blackhouses and shie l ings

The diversity of post-medieval archaeology, muchdating to the late 18th/19th century, forms animportant data-set for interpretation of the complexpresent landscape and its evolution. Many sites hadnot been recorded elsewhere, even cartographically.The project recorded both upstanding and buriedarchaeology, the most abundant of upstandingremains being post-medieval houses and shelters,such as blackhouses and shielings. Some were inexcellent condition in isolated locations.

Dist i l lery?The most striking below ground archaeology wasalong the coast at Borve, where field survey in 2005encountered a substantial structure buried beneaththe machair (fertile low-lying raised beach). Fullexcavation revealed a number of constructionphases and, although only residual dating evidencewas recovered, there were several features,including a large kiln. This may have been fordrying grain but other interpretations, such asdistilling, are also feasible, which suggest an earlypost-medieval date. However, postholes beneath theclay floor suggest a much earlier structure alsostood on this site.

The work at Borve stands testament to theimportance of recording and understanding suchremains. Although relatively recent in date, there isno documentary or cartographic evidence depictinga settlement at this location. This area of Harris wasabandoned in the early 19th century as part of theclearances, and no oral history account records anindustrial complex here; nor is there evidence forsettlement on First Edition Ordnance Survey maps.The pottery from within the building could datefrom any time between the 14th to 18th centuries,and many finds were from post-abandonmentdeposits.

Already the project has added some 800 sites to theSMR for the Western Isles, most of post-medievaldate. The imbalance is beginning to be redressedand Harris will no longer be viewed as the poorerarchaeological relation in the Hebrides.

Kevin Collsk.s.colls@bham.ac.uk

John Hunter j.r.hunter@bham.ac.uk

Thehidden his tory of Harr i sKevin Colls and John Hunter

Harr i s

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

The remains of a Harris blackhouse

The Borve kiln or distillery

The Borve building within its landscape context

All images by Birmingham University

Phased plan of the Borve structure, by Caroline Sturdy

A beehive shieling complex

4140

Most advanced collieryThis two-mile strip along the coast from WhitehavenHarbour to St Bees Head contains three major coalindustry monuments (Saltom Pit, Haig Pit, andDuke Pit fanhouse), and a scheduled gypsum mine,but the landscape has turned out even moreinteresting than this. In the Middle Ages the areawas divided between two townships, both under thecontrol of St Bees Priory, and the Priory had an earlycoal-fuelled saltworks on the coast. After theDissolution, the Lordship and mineral rights to onetownship (Sandwith) passed to St Bees School, andthe other (Preston Quarter) passed through variouslay hands until the 1630s, when it came to theLowther family. The Lowthers (later the Earls ofLonsdale) were not well-loved in Cumbria, much ofwhich they eventually owned. Within theWhitehaven area they ruthlessly built up theirlandholding, concentrating on coal mining. By theearly 18th century the mines formed perhaps the

biggest and most advanced colliery in England, andthe Lowther’s colliery agent, Carlisle Spedding, wasresponsible for some important technical advances.Saltom Pit was the first undersea colliery in Englandand the deepest in the country. But Spedding’s touchon the surface was not as competent – a newharbour at Saltom was an expensive mistake, andsome of his wagon ways were unsuccessful.

Pretence of defenceMost of the standing colliery remains date from the19th century. They include an 1820s vertical-winderengine house at Saltom, an enormous chimneymodelled on one of Lord Lonsdale’s candlesticks atWellington Pit, a fine fanhouse (for collieryventilation) at Duke Pit, and an array of castellatedrevetments, coal drops, and inclines above theharbour and staithes from Wellington to Duke Pits –this whole skyscape was towered and crenellated,forming a major statement by Lord Lonsdale. Butprecisely what statement is less clear: Lonsdale’sfeudal power over the town? Connotations ofLonsdale as defender of the town? A reference tothe Border Wars against Scotland? An expression ofLonsdale’s anti-Americanism? (Whitehaven wasraided by John Paul Jones in the American War ofIndependence – and an earlier generation of ToryLonsdales, and their pro-American Whigneighbours, the Dukes of Norfolk, had replayed theWar of Independence in their castellated farms

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

named after victories of their respective sides, acrossthe landscapes of their Lowther and Greystokeestates near Penrith). To some contemporaryobservers, the fortified landscape may also haveconveyed defensiveness, and to the modern eyeeven a hint of Mordor, statements presumably notintended by the Earl of Lonsdale.

The collieries declined in the 20th century and closedin 1986. But the engine house, winding engine, andheadgear of the last colliery, Haig (sunk in 1916),survive, giving an archaeological range frommedieval landscape to 20th-century brick, steel, andconcrete structures. And there were freestonequarries along the sandstone cliffs of St Bees Headfrom at least the 17th century to the 20th, alabasterand gypsum mines (and a 19th-century museum) inthe undercliff below, and a massive post-Warchemical works (producing phosphate chemicals fordetergents), demolished during the survey.

