Archive Assistant Robert Lee explores the origins of Industrial Archaeology in Essex and the impact of John Booker’s 1974 book Essex and the Industrial Revolution, ahead of our April Mini-Conference “Discovering the Industrial Revolution in Essex”.

In the scheme of things, Industrial Archaeology seems a relatively young discipline. The term first appeared in print in 1955, in an article by Michael Rix in ‘The Amateur Historian’ that explains the previously unexplored influence of the Industrial Revolution on British heritage. Whilst not a widely accepted discipline at the time, Rix does mention a small number of contemporaneous organizations that were pursuing something that resembled it (The Newcomen Society of London, for one, had been promoting the legacy of the Industrial Revolution since its foundation in 1920, particularly the early steam engine).

Interestingly, Rix fails to mention a 1925 article by Miller Christy in the Essex Review, regarding the need for study and ongoing preservation of early railway stations in the county. Christy’s article seminally begins, “The study of railway stations from the archaeological point of view has not yet become popular… some might even ask whether such a study exists or could exist” (Christy, 1925:146).

Whether this study “exists or could exist”, was an ongoing contention within the school of Industrial Archaeology. The crux of this unease, intimated by Christy, is that “archaeology” is thought to apply to history which precedes the industrial revolution. Archaeology is the study of ancient things, he writes, a classification that apparently excludes industrial relics. But this criticism is based on an arbitrary median between the antique and the modern, separating “the archaeologically approved from the archaeologically disreputable” (Hudson 1976:16). A reluctance to classify industrial monuments as worthy of study, Rix argues, is what has (and still does) lead to the nescient destruction or neglect of significant examples in the country. Importantly, the semantic focus of archaeology (an active noun) signifies the empirical and practical methodology of the school. Industrial Archaeology is not mere industrial history: history suggests a bookish, diligent approach to study, where archaeology suitably describes the investigations of “a researcher collecting evidence in situ” (ibid). An Industrial Archaeologist is as much a fieldworker as an excavator of Roman ruins[1].

Indeed, by the time John Booker’s work was published, Industrial Archaeology was more recognised as a genuine field. Kenneth Hudson had published Industrial Archaeology: An Introduction in 1963 and is said to have introduced the discipline to the United States through his 1967 lecture at The Smithsonian. The North American Society for Industrial Archeology [sic] was subsequently founded in 1971, and the British Association for Industrial Archaeology followed two years later. What is so influential about Booker’s work, however, is the candid representation of industrial history within Essex; a county pigeonholed into its agrarian identity. De-mythologizing the pastoral veneer behind the county’s heritage, Booker systematically wades through individual strands of industrialism, their slow integration and socioeconomic influences. As such his chapters are titled:

• The Foundries,
• Technology and Agriculture,
• Technology and the Traditional Industries
• Technology and Communications, I: Roads and Bridges,
• Technology and Communications, II: Water and Rail,
• Technology and the Public Services
• The Perspective of Change

Clearly the work is not the product of a single hand. Much of the work’s subject matter was taken from findings of the Essex Survey of Industrial Archaeology, completed in 1971.

The purpose of this survey was to itemize all known surviving industrial monuments, investigate possible monuments attested to by historical sources, and to study contemporary industrial sites. The fruits of this survey, many conclusions of which were not implemented in the final work, survive and are kept by Essex Record Office (in addition to the various historical sources footnoted in Booker’s work, which are available for inspection under their original reference numbers).

The Survey’s materials (catalogued as T/Z 193) comprise index cards naming sources, photograph albums, negatives & slides, site ‘survey cards’, and Booker’s own notebooks. It is somewhat uplifting to see the modicum of contributions made towards this survey: record cards written up by history groups, and long reminiscences told by aged locals.

Such was Booker’s pre-eminence in establishing Essex’s industrial heritage that a subsequent survey, the Comparative Survey of Industrial Sites and Monuments, was begun by Essex County Council in 1996. And in 2013, Essex Industrial Archaeology Group (EIAG) was created as a sub-group of Essex Society for Archaeology and History (ESAH)[2]. During this period we have seen the publication of several more works on Essex’s Industrial Past: A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Essex (Crosby: 2012), Discovering Essex wind and water mills (EIAG: 2022), and Chelmsford Industrial Trail (Rev. ed., EIAG: 2018), to name a few.

2024 saw the 50^th anniversary of Essex and The Industrial Revolution. Accordingly, ERO is hosting an event in April 2025 to celebrate this milestone, full details and booking available here: Discovering the Industrial Revolution in Essex

 

Booker, J. (1974) Essex and The Industrial Revolution. Chelmsford: Essex County Council.

Christy, M. (1925) ‘Some Early Essex Railway Stations’, Essex Review, 34, pp. 146–155.

Hudson, K. (1976) Industrial Archaeology: a new introduction. 3rd edn. London: J. Baker.

Rix, M. (1955) ‘Industrial Archaeology’, The Amateur Historian, 2(8), pp. 225–230.

[1] It is important to reinforce that Industrial Archaeology does not have to be exclusive to post-revolution history. More traditional industries such as brick making, malting, brewing, may also be suitable branches of study, i.e. pre-1750.

[2] EIAG’s newsletters are available digitally via ESAH’s website, and are also preserved physically by Essex Record Office