The Rolt Memorial Lecture, 1993 Industrial Archaeology: Continuity and Change

Abstract

Abstract Interpretations of the process of industrialisation based on documentary sources tend to over-emphasise the dramatic nature of the changes which took place. Some revisionist economic historians have highlighted the plight of various groups of domestic workers who survived into the nineteenth century, but have not really assessed the scale of the problem. The author argues that close examination of the surviving physical evidence enables the existence and type of domestic workplaces to be identified from other sources, particularly maps, and the spatial distribution of nineteenth-century domestic industry to be assessed. This is illustrated by study of various industries, including boot and shoe, hosiery, nail and chain-making and handloom weaving. She argues that the application of social theory as utilised in mainstream archaeology can assist the industrial archaeologist to identify changes in patterns of industrial organisation and relationships between employer and employed, thus redressing th...