Tag Archives: industry

Defining “Industrial Archaeology”

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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).

Train 'carrying farm' at Chelmsford D-DU 3094-2

D/DU 3094/2

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.

Index card related to the Chelmer Navigation.

T/Z 193/11

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).

Index card related to Hartford End Brewery

T/Z 193/3

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.

Photograph Hartford End Brewery

T/Z 193/9 – Photograph Hartford End Brewery

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 50th 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

 

Register on Eventbrite

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

Great British Railway Journeys: Ipswich to Chelmsford

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As episode 17 of series 5 of Great British Railway Journeys airs on BBC2 and Michael Portillo takes in some of the sights of our great county, we thought we would share some items from our collection to accompany his experience of oyster dredging on Mersea Island, and his visits to a model farm at Tiptree and to the world’s first purpose-built radio factory, Marconi’s in Chelmsford.

 

Oyster dredging on Mersea Island

Mersea Island lies 9 miles south-east of Colchester, in the estuary of the Blackwater and Colne rivers. It is joined to the mainland by a causeway, and there is evidence of human habitation stretching back to pre-Roman times. Oysters have been gathered and consumed on Mersea for centuries, with oyster shells being found next to the remains of Celtic salt workings. The gathering of uncultured oysters gradually gave way to cultivation, and Mersea oysters were exported by the barrel load to Billingsgate Fish Market in London, and further afield to the continent.

Competition amongst oyster gatherers in Essex has sometimes led to outbreaks of violence; during the reign of Edward III for example, a disagreement between men from Brightlingsea, Alresford, Wivenhoe, Fingringhoe, Mease, Salcott and Tollesbury over fishing rights resulted in the drowning of three men.

Mersea’s history of oyster fishing is evident in records held in our collection. Our will collection shows how prevalent the oyster trade was amongst Mersea inhabitants, such as this one of Frances Brand, an oyster dredger of West Mersea, dated 1763 (D/ABW 101/1/38). The will includes arrangements for Brand’s two oyster smacks: ‘I give and bequeath all those my two smacks or dredging vessles with the boats dredges and other the appurtances to them and every of them belonging unto my son William Brand upon condition that he my said son … shall therewith carry on the dredging business for the support and maintenance of himself, my wife and my other three children untill he my said son William shall attain … one and twenty years hereby earnestly requiring him so to do.’

Will of Francis Brand, oyster dredger of West Mersea, 1763 (D/ABW 101/1/38)

Will of Francis Brand, oyster dredger of West Mersea, 1763 (D/ABW 101/1/38)

West Mersea postcard 18

Postcard showing marshland and boats on West Mersea

Mersea Museum’s website has several great historic photographs of the Mersea oyster trade, such as this one, of members of the Tollesbury and Mersea Oyster Company men outside the Packing Shed circa 1908.

 

Model farm at Tiptree

Before broadcast, we are making an educated guess that the ‘model farming establishment in Tiptree’ is the farm set up by John Joseph Mechi (1802-1880) in the 1840s. Mechi, having made a fortune as a razor-strop manufacturer, decided to turn his attention to farming and apply his talents to the improvement of agriculture.

In 1841 he bought 130 acres of poor, wet heathland in Tiptree, in one of the least productive districts in Essex, and proceeded to improve it by such means as deep drainage, removing hedges and trees, redesigning buildings and the use of steam-powered machinery. He persevered until his model farm turned a handsome profit. Mechi was exceptional amongst agricultural improvers for publishing details of his experiments in books, pamphlets and newspaper articles. He even published annual statements of his farm’s income and expenditure, explaining his failures as well as justifying his successes. His well-known publication How to Farm Profitably (1857) had, in various forms, a circulation of thousands of copies. Sadly, his career ended in disappointment, as the failure of his banking interests deprived him of the funds needed for his style of farming, and this, together with the effects of several bad seasons at Tiptree Hall Farm, led to the liquidation of his affairs shortly before his death.

John Joseph Mechi (I/Pb 13/3/1)

John Joseph Mechi (I/Pb 13/3/1)

 

Tiptree Hall Farm one year after Mechi designed it. The main buildings are on the north and east sides, giving shelter from the coldest winds. The barn contained a horse-powered threshing machine. When not driving the threshing machine, the horse gear could be used to drive a chaff-cutter or corn mill. Within a year Mechi had decided to exchange horse power for steam power.

Tiptree Hall Farm one year after Mechi designed it. The main buildings are on the north and east sides, giving shelter