Excavations on the site of the Great Western Steamship Company’s Engine Works, Bristol

Abstract

Archaeological investigations on the site of the former Great Western Steamship Company’s Engine Works (1839–52) at the Great Western Dockyard, Bristol have revealed elements of the world’s first purpose-built integrated iron steamship works, created specifically to build Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s iron-hulled SS Great Britain. Its innovative engine and transmission gear were made in the Engine Works, a building of monumental design which demonstrated early use of both Portland Cement and gas lighting. Ultimately, the steamship works proved a failure and later uses of the Engine Works building included a tannery and a warehouse, before it was largely destroyed during air raids in the Second World War.