Coalport Bridge: A Study in Historical Interpretation

Abstract

Industrial archaeologists frequently demand the preservation of monuments. Such preservation can be justified on the grounds that a monument has an educational function, or sometimes that it has potential for excavation. It is the purpose of this article to suggest that a surviving monument continually poses questions about its own past, and about wider historical issues, and to show how the understanding of one particular monument, the Coalport Bridge, has increased over the last twelve years, not just because new documentary sources have come to light, but because it has been possible to use the evidence of the structure itself to test the authenticity of other sources.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Pieces of aluminium, supposedly parts of a set of belt ornaments, were found in a Jin dynasty (AD 265–420) tomb during excavations in the 1950s. The authenticity of these finds was questioned at the time in view of the technology required to isolate aluminium from its ore. In this review the archaeological and analytical evidence is reconsidered, but the matter remains unsettled, as it is known, from experimental evidence, that aluminium alloys can be prepared by the carbon reduction of alumina. Examination of the thermodynamic data for this process in terms of Ellingham diagrams demonstrates unequivocally that the temperature required for this process is greatly in excess of that possible with Jin dynasty technology, and so the finds cannot be authentic. However, it is quite possible that metallic objects containing small quantities of aluminium could have been produced in China at that time. The review ends with some speculation on how the pieces of aluminium came to be in the tomb.     

THE ROLT MEMORIAL LECTURE 2013: THE PUBLIC BENEFIT OF INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE — TAKING A POSITIVE VIEW

Abstract

This paper contains a summary of the 2013 Rolt Memorial Lecture, delivered to the annual conference of the Association for Industrial Archaeology in Dundee on 11 August 2013. The lecture commenced by observing the extent to which Industrial Heritage has progressed in recent decades, noting that it is now embedded in many national institutions in the UK, and has been ‘mainstreamed’ into heritage more generally. However, it now faces several serious challenges, not least the diminishing number and increasing age of activists, together with cuts to the State sector. It is argued, nevertheless, that industrial heritage has more to offer now than ever before and that more effective political engagement is required to ensure that this is understood by those with power and influence over the historic environment. To illustrate this point, current work on the Industrial Heritage Strategy for Scotland is discussed, together with the potential impact of the UK’s latest industrial World Heritage nomination, the Forth Bridge.     

Forty years of Industrial Archaeology Review: A Personal View

ABSTRACT

This article presents a personal view of the origins and development of Industrial Archaeology Review in the 40th volume of its publication. This is preceded by an account of the earlier journals to publish articles on industrial archaeology, as well as a brief account of such articles in the sister journal, Post-Medieval Archaeology. A short history of Industrial Archaeology Review is included for future reference purposes. The range of authors contributing to the journal is considered, from the volunteers in local industrial archaeology societies to the professional archaeologists of the later period. Attention is given to the importance of the publication of the annual Rolt Memorial Lectures, as well as the occasional themed issues where articles on specific topics have been grouped together. Finally, the article suggests how best use can be made, in this article and in the journal generally, of the advantages of digitisation.     

The judicialization of politics,Italian style

Abstract

The recent dramatic changes in the Italian political scene have been related to the expanding role of the judiciary. The judicialization of politics is a process at work in many other democracies, but in Italy the judicial revolution has been supported by an institutional setting of increasing independence and by the strong powers entrusted to public prosecutors. However, until 1992 judicial power was somewhat balanced by the strength of the political class. But the political crisis that came to a head in 1992 has opened a political vacuum that the judiciary has been able to fill.

The 1996 elections have brought to power a new and stronger political alliance, the Ulivo. A new political stability could lead to a containment of judicial power but it is unlikely that the Italian judiciary will be brought back to its traditional passive role. Judicialization has to be considered a permanent trait of the Italian political system.     

A gun-casting furnace at Scarlets,Cowden, Kent

Abstract

A timber-lined casting pit was installed between 1590 and 1664 at the blast furnace at Scarlets, Cowden, Kent. The methods of construction are similar to those used at Maynards Gate and Pippingford, Sussex. The adjacent floor is a feature paralleled at Pippingford and at Rockley, Yorkshire. The furnace has been thoroughly robbed of its stone, but its position and orientation can be satisfactorily established; evidence was found for refurbishing at the end of the 17th century, yet it seems likely that abandonment came before 1717.     

Editorial — Industrial Heritage at Risk

Abstract

This article is based on a lecture given in Oxford in 2009 and was first intended as a contribution to the 300th anniversary of the invention of the Newcomen engine in 2012, but has been revised following the attention given to Britain’s industrial transformation in the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games. The discovery and diffusion of new technologies pervades human history, yet ‘industrialisation’ is thought to be an 18th-century phenomenon. This paper will argue that it was the invention of technologies which speeded up the actual process of work itself which led to massive social change, rather than those which resulted in higher levels of production whilst not changing the actual methods of working. It will consider the contribution that industrial archaeologists have made to a greater understanding of the nature of the so-called ‘Industrial Revolution’ as well as considering how this phenomenon was viewed both at home and abroad.     

