THE ROLT MEMORIAL LECTURE 2012: INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE AT RISK

Abstract

This article describes the 2011 English Heritage ‘Industrial Heritage at Risk’ project. Having examined the findings of a public attitudes survey on the industrial heritage, it looks at the key risks and conservation solutions facing industrial sites, and the role the lead organisations play in their rescue. The entries on the Heritage at Risk Register are examined and the top ten industrial heritage at risk sites in England identified. A range of outputs are described together with the media coverage that accompanied the launch of the project.

Progress since 2011 is considered including the separation in April 2015 of English Heritage into two organisations — Historic England and the English Heritage Trust. The important role that volunteers and local groups play in the conservation and management of England's industrial heritage is acknowledged throughout, and a possible new role for the Association for Industrial Archaeology suggested as part of Heritage 2020.     

Applied archaeology: revitalizing indigenous agricultural technology within an Andean community

Abstract

In many parts of the world European colonization, and more recent social and economic change, has radically altered and, in some cases, decimated both the social structure and the subsistence base of indigenolls communities. Archaeologists have often demonstrated the sophistication and practicality of prehistoric technologies, but only rarely have they developed long-term projects to evaluate the continuing relevance of these technologies to present-day communities. In this article the first experience of applied archaeology by The Cusichaca Trust is described, showing how a rural development project was developed within specific environmental and social contexts. The Trust's main research focus was the study of the agricultural infrastructure of the Incas and their predecessors in the Cusichaca and Huallancay side-valleys of the Urubamba Valley, Cuzco, Peru. This was paralleled by a rural development project to restore to full productivity some of the abandoned terraces and canals to the benefit of the local community. Attention is drawn to the relationship between conserving and using ancient agricultural infrastructures and the degree to which community organization is central to the maintenance and use of such technologies.     

Industrial Archaeology: Its Place Within the Academic Discipline,the Public Realm and the Heritage Industry

Abstract

This paper presents a review of industrial archaeology literature and offers some initial thoughts on how this literature relates to my research on public perception and experience of Cornish mining landscapes. A brief summary of the development of industrial archaeology is given, which reflects on its amateur origins, its 'identity crisis' and its slow integration into university archaeology departments. The reasons for the transformation of industrial sites into industrial heritage is then examined and temporal models of change presented which relate to both an acceleration of the past into the commodity heritage as well as an affective progression from disdain to acceptance. The public's attitude to industrial archaeology is then discussed — which raises complex questions over the nature of such sites including, the importance of time and aesthetics as well as the phenomenological nature of perception and experience.     

Ironbridge—The First Ten Years

Abstract

This year the Iron Bridge in Telford, Shropshire, celebrates its bicentenary. One of the best known symbols of industrialisation in eighteenth century England, it is also the focal point of the Severn Gorge which stretches for three miles from Coalbrookdale to Coalport. Here the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust has been engaged for the last ten years in preserving and interpreting the remains of this 'cradle of the Industrial Revolution'. This paper reviews the Trust's development over this period, the nature of its finance and management and some of its aims and aspirations for the future.     

Early Medieval Settlement and Social Power: The Middle Anglo-Saxon ‘Home Farm’

THE LAST TWO DECADES have witnessed a marked rise in middle Anglo-Saxon settlement research, as archaeologists have become increasingly aware of the way in which this transformative period in English history can be recognised through habitation sites. Though a period during which individuals and institutions seemingly wielded unprecedented new power, archaeologists have struggled to identify many of the processes or ‘motors’ by which such authority was articulated in the landscape. This paper concerns itself with understanding one such driver, demonstrating how early medieval kings shifted power from tribute-orientated regimes to ones rooted in agricultural exploitation. The Church was fundamental to this shift in authority, and was used as a means of consolidating new power relations. In order to sustain more permanent clerical communities, the Church developed core agricultural areas surrounding their centres, known as inland, upon which were established early types of ‘home farm’. In addition to their functional purpose middle Anglo-Saxon ‘home farms’ were subject to exceptionally high degrees of spatial ordering. Such definition of settlement space, which now included property plots and houses defined by boundaries of unprecedented permanence, allowed elites to shape and consolidate perceptions of social order in the landscape. Power was now being materialised, not only through agricultural production but also through the lived experience of rural communities, as a social hierarchy which considered the place of kings as divinely appointed became firmly established.     

Mining and Tourism in Southern Australia

Abstract

This article describes a selection of tourist mines and working mines with tourist interest, mining in museums, mine railways and ghost mine towns in southern Australia including Tasmania. Most of the sites were visited during a Churchill Fellowship Study Tour in September 1987. The writer maintains a folder on the sites and should further information be required on, for example, opening times and general accessibility, he would be pleased to assist. A detailed report of the study has been prepared for the Churchill Trust but as yet this has not been published.     

In God We Trust: Abraham Lincoln and America's Deathbed Repentance

Abstract

This article maps several key moments in the evolution of religious symbolism and language on US currency, focusing largely on Abraham Lincoln's overlooked role in signing the motto "In God We Trust" into law. Interpreting the motto through the lens of Lincoln's "Second Inaugural Address"—which he delivered just one day after Congress passed the first statute allowing "In God We Trust" to be stamped on US coins—offers a counter-intuitive interpretation of the motto that functions as a deep, ironic, and historically significant critique of religious nationalism.     