Core issuesLinks between industry and the rest of archaeologyare summed up by three images. A small graffitocarved in one of the sandstone quarries looks likeStalin – a working person’s response to the powerand exploitation expressed in the landscape aroundhim? In a view taken from the north of the studyarea is the Wellington Pit chimney, with the harbourbehind and the line of a wagon way (not visible)zigzagging across the foreground – ‘industrialarchaeology’. The building is an 18th-century innwith contemporary bowling green behind, a small19th-century fort built into the wall of the bowlinggreen, and a small 20th-century structure (possibly aSecond World War shelter) in front – industrialarchaeology? But the harbour, as well as being a fine

piece of engineering, was also where sugar wasimported from the Caribbean and tobacco fromVirginia, and where John Paul Jones brought theAmerican War of Independence to British soil; so thearchaeology of slavery and colonialism is in thepicture too. And the hills in the background areScotland, raising more issues of identity. Those arecore issues within ‘post-medieval’ archaeology now,but hardly ‘industrial archaeology’. Whatever termwe use, we need to look at it as a whole and to see itas perhaps the most exciting, relevant, and at timesuncomfortable period of British archaeology.

Finally, there is a view north across the study areafrom the sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head. Behind thecamera is the ‘ancient landscape’ of Sandwithtownship, with curving ‘stone hedges’ (somefossilising a huge and perhaps early oval enclosure),and enclosed strip fields – a landscape of continuity,of negotiation, and of balanced rights andresponsibilities. In front is Preston Quarter, where asimilar ancient landscape was swept away by theEarl of Lonsdale in the 1820s and replaced by ruler-straight boundaries at right angles to his collieryincline – a landscape of dislocation, and of imposedpower and control. To this day, they feel verydifferent (I am more comfortable in Sandwith thanin Preston Quarter, which says something about meas well as the past), yet that junction of landscapesreflects a medieval township boundary, and thearrangements made at the Dissolution – ‘post-medieval’ and ‘industrial’ archaeology are part of a long story.

David CranstoneCranstone Consultantscranconsult@btinternet.com

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

A post-medieval

landscape at Whitehaven,

with varied industrial and

military features and a

harbour linked to the

slave trade. Photograph:

David Cranstone,

Cranstone Consultants

A graffito in a sandstone quarry looks very like Stalin – is someone

expressing an opinion on power and exploitation seen in the

landscape around him? Photograph: Simon Roper, Ironbridge

Archaeology

A view north across the study area, where an ancient landscape

was swept away. Photograph: Simon Roper, Ironbridge Archaeology

INDUSTRY, IMAGE and IDENTITY –archaeology on the Whitehaven coastDavid Cranstone

A major theme of post-medieval archaeology is the rise of industry and industrialisation – the archaeology ofindustry in its broader context. That has come across

strongly for me in a recent landscape survey atWhitehaven in Cumbria for the National Trust,

commissioned to ensure that plans for development and management of this coastline were sensitive to the

superb historic environment.

42 43

Three separate buildings indicate more permanentoccupation than in earlier centuries. By the mid-18thcentury development had reached its height, asshown on Warren’s Map, with domestic residencesand gardens backing onto pasture.

Market exposedThe layout of the site changed in the 19th centurywith establishment of a cattle market, whichcovered the northern half of the excavation area. Tothe south properties were still occupied and housesrepaired, rebuilt and extended. The Cattle Market,which had been held in the medieval market square,was relocated here in 1828, and was extendedduring the 19th century as land was acquired. Anextensive area of the market, of which few survivein East Anglia, was exposed and recorded. Marketsurfaces were of white brick from Woolpit andCulford, both close to Bury St Edmunds. The

position and layout of the pens were clearlyidentifiable, along with market entrances,cobble roads, a brick built weighbridge and anoctagonal settling house. The extent anddevelopment of the Cattle Market and theproperties to the south can also been seen inPayne’s Map (1834) and the First Edition OSMap (1881). The market and propertiescontinued in use to the late 20th century, whenthe site became a car park.

Combining archaeological evidence withcartographic and documentary sourcestherefore produced a detailed picture of thesite’s development, which will be increased aspost-excavation work continues.

John DuffySuffolk County Council Archaeological Service

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Barns, orchards and gardens The site lies outside the medieval town defences ofBury St Edmunds. A deed, dated 1403, indicates anextra-mural lane running through this area, forminga link between the two western gates of the town.No structural development was identified until thepost-medieval period and the evidence is that the

site was in agricultural use when, following thedissolution of Bury Abbey, the town defences werebreached and the town ditch filled in, making landoutside of the town more accessible. During the 16thand 17th centuries St Andrew’s Street was properlyestablished and development started to the west.Deeds and accounts indicate the development wasagricultural, with barns, orchards and gardens.Archaeologically this is difficult to identify, thoughpostholes along the street frontage suggest non-domestic development.

Suburban housingIn the 18th century development along the streetfrontage increased, with more formal tenementsalong St Andrew’s Street. Fences (identified bypostholes) marked boundaries between properties.Along the street frontage more substantial domesticbuildings were constructed with flint and mortar.

A post-medieval Cattle Market at

John Duffy Bury St EdmundsExcavations have just finished on

the site of the former Cattle Market,

Bury St Edmunds, involving detailed

examination of a purpose built 19th-

century cattle market and several

17th- to 20th-century street frontage

properties.

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Warren’s Map, 1747

(left), Payne’s Map, 1834

(middle) and First Edition

OS Map dated 1881

(right), with excavation

area shown in red

Cattle Market surface

(bottom) and street fronting

houses (top)

Cattle Market Weighbridge. As excavated (left) and from a plan dated 1892 (right)

44 45T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

• G e r m a n s e t t l e r s This zone is also where villages were established byGerman settlers in the medieval period, and in 1938Hitler used the German presence in theseSudetenlands as a propaganda weapon and reasonfor territorial claims. At the end of the War mostethnic Germans were expelled and their villagesdeserted. Few of these villages have beeninvestigated. On the positive side the exclusion zonepreserved from development an immense area ofmedieval and post-medieval landscape. TodayGermans cross the borders and erect plaques totheir old villages. To the Czechs this appearsprovocatively close to some territorial claim and theGerman words are scratched out, but the plaquesand the small fenced gardens around them appearunmolested.

• G e r m a n i n v a s i o nAnother subject which has become popular ismilitary archaeology. The Czech frontier zone hasabundant remnants of pre-War defences constructedto counter the growing German threat. Few are sofar scheduled but many have been renovated byamateur and veteran groups. The defensive strategy

Archaeology in the Czech Republic wasconsidered a ‘safe‘ subject during thecommunist period and was able to maintainrelatively well funded standards of modernpractices and research, with two exceptions.Access was strictly forbidden in the broadwestern frontier zone, which was heavilyguarded and policed, and air space here wascompletely forbidden, whilst over non-military areas it was tightly controlled andrarely attempted.

• I n d u s t r i e s i n t h e f o re s tIn 1989 the door was open for both aspects to beaddressed by Czech archaeologists, and both werevaluable for post-medieval research. The Czechforests and uplands have extensive industriespeculiar to those regions, many connected withwoodland management and exploitation. Forexample, before mechanisation felled trees weretransported by water down the hillsides in elaboratestone channels. Apart from the logging and paperindustries there was production of resins and tars,marked by stone kilns. This region also containssites of the Bohemian glass industry, whichflourished until the area became an exclusion zoneand villages were evacuated.

was to construct static defence lines in depth, on theprinciples of the 1914–18 war. Czechs could havematched the German forces on the ground, thoughnot in the air. They expected to fall back within theirdefences, holding up the advance long enough forFrance and Britain to honour their treaties. In theevent the defences were never completed, but theyare a formidable set of monuments in the landscape.

• A e r i a l s u r v e yBattlefield archaeology and aerial photography haverecently come together. Martin Gojda, now at theUniversity of Western Bohemia, Plzen, beganextensive aerial survey in the early 1990s as amember of the Institute of Archaeology, Prague.After initial worries that all archaeological sites hadbeen destroyed by intensive cultivation in the openfields of collective farms, several thousand new siteswere discovered, known sites were photographedfrom the air for the first time and an extensivearchive of old town and village centres wascompiled. Last year Martin Gojda made a brief

survey of early modern fortifications, most nowforgotten and seen only as cropmarks. Many relateto the 17th-century Thirty Years War and the generalmilitarisation of the 18th and 19th centuries,culminating in forts such as the Terezin fortification.This fort later became one of the concentrationcamps for the Jewish population.

• Vi l l a g e j e w e l s Prague is internationally considered a cultural jewel,mainly due to forty years of communist rule when,through lack of investors and a poor economy, thecity core remained preserved. Only the peripheralmargins suffered, like cities everywhere, the socialrealism of high rise buildings in the late 1950s to 70s.What is less known is that the country is full oftowns and villages with architectural gems, bothgrand and folksy. Architecture and history are welldocumented by art historians and ethnographers,but there are many more subjects worthy of

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

A typical frontier Germanic

house at Velky Valtínov.

The base is of traditional

log cabin construction, the

rest half timber and brick.

Age unknown. It now no

longer exists

An elaborate portal of the

Schwarzenberg logging

sluice tunnel. 419m long

and dated 1823

Restored bunker at Dorosov, complete with tank traps

A redoubt of the 18th-century Terazin fortress, destroyed by

agriculture and visible only from the air

Wooden houses of the traditional Czech

countryside

Czech defenders, 1938.