Too small to be of interest,too large to grasp? Histories of the Luxembourg financial centre

ABSTRACT

The importance of smaller financial centres in international capitalism has recently been highlighted by a number of ‘leaks’. Yet such public attention stands in contrast to the paucity of historiographical research on these relatively new centres. To this regard, Luxembourg provides an interesting case study. While identified as a ‘global specialist’ by the Global Financial Centres Index, the genealogy of how it came to achieve this status remains largely under-researched. This article reviews the historiography of the Luxembourg financial centre from both external perspectives – how the international social sciences and humanities have positioned the Luxembourg financial sector within the broader finance and banking context – and internal viewpoints – how scholars in Luxembourg have recounted the relevant events. The Luxembourg financial centre began to appear in international historiography only in the last fifteen years. With only rare departures from general overviews and a tendency not to consult local sources, the contributions of international historians have mostly attempted to identify time frames and contextualise the particularities of its historical development. That said, a recent geographical diversification of the literature has seen the appearance of publications that demonstrate a more detailed understanding of its internal structures and links with other nerve centres of the global financial system. While a Luxembourg historiography began to develop in the late 1970s, it has often been produced to coincide with commemorative events, funded by players in the financial centre and frequently written by these same actors. While not necessarily hagiographic in approach, a lack of distance from the subject and a failure to problematise the subject has nevertheless meant that these writings are little more than factual introductions that, while useful, are limited in their historiographical depth. Furthermore, a dearth of archival research has produced a repetitive narrative based around a selection of key events and figures.     

Forensic engineering: a reappraisal of the Tay Bridge disaster

Abstract

The Tay Bridge disaster of 1879 shocked the world and led to important changes in bridge design, construction, and inspection. The Court of Inquiry produced its final report in six months, and condemned the structure for its design and materials defects. However, the court did not specify exactly how the final collapse of the 'high girders' section occurred on the night of the accident. By reexamining the wealth of evidence surviving from the time, in particular the photographic archive and the court proceedings, we have looked again at the causes of the disaster. Our reappraisal confirms the conclusions of the original inquiry, but it also extends them by suggesting that lateral oscillations were induced in the high girders section of the bridge by trains passing over a slight misalignment in the track. The amplitude of these oscillations grew with time, because joints holding the bridge together were defective, and this in turn resulted in fatigue cracks being induced in the cast iron lugs, which reached criticality on the night of the disaster. Numerous east–west lugs fractured when a local train passed over the bridge in a westerly gale on the evening of 28 December 1879. The express train which followed was much heavier, and the towers in the high girders collapsed progressively as the train was part way over the section. Although wind loads contributed to the disaster, the bridge was already severely defective owing to failure of its most important stabilising elements.     

The origin of the Racist Laws under fascism. Aproblem of historiography

Abstract

Why did the fascist regime adopt racial laws in the 1930s? The laws were aimed first atnon-Europeans and people of mixed race in the colonies, and then at the Jews. This article reviews recent studies on the racial laws, which took a variety of forms, within which the specificity of the anti-Semitic legislation has to be acknowledged even though the legislation against the Jews came at much the same time as the other racial legislation. Were these laws an attempt to imitate Nazi Germany, and hence in some form an off-shoot of foreign policy? Or were there seeds of racism already present in Italian politics and society that found fulfillment in the racial laws? These issues have for some time been the subject of major debate, in which different historiographical traditions have come into conflict, while attention has been drawn to the need to counter attempts to blame others for what remains the responsibility ofItalians.     

Aesthetics versus function: the fall of the Dee bridge, 1847

Abstract

Numerous new bridges were needed when the railway line from London to Holyhead in Wales was built in the 1840s. The project's chief engineer, Robert Stephenson, chose a cast iron girder design to cross the river Dee just outside Chester, and the bridge was finished in November 1846. About six months later, on 24 May 1847, a local train was crossing the final span when one of the girders failed suddenly, sending most of the train crashing into the river below. Five lives were lost. The accident created a national furore, and Stephenson came close to being accused of manslaughter for the design. We have reviewed the witness evidence and concluded that the bridge probably failed by fatigue due to a defect at a sharp corner in a flange on a girder. The corner was present in a cavetto moulding, which had presumably been added as an artistic flourish.     