Insect invaders,seasonality and transhumant pastoralism in the Icelandic shieling economy

Abstract

The seasonal movement of people and animals to summer farms, or shielings in outfield pastures was a key element of Iceland's farming practice for over a millennium. At these sites, cattle and sheep husbandry, dairying and the harvesting of outfield resources took place. Despite their central role in the Icelandic economy, evidence for shielings in the landscape is ambiguous and the identification of a site as a shieling, as opposed to a farm, has relied upon written and place name evidence. The Norse colonists introduced a range of insects in their fodder, stored food, dunnage and ballast. Many of these are unable to live under natural conditions in Iceland and are dependent on people for survival. In 1991 Buckland and Sadler suggested that these species might be expected to be absent at shielings, as the sweepstake of their introduction and the seasonal hiatus in occupation would preclude their successful colonisation. This paper presents new evidence from a sub-fossil insect assemblage, which indicates that some of these insects are present at an Icelandic shieling. The implications of this for discerning the materials imported to shielings and the usefulness of Coleoptera for the identification of seasonality in the North Atlantic is discussed.     

Complications and Effectiveness of In Situ Preservation Methods for Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites

Abstract

Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) as an outstanding division of the cultural heritage of humanity appears to be crucial and complicated when more general issues regarding preservation and conservation are raised. The essence of in situ preservation should be equally discussable for any kind of archaeological remains; on land or underwater.

There is a long history of different methods and concepts of intervention in a variety of sub-aquatic archaeological sites; from shipwrecks to submerged settlements. This paper will present an introduction to different techniques and theories of preservation and conservation of underwater cultural and archaeological sites since this kind of heritage has scientifically been explored and studied. A range of different preservation methodologies, from total or partial transference inland, to preservation underwater, will be compared; the advantages and disadvantages of each option will be highlighted. Different examples of international best practices will be illustrated. Different types of in situ conservation/protection will be explained and categorized. Furthermore, there will be a focus on the UNESCO Convention of 2001 on Conservation and Preservation of UCH, where the in situ conservation option has been recommended.

Moreover, the technical issue for preservation of UCH sites, either in situ or after displacement, will be explained. The implication of relocation for different sorts of sites and materials will be argued; for example, cases where some sites, such as shipwrecks, would more easily be displaced compared with submerged settlements, villages, or ports.

Finally, by stressing that the state of ‘being underwater’ makes many sites qualified to be regarded as UCH, the in situ preservation approach will prevail that this state is maintained.     

Nature Conservation and Post-Industrial Landscapes

Abstract

Abandoned pits, quarries and industrial sites can provide new geological exposures as well as new sites for plants and animals to colonise. The range of environmental conditions associated with these sites can lead to the establishment of a range of habitats containing uncommon species and unusual biological communities. Disused railways, tramways and canals provide 'green corridors' whose ecological functions need further research but whose nature conservation, historical and social values are evident. The value of post-industrial landscapes to local communities lies both in their present form and in their links with the past. A key part of the redevelopment or reclamation of post-industrial sites should involve the retention of notable archaeological, geological and ecological features combined with habitat creation involving natural re-vegetation, colonisation and succession rather than quick greening or simple landscaping. The landscapes produced by the industrial age need to be conserved just as much as the landscapes derived from the agricultural age.     

Redressing the balance — an archaeological evaluation of North Yorkshire's coastal alum industry

Abstract

Recent acquisitions of coastline by the National Trust in North Yorkshire and Cleveland have included important archaeological evidence of North Yorkshire's former alum industry. Owing to its remote marginal location this evidence has been little studied and there has previously been a bias towards the study of documentary sources as a means of understanding the alum industry. The archaeology of the alum industry is seriously threatened by relentless coastal erosion and there is an urgent need to record this evidence and thus redress this imbalance. The Yorkshire Region of the National Trust owns the partial remains of three important alum sites and the results of the detailed archaeological evaluation of these sites are presented. The archaeological implications of the Trust's continuing acquisition of threatened coastline are also considered.     

The Resurgent Conflict Between Offshore Wind Farms and Tourism: Underlying Storylines

Abstract

Efforts to put offshore wind farms in place have demonstrated that these are far from being conflict-free, evoking confrontations with a number of stakeholders' interests. One of the most persistent conflict lines refers to the feared adverse externalities on coastal tourism, although tourist surveys and initial empirical evidence seem to reflect the opposite. This paper explicitly addresses this gap and explores how and why certain stakeholders rationalise potential impacts on the tourism economy of coastal communities and, thus constitute the conflict between offshore wind farms and tourism. Based on two cases studies in Scotland and Germany, five storylines are identified that are invoked by local opponents to substantiate impacts on tourism. The paper will show that a particular meaningful construction of the coastal landscape is inherent in tourism and pervades all storylines. It is concluded that arguments of both opponents and decision-makers are embedded in epistemic uncertainty which necessitates a thorough consideration of oppositional arguments in the planning process for offshore wind farms.     