Original postcard

P o s t m e d i e v a l a rc h a e o l o g y

i n t h e C z e c h R e p u b l i cPatrick Foster

Cz

ech R

epu

blic

47S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 446

pottery comes alive with variety in colours, glazes,slips, decoration and forms. This may be due to thehigh number of local town and village potteries, afeature of Czech ceramics still found today. Thereare traditional Central European potters stillproducing forms and decorative styles that have ageneral commonality from Poland to Bulgaria andfrom Russia to the Ukraine. These now aim at thelucrative tourist market, but there are stilldistinctive regional or individual styles, often with along history, produced at a local level. For examplethree large mugs, which came with the purchase ofthe chapel, are of typical Bohemian country styledated to the 19th century but still produced in the1930s. The underglaze stenciled and handpaintedexamples reflect a similar tradition to country handpainted and sponge ware pottery from theHighlands and Islands of northwest Scotland at asimilar date.

This short glimpse of Central Europe is aboutpotential rather than action, for Czech archaeologyis still in the grip of traditional philosophy andsystems. There is virtually no inter-disciplinary co-operation or materials specialists, andarchaeological environmentalists are rare. Apartfrom the University of West Bohemia, Plzen,teaching is generally restricted to traditionalsubjects and theoretical analysis. The rarity ofspecialists is circular – without trained specialistsand reference collections it is difficult to train thenext generation, so post-medieval, industrial,environmental, materials and faunal studies cannotflourish.

Patrick FosterSvihov, Czech Republic

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

attention, city water towers and the village fireengine houses for example. Virtually every Czechvillage has a pond or open water tank, with a smallgarage to house the fire appliance. On the roof thereis usually a small gothic-style bell turret to call thelocal firemen. In the countryside village and townarchitecture was based on totally woodenconstructions.

Virtually anything above ground is theresponsibility of the cultural heritage instituteswhere art historians dominate, while anythingbelow ground is the responsibility of archaeologyinstitutes under the Academy of Sciences. This is amajor handicap for post-medieval monuments.

• P o t t e r y c o m e s a l i v eOn a personal level, inside the 14/15th-centurymedieval hospital chapel where I live, excavationsare almost complete. The ceramic assemblage isimmense, with several thousands medieval andpost-medieval sherds. Medieval material is a fairlyuniformly dismal mass of hard grey wares, notunlike Roman grey wares in fabric and texture.There is little change until the 16th century, when

Antwerp was defended from about 1200by city walls which are now almostentirely lost. In the 16th centuryconquering Spaniards built a whole newseries of fortifications which, in the 19thcentury, were razed to ground level andreplaced by avenues. There was littleinvestigation of any of these defencesuntil a number of major construction andinfrastructure works made it possible toinvestigate these later city walls.

SPANISH DEFENCESIn the early 16th century Antwerp grew into the

most important city of the Low Countries and oneof the most flourishing economic centres of north-western Europe. Wealth was expressed in thebuilding of a new city wall following the mostmodern military architecture, the Old Italianbastioned system. Walls round Antwerp, built bythe conquering Spaniards, were designed byDonato Boni di Pellizuoli, the main fortificationsarchitect at the court of Charles V in the LowCountries. The walls consisted of 8 curtains, 9bastions, 5 city gates with bridges to the mainhighways, the moat and a counterscarp. Aestheticsapplied to the construction were the rusticRenaissance style of Northern Italy.

During restyling of the Antwerp avenues in 2002–2006 a substantial part of the bastion in front of StGeorge’s Gate was excavated prior to constructionof an underground car park. From this bastion, thetwo faces, two flanks and gun platforms and the leftorillon (semi-circular projection) were examined. Atthe 19th-century demolition level, below the currentroad, the 3.2m wide bastion wall with buttressescame to light. The scarp wall had been preserved upto 3.7m and stood on a 1.5m high foundation. Onthe moat side the slightly sloping wall was coveredwith rectangular blocks of sandstone, carefullyhewn and following the slope of the wall and thecurve of the salient.

One of the more intriguing parts of these walls isthe salient of the bastions. As can be seen incartographic sources and on other iconography thisis pyramidal at the bottom and changes towards thetop into the curve of the bastion point. On top adisc-shaped mark is probably the remains of ademi-sphere. The pyramid-shape on the salient,besides its symbolic and aesthetic aspect, was atransition element in the development of thebastion.

Finding and losing the fortifications of

ANTWERP Karen Minsaer, Bas Bogaerts,

Tim Bellens

Post-medieval pottery

from the chapel

excavations at Svihov

Three late 19th to early

20th-century handled mugs

from Svihov chapel

Fire engine house in

the Cesky Raj

All photographs by

Patrick Foster

17th-century map of

Antwerp, showing the

bastioned fortification with

pentagonal citadel. Courtesy

Antwerp City Archives

Antwerp, 2003. St George’s

bastion, near the Emperor’s

Gate. Photograph: City of

Antwerp, Archaeology

Department

Cz

ech

Rep

ub

lic

48 T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

Outside a wall (the counterscarp) bordered themoat. At present it is assumed that the inner body ofthe wall dates to the original 16th-century citadelconcept. The outer part was restored in the earlyBelgian period, probably after the battle of 1832when Dutch troops were still occupying theAntwerp citadel. They only left after being seriouslyattacked by the French. Cartographic andiconographic sources indicate a canal as aconnection between the citadel and the city, alongthe River Scheldt. Parts of these 16th-centuryconstructions were excavated at Cockerillkaai.

THE BATTLE FOR PRESERVATIONDespite co-operation between construction workersand archaeologists, much of the walls weredemolished. Today, only a few sections of themedieval city wall, dated to around 1200, can still beseen. We were concerned that, at the end of theinfrastructure works, not a single stone of the laterfortification could be preserved. The Department forInfrastructure Works presented an unusualproposal: the bastion could be moved to a deeperlocation, and therefore be publicly accessible.Consequently it was cut into 3 ton blocks, and afterbeing stored for several years, was recently rebuiltsix metres below its original location. During thisproject, it was also decided to rebuild parts of theEmperor’s Gate. These two displaced relics willnow, from underground, tell the story of theforgotten Spanish fortification of Antwerp, once themost famous city fortification of the Low Countries.

We also found excellent Renaissance architecture inthe massive St George’s Gate. Construction of this,the most monumental entrance to the city, alsoknown as Emperor’s Gate, started in 1542. From agun platform in the collar of the bastion, the bridgein front of the gate could be covered with gunfire.The gate was symmetrical in plan, consisting of thecentral gateway and two main aisles. This robustsquare construction, built in brick, was providedwith a facing in stone with decorative bosses. Onthe moat side the lower part comprises fourdecorative Doric half-columns integrated in theconstruction of the façade. The coping had classical

decorations on an architrave decorated on theunderside with lions’ heads. Above it was a squarepediment decorated with a frieze, with two lionsholding a coat of arms. In the background is awinding pennant bearing the inscription ‘PlusOultre’, the device of the Habsburgs.

MONUMENTAL FACADES AND FRENCH RE-FACINGDuring infrastructure works to the Antwerpavenues foundations of the gate were investigated.One large part projected into a new tunnel and wasthreatened by demolition. The gate, like the bastion,was faced with sandstone and revealed amonumental façade with half-pillars. Therectangular blocks are slightly sloping at the moatside and anchored in the brickwork. In 2003 and2005 the façade was rescued, but without anywhereobvious to move it. The remains of thecounterscarp, the bridge pillars, as well as the Canalof Herentals, which brought fresh water into thecity, were encountered in the car park and tunnels.Investigations also focused on the curtains of thecity walls during building projects, and theseillustrated a uniform architectural plan. Again, thescarp was anchored by buttresses built at regulardistances, and the sloping moat side was finishedwith sandstone. To the north, the original stonefacing had been replaced with alternating stone andbrick by the French government under Napoleon,for Antwerp had a strategic position in the warwith England.

ALVA’S CITADEL (1567–1571)After the mid-16th century, the Spanish governmentadded a citadel to the south side of the city. Theconstruction was part of a general Spanish policy inthe Low Countries instigated by Charles V andapplied by Philip II. This dominating fortress wasnot built to defend the city but to act against anypolitical or religious rebellions within. For itsconstruction, the duke of Alva chose the Italianengineer Francesco Pacciotto, who earlier designedthe citadel of Turin, on which Antwerp wasmodelled. The basic shape of the citadel is a regularpentagon, one side aimed towards the city, withbastions with retired flanks and gun platforms. Onthe outside the citadel was provided with a moatand counterscarp.

During excavation, parts of the faces and of thesouthern flank of the Toledo bastion weredocumented. The bastion wall displays a simpleand regular construction plan with a main wallanchored with buttresses into the earthen wallbehind. A gentle Renaissance profile in brick,limestone and bluestone girdle stone came to light.

49S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Underground remains of the Emperor’s Gate

on the location of the new tunnel.

Photograph: City of Antwerp, Archaeology

Department

As a symbol of Spanish

control over the city, the

citadel was never accepted

by the inhabitants.

Anonymous 16th-century

engraving, courtesy Antwerp

City Archives

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t50

historic records? The simple answer is that thehistorical records often do not contain the sorts ofinformation that we need. Industrialists frequentlydid not understand how a raw material wastransformed into a product (and waste material)and working people who understood the processrarely left suitable records. Many new processeswere patented but until recently patents rarelyprovide the necessary detail.

Scientific techniques can be especially valuable forunderstanding the nature of waste materials andthe information they contain about industrialprocesses. New English Heritage guidelines provideseveral case studies. Out of many techniques one ofthe most successful has been the electronmicroscope which, when fitted with an X-rayspectrometer (the combination usually goes by theacronym of SEM-EDX), can examine themicrostructure of materials and determine thechemical composition of discrete areas andinclusions.

Wine bottles and lead crystal

Excavation of a late 17th-century provincial glassmanufacturing site at Silkstone, Barnsley(Dungworth and Cromwell 2006) included a largeprogramme of SEM-EDX analysis which will serveas an exemplar. The excavation revealed a deepstratigraphic sequence with two main phases ofglassworking separated by demolition c.1680 (andpresumably a rebuild of the furnace). The analysis

of over 400 samples of glass and glassworkingwaste shows that the site produced a dark greenhigh-lime low-alkali glass for wine bottles and apale green mixed alkali glass, probably fortablewares. The latter contains very high levels ofstrontium which indicates that seaweed ash wasused as a flux, somewhat surprising as Silkstone is80km from the coast! Following demolition, thewine bottle manufacture continued little changedbut the mixed alkali glass was abandoned in favourof a colourless lead-potash glass (lead crystal). Leadcrystal was patented by George Ravenscroft in 1674,his patent expiring in 1681. So an out-of-the-wayglasshouse in South Yorkshire was adapting to anew technology extremely quickly (it is possiblythat it was so quick that they infringed onRavenscroft’s patent).

Now we are hoping that scientific techniques willplay an increasing role in improving understandingof historic industries. Future English Heritageprojects will include pottery, copperas, alum andiron founding.

David DungworthMaterials ScientistEnglish Heritage Fort CumberlandPortsmouth PO4 9LD

Dungworth D and Cromwell T 2006 ‘Glass andpottery manufacture at Silkstone, Yorkshire’. Post-Medieval Archaeology 40, 160–190

Much of today’s urban regeneration is inareas vacated by heavy industries in the1970s and ’80s. Unsurprisingly thearchaeological mitigation of these sitesuncovers substantial remains of historicindustries, sites quite different from thosewhere most of us were trained. Oneobvious difference between sites of historicindustry and more traditional archaeologyis the scale of the features and earth-moving activities.

Redistributing waste products

In the early post-medieval period glass furnacestypically occupied less than 20m2 but by the mid-19th century they covered more than 100m2. Test-pits for evaluating a site with a large glass furnacemight be wholly within the furnace, so sites withlarge industrial features will often require largemachine-dug trenches. Problems of waste have to beaddressed. A late 18th-century blast furnacetypically produced 2000 tons of cast iron each yearand at least 1000 cubic metres of slag. If this wasdumped beside the furnace, the heap would betaller than the blast furnace in less than a decadeand soon the blast furnace would be in danger ofbeing engulfed by its own slag heap. So where did itall go? Some was backfilled into quarries and someto raise ground levels elsewhere. Another importantuse was as a raw material in other industries. Thebottle glass industry for example used waste fromthe iron, soap and gas industries, and some of itswaste was used by the brass industry. Many wasteproducts will therefore be missing from aproduction site and can turn up in unexpectedplaces.

Why bother?

Historic industries used technologies and materialsthat few of us are familiar with; we can recogniseRoman pottery but what is sandever and how wouldwe recognise that? Before attempting to investigatethe site of an historic industry it is important toextend the desk-based assessment to predict likelyindustrial features and waste materials. One mightask though, why should we bother, if there are

‘The surface of the earth is covered and loaded with its own entrails’ David Dungworth

51S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

Archaeology now:

machine excavation

at Murray’s Mill,

Manchester.

Photograph: Ian

Miller, Oxford

Archaeology North

Science for Historic

Industries, new English

Heritage guidelines (Printed

copies available from

English Heritage, Customer

Services Department, PO

Box 569, Swindon, SN2

2YP. Electronic copies can

be downloaded from

www.helm.org.uk)

Scanning Electron

Microscope image of

glass adhering to a

crucible from

Silkstone, South

Yorkshire. © English

Heritage

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t52

The Department of Archaeology at the

University of Glasgow has announced

a new postgraduate (Diploma/MLitt)

course in Historical Archaeology.

This offers a detailed introduction to this thrivinginterdisciplinary field, focusing on the centuriesfrom 1500 to the present but with due attentiongiven to the Middle Ages. It explores individualworld regions – including the UK and Ireland, theMediterranean and Middle East, North Americaand the Caribbean, South Africa, and Australia –and the historical and contemporary themes thatconnect these regions in global terms.

Archaeology at Glasgow has always had a strongfocus on the historical past. Today, Glasgow is hometo the Leslie & Elizabeth Alcock Centre forHistorical Archaeology, and the Centre forBattlefield Archaeology. Individual staff in theDepartment and the University’s ArchaeologicalResearch Division (GUARD) have research interestsin the historical archaeology of Scotland, Britain,Europe and the Mediterranean.

Field projects run by the Department, which offerfieldwork experience and research opportunities tostudents, include

• Strathearn Environs & Royal Forteviot Project,Perthshire: an early medieval power centre incentral Scotland, location of King Kenneth macAlpin’s ‘palace’

• Historic Glasgow: with excavations and widerresearch at Glasgow Cathedral, in Govan (earlymedieval royal and ecclesiastical centre whichdeveloped into one of Glasgow’s key industrialdistricts), and the wider industrial city.

