The National Trust Guide to Our Industrial Past

The National Trust Guide to Our Industrial Past

by Anthony Burton 240 pp ,George Philip, 1983

As manufacturing in Britain declines, the fashion for visiting the conserved ruins of past industry shows no sign of abating. The publication of this guide by the National Trust would seem to place the restored potbank or the working water mill on the same cultural pedestal as the stately home or the ornamental garden. The short introductory statement about the role of the Trust in industrial archaeology will be of interest to all students of twentieth-century attitudes to the past. As might be expected in a work of such pedigree, this is a well-produced volume, with some particularly fine colour plates. The gazetteer of places open or accessible to the public, which is backed up by well-drawn maps, will be a useful guide to the tourist, and even the most travelled industrial archaeologist will probably find within it some monuments which are new to him.

The remainder of the book is very conventional. Anthony Burton, like the authors of most of the standard general guides to British industrial archaeology, approaches the subject industry by industry, beginning with sources of natural power, and progressing through mines, textiles, metals, transport and public utilities to a final ragbag chapter where he mentions such museums as do not conveniently fit in elsewhere. This is not the most compelling account of the subject. On several matters Burton displays obvious uncertainties, and sometimes he seems embarrassed by his lack of things to say. In the chapter on roads he devotes seven pages to prehistoric trackways and Roman roads, which are marginal to his theme, but only three to turnpikes, which should be central to it. He describes the Ellesmere Canal in some detail, but does not explain that the canal as built did not follow the routes nor fulfil the purposes originally envisaged by its projectors, something which is essential to an understanding of its archaeology. Burton reveals his admiration for the canal port of Shardlow, but completely fails to interpret its splendid buildings. He seems uncertain about the origins of iron railways, and repeats several legends, including a curious tale about William the Conqueror's encouragement of bridge-building, for which historical evidence is sparse. Tired and sometimes patronising clichés abound. We learn that 'iron was by no means the only metal to find considerable use in British industry', and are often told 'it is as well to remember that...'.

This is a handsome and efficient guide to interesting places to visit, but it gives a totally dismal picture of the intellectual vitality of British industrial archaeology. An explanation is provided by the bibliography which is quite horrendously deficient, omitting many of the most stimulating works of the past decade. To read David Hey on Pennine trackways, Jack Simmons on railways, Mary Prior on watermen, Michael Lewis on primitive railways or Jeremy Lowe on housing is to realise that the history of industry is neither as dead nor as boring as Mr Burton implies.