Methodology,consetvation criteria and performance evaluation for archaeological site shelters

Abstract

The many intersecting issues that arise when deciding whether to shelter an archaeological site should be approached using a values-based methodology, one that has demonstrated its validity arid practical worth in conservation over recent decades. Nonetheless, pitfalls abound in the decision-making process and in establishing effective conservation criteria which should be based principally on a thorough understanding of the threats to the resource and the specific deterioration mechanisms operating, with the objective of creating a shelter that will preserve the site's identified values. An aspect that has received almost no attention in the past is evaluation of a shelter's performance, both qualitative and quantitative, in preserving the site. It is urged that this receive priority when establishing the conservation criteria during the initial phases of a sheltering project. Issues are illustrated from a range of diverse sites, including a number of published shelters. The paper first looks at the examples of the Laetoli (Tanzania) and Lark Quarry (Australia) trackway sites in the context of decision-making and conservation criteria, and then discusses two examples of evaluation: one quantitative, using an experimental shelter and the other discussing publications on a petroglyph site shelter.     

The Rolt Memorial Lecture 2017: Conserving the Waterways Heritage

ABSTRACT

This article describes the work of the Canal & River Trust in managing and conserving the heritage assets and the wider historic environment of the Trust's waterways in England and Wales. Various types of heritage assets are described, and the ways in which these assets are managed, including via archaeological recording, along with conservation-led repairs to historic engineering structures and other historic waterway-related buildings, are considered. New directions that offer effective and efficient ways of dealing with heritage assets are examined.     

The development of core concepts of yield management

Abstract

Yield management offers an Operations Manager a decision support framework for examining the revenue and conservation decision variables that integrate the characteristics of the Heritage Visitor Attraction (HVA) experience. The principles of yield management are drawn from the hotel and airline industries to demonstrate how the problem of fixed capacity is managed in other service sectors. This paper compares these principles against Heritage Visitor Attractions (HVAs), suggesting how they could adopt such concepts. As HVAs serve broader objectives, other than profit maximisation, financial pressures are encouraging the operations manager to devise imaginative and new ways of managing sites. Ten core principles of yield management are suggested that are appropriate to Heritage Visitor Attractions. These core principles are used to evaluate Historic Scotland's and the National Trust for Scotland's approach to revenue management.     

Administration of parks with rack art: A symposium and workshop in Jujuy Argentina,December 2003

Abstract

Visits to archaeological sites, within school, a history or archaeology club, or a family group, are the main means for young people to engage with the archaeological historic environment. The majority of archaeological sites easily accessible for such groups are those that have been 'sanitized' for public consumption. These are often devoid of explanation of the archaeological process which made them accessible. This paper looks at the contribution that working archaeological sites can make to young people's understanding of archaeology, with particular reference to visits made by branches of the Young Archaeologists' Club, based in the UK.     

What Must We Keep? The Rolt Memorial Lecture, 1982

Abstract

This paper starts by examining the degree to which the archaeological evidence for the industrial period has disappeared. It compares a record of signifi cant industrial sites in Eastern England made in the late 1970s with what survived 30 years later. It then seeks to investigate whether the evident decline in industrial activity and the disappearance of some industries entirely really constitutes the death of the industrial past, or whether it is our perceptions and defi nitions of what constitutes 'industry' and 'industrial archaeology' which need examining.     

Strategies in northern development in Canada since the late 1960's

From the late 1960's onwards the northern part of North America has undergone the most significant social, political and economic transformation in its history.

This paper will look at some of the main reference points in the political economy of northern Canada, and will overlay this with a review of the evolution of key development strategies, policy statements, and mega‐project impact assessments that have happened during the past two decades.

Significant shifts in northern development perspectives have occured throughout this period; these will be analyzed and some important future trends and issues will be discussed.     

Colum Giles & Mike Williams (eds), Ditherington Mill and the Industrial Revolution. Swindon: Historic England, 2015. 172 pp., 118 illus. £50. isbn 978-1-84802-118-1

Abstract

As part of the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust's survey of the Gower peninsula, a study of disused lime kilns on the peninsula's limestone belt was initiated in 1984. At its commencement the project appeared to be straightforward, but it soon expanded into an extensive study as both calculation and documentary research revealed previously unexpected aspects. An intensive map search doubled the anticipated number of kiln sites and revealed the fact that the early nineteenth century kilns were located in the portion of the limestone belt where the greatest amount of Dolomite was present, thus suggesting that the early lime burners preferred Dolomite to other limestones. Then by analysing the lime burning process and using contemporary data, the process of lime kiln development during the nineteenth century became apparent, also the possible background to statements in contemporary accounts. In addition, analytical studies also revealed why the use of Dolomite for lime production could have been an attractive alternative to using other forms of limestone. With the completion of the historical research phase, the Friends of the Trust have set up a group to visit each known site and compile the formal Sites and Monuments Record. It is anticipated that, in due course, some kilns will be excavated or renovated as appropriate. In order to maintain knowledge of kiln site locations now that reference to them will no longer be present on as maps, a list of them is being published in the 1988 issue of the journal Gower together with an article placing them in their local context.