• Ben Lawers Historical Landscape Project,Perthshire: interdisciplinary research on theshieling grounds, agricultural lands, lochsidesettlements and crannogs

53

• Dun Eistean Archaeology Project, Lewis: islandhillfort and other medieval structures associatedwith the traditional stronghold of Clan Morrison

• Troodos Archaeological and EnvironmentalSurvey Project, Cyprus: landscape project withinterests in Medieval, Ottoman and Britishcolonial periods

• Tawahin es-Sukkar, Jordan: investigating themedieval sugar industry at the southern end ofthe Dead Sea

Core modules of the taught element are Historicalarchaeology: theory and practice, and World historicalarchaeology. Students will also select three modulesfrom options that include the historical archaeologyof the British Empire; Gaelic Scotland from clanshipto clearance and the creation of the ScottishHighland diaspora; landscape archaeology in thehistorical Mediterranean; monuments in transitionin medieval Scotland. Other available optionsinclude thematic studies (eg in History, CelticStudies, History of Art); artefact studies; practicaland professional archaeological skills; IT skills, eg multimedia analysis and design, GIS, and 3Ddigitisation. MLitt students also undertake adissertation.

For further information seehttp://www.gla.ac.uk/archaeology/

Michael GivenCourse convenor0141-330 5690enquiries@archaeology.gla.ac.uk

rectangular building, 18.5m by 9m, with two rooms.The west room formed the main corn mill andcontained several structures associated with the millwheel and axle.

Remains of several interior features key tounderstanding the mills gearing have survived. Alarge plinth stood on the east side of the internalwall, built from mortar-bonded sandstone blocks inrandom courses. This had square settings at eachcorner, formed by single sandstone blocks with apecked square depression in the centre. This featureis interpreted as the base for a Hurst frame, acommon type of timber-framed mill machinery.During the excavation several complete millstoneswere found, and evidence that the mill was partiallydestroyed by fire.

Mike CresseyCFA Archaeology

Peter YeomanHistoric Scotland

Historic Scotland will shortly be completingconservation and interpretation works onwater-powered cotton mills at Stanley Mills,Perthshire, ready to open to the public in2008. Archaeological recording has beenan important part of this project.

Stanley is a unique complex of Grade A listed millson a majestic site within a bend in the Tay. Water-power was used here from at least 1729, when atunnel was driven through the peninsula to power a corn mill, until 1965 when the mills were finallyconnected to the National Grid. The lade systemand water-wheel pits remain largely intact and havebeen investigated and conserved. The six-storeyEast Mill and four-storey Mid Mill were built oflocal sandstone around 1800, with later changes as a result of fire damage and accommodation needs.Bell Mill was completed in 1787 to the design ofRichard Arkwright, inventor of the water-poweredspinning process and pioneer of the factoryproduction system. It is the finest, most completesurviving example of an 18th-century water-powered spinning mill in Scotland. The mills closedin 1989 and were only saved with the interventionof Historic Scotland and the Phoenix Trust.

Excavations and refurbishment works led todiscovery of a 1729 corn mill on the riversideterrace. Historical maps show that it was suppliedby a lade, part of which survives today. The cornmill survived as low wall footings forming a large

S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4

HISTORICALARCHAEOLOGYCOMES TOG L A S G O WMichael Given

Glasgow’s Historical Archaeology prospectus

Corn mill footings in foreground on the Tay

terrace, with Arkwright’s Bell Mill behind.

Copyright: Historic Scotland Images

A n 1 8 t h - c e n t u ry c o r n m i l l a t S t a n l ey M i l l s , Pe r t h s h i reMike Cressey and Peter Yeoman

Excavating corn mill

footings.

Photograph: CFA

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t S u m m e r 2 0 0 7 N u m b e r 6 4 5554

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structures and poor communication between thefield profession, the curatorial arm and theacademic community’. Parallel criticism comes fromCatherine Hills and Julian D Richards ondissemination of information, without which ourtime is wasted. They review various reports andrecommendations, but despair of the increasing gapbetween academics and practitioners at a time whenthe ‘results of contract archaeology must be drawnon for research’ and when ‘academic debate needsdata and fieldwork needs purpose’. However,digital archives are already proving a popularsuccess and other electronic solutions can now atleast help with practical problems.

The book is rather disappointingly illustrated andinevitably, with so many authors, slightly out ofdate in places, but it is an invaluable snapshot ofour profession today and all chapters contain usefuldata, references and strong opinions. The book’smain value however is its analyses of strengths andweaknesses. These are healthy pointers to self-improvement which should be heeded by those in aposition to manage change within the archaeologicalposition.

Alison Taylor

Archaeological resource management

in the UK: an introduction

Ed: John Hunter and Ian Ralston

2006 (2nd ed) Sutton, 402 pp hardback £25

This impressive volume is an updated replacementof the 1993 book of the same name (and sameeditors) in a time of rapidly evolving practice. It

includes 22 chapters by leading practitioners,covering aspects from working practices in fieldarchaeology (Tim Darvill) to archaeology and landuse (Lesley Macinnes), and from EH fundingpolicies (Roger Thomas) to whether visitors aremade welcome (Mike Parker Pearson and FrancisPryor). Constructive criticisms from within theprofession enliven descriptions throughout. David Fraser and Martin Newman’s review of theBritish archaeological database for example

summarises its various components as ‘messy, ill-defined and constantly being refined’ which surelyshould be sorted more than thirty years after SMRswere laboriously created, and Hunter and Ralston’sown attempt to describe the structure of Britisharchaeology complains of its ‘underdevelopedstructure in any formal sense’ and queries whetherour still-disparate structure is now entirelyappropriate. David Baker and Ken Smith,describing local authority opportunities, lament thatuncertainties have not diminished though they areoptimistic for the future (written in 2004 – theymight not be so sanguine today). They rightly stressthe fundamental contribution local authorities can(rather than ‘do’) make and the values of positiveconservation. Ian Shepherd gives a cheering accountof strengthening local authority involvement inarchaeology in Scotland (from a very low base), andat last developer-funding is entrenched there.

Summaries of heritage legislation are useful aidememoires and again should help refine needs forchange. David Breeze provides an analyticalaccount of shifting ancient monuments legislation(with causes and effects) throughout the UK, andAntony Firth does a similar job for underwaterarchaeology, including its international context.Henry Cleere discusses protection of thearchaeological heritage world wide. The 1992 Malta(Valleta) Convention), ratified by Britain in 2000 butnot so anyone would notice, is still not universal inEurope, and the Hague Convention was ‘somethingof a dead letter’ in Iraq and Yugoslavia and isdesperately in need of agreement andimplementation. He introduces us too to theLausanne Charter, whose nine articles cover a rangeof activities and measures of concern to heritagemanagers.

Andrew Lawson tracks the growth of thearchaeological profession from the early 1970s,including the lead role played by IFA since 1982 inissues of standards and ethics. He faces squarely theshortcomings of present systems – needs for not justbetter pay but also structure, training and careerdevelopment. In similar vein Jane Grenvilleconcludes that ‘Archaeology (in its broadest sense)in the early 21st century is arguably more attunedto its audiences, more businesslike in its operationsand receives more money… than it was ten yearsago’. However ‘it continues to dissipate itsintellectual talents through inadequate career

restaurants or sewage plants. There is clearly scopefor a second volume to address these. Thebibliography contains an excellent selection ofpublished reference works, although for thosewishing to examine a particular building type inmore detail it is disappointing that no journalarticles or grey-literature sources are included.

The book is a useful starting point, providing abroad coverage of architecture found withinEngland. The easy to use layout and informativedescriptions makes this a welcome addition to anybook shelf.

Oliver Jessop

The English Buildings Book

Philip Wilkinson and Peter Ashley

English Heritage 2006, 390 pp £35.00

English Heritage has again delivered a well-produced volume in a user-friendly format, layoutand approach. It describes a selection of 700 Englishbuildings from the 7th-century church at Escomb inCounty Durham to the 2004 Swiss Re Building (theGherkin) in London. It claims to be a‘comprehensive volume on all types of Englisharchitecture’ covering the diversity of constructionin England. Its aims are to encourage people to lookaround them and increase awareness not only ofbuildings which are architectural masterpieces, butalso those that are more utilitarian in style such asthe telephone box or bike shed.

The introduction summarises the architecturalheritage of England and subdivides it into specificbuilding types. It examines each type within itshistorical context, briefly addressing the reasons forits evolution and development. Seventeen chaptersexamine specific building groups, such astransportation, residential, commercial, educational,religious, military, or agricultural. Each chapterdiscusses the diversity of layout, form andprovinciality of architectural style and use of localmaterials. Photography is in colour, largely exteriorviews. Unfortunately some images are slightlydisappointing, with shadows, encroaching vegetation,vehicles and even overhanging trees detracting fromthe view of the building being examined.

It is worth noting that major engineering structuresare not included, nor grottos, hunting lodges,motorway service stations, tanneries, tramsheds,

T h e A r c h a e o l o g i s t

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56

New members

ELECTED Member (MIFA)

Patrice de Rijk

Melanie Pomeroy-

Kellinger

Deborah Priddy

Associate (AIFA)

Lisa Gray

Jonathan Milward

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Ottomano

Donald Reid

Stephen Thompson

Alice Thorne

Tam Webster

Practitioner (PIFA)

Lawrence Driver

Laura Gadsby

Tamsin-Kate Howard

Claire Martin

Oliver Russell

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Student

Kate Barrett

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Edouard Masson-

Maclean

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Pulvermacher

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Suntioinen

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Wakeham

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Affiliate

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Member (MIFA)

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