The Rushenden Estate,Queenborough, Kent: An Early British Industrial Estate

Abstract

Queenborough, a town with origins as a medieval planted settlement on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, is set for major redevelopment over the coming years as part of the regeneration of the Thames Gateway region. English Heritage has produced an Historic Area Appraisal,¹ and, in the course of its research, documents relating to a hitherto obscure Edwardian industrial estate came to light. Laid out from 1904, the Rushenden Estate is significant because it was one of the first factory estates in the wake of Trafford Park, Manchester (1896), widely acknowledged as Britain's² — or even the world's³ — world's first industrial estate. Despite some economic history analyses and studies of individual sites, the subject of early industrial estates is surprisingly incomplete. Using material evidence derived from documentary research and fieldwork, this paper describes the evolution and growth of the Rushenden Estate, placing it in regional and typological contexts and within the milieu of the 'Second Industrial Revolution'.     

The Baimoral Bridge of I. K. Brunel

Abstract

A considerable number of I. K. Bruner's railway bridges are still operational, varying in size from the great Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar to a host of small masonry bridges for accommodation roads over or under his broad-gauge main lines and subsidiary routes like the Taff Vale Railway. There were, however, few bridges built by him apart from his railway works, and it could have been safely assumed that all such bridges which survive would have been clearly recognized as having been built by him. Yet this has not been so with one particular road bridge, for which Bruners responsibility has been either doubted or ignored, even though it survives in excellent working order. The bridge in question is that over the River Dee at Balmoral.     

Founding of a Monumentenwacht for Archaeological Heritage in Flanders (Belgium)

Abstract

In August 2009, Monumentenwacht Vlaanderen set out to develop a new service and monitoring system for archaeological heritage in Flanders. Such an initiative takes time, for it needs to be done thoroughly, and there are many questions that need to be addressed. The answers can be found partly in examples in other countries, but must also be evolved in practice within the Flemish context, where a policy on in situ preservation of archaeological heritage is still in its infancy. This paper explains how this new service has been set up.     

True blue: the connection between colour and loyalty in the later Middle Ages

ABSTRACT

This article examines the relationship between the colour blue and the virtue of loyalty during the later Middle Ages. While it may not have been a colour with powerful symbolic resonances earlier in the medieval epoch, blue came to be regarded as increasingly prestigious as the period progressed. References to its association with loyalty and its concomitant virtues appear on the Continent and found their way to England. After briefly outlining the significance of blue in the medieval period, the paper examines this connection between colour and virtue in literature, heraldic treatises and works of art, arguing that it became generally accepted, although not all agreed on the association.     

Editorial

Abstract

This paper reviews, for the first time, the archaeology of the entire length of the Bridgewater Canal, one of the iconic monuments of the British Industrial Revolution. It seeks to review two decades of piecemeal fieldwork along the length of the canal, from Runcorn to Worsley, before looking at the evidence for the construction of the canal, including the aqueducts, embankments, and warehouses. The study then goes on to look at the technological impact of the canal. It concludes by assessing the Bridgewater in its international context and setting out a research agenda for its future study as a linear transport monument of the Industrial Age.     

Knowledge making and corporate environmentalism from the perspective of the egg tray

ABSTRACT

In the 1990s, there was a change in capitalist thinking on environmental issues in many global settings, which materialised in what has been termed corporate environmentalism. Beginning with a history of the moulded fibre egg tray and one of its primary manufacturers, this is a case study of how corporate environmentalism came about and was enacted as a confluence of corporate priorities, environmental concerns, production processes, materials, and the development of new measuring tools. Unlike the many environmental history studies that emphasise the role of NGOs and policy developments, this study begins in the business world. More specifically, it is based in the making of environmental knowledge in the form of life cycle assessments and environmental accounts and in the environmental reframing of materials like moulded pulp and plastic. In this way it is the story of how it became reasonable for a manufacturer of egg trays to choose the slogan, ‘Choose Fibre. Save Nature’.     

Bumped from the shuttle fleet: Why didn't Enterprise fly in space?

Although it has hardly been noted in historical or popular literature, NASA's surprising decision not to prepare the first space shuttle Enterprise for spaceflight deserves attention as a significant event in early shuttle history. The decision came at a stressful juncture when the space shuttle program was transitioning from research and development to production and operations; it was an early signal of a looming crisis in the program and also an indication of early shuttle-era space policy. This essay examines the changing status of Enterprise in the little-noticed period 1976 through 1978. Three main factors influenced the fate of Enterprise : (1) the evolution of shuttle engineering and design, (2) funding and schedule pressures on the shuttle program, and (3) shuttle fleet size policy. Decisions in these areas came together in late 1977, with the result that, soon after its debut, Enterprise lost its place in the shuttle fleet and never flew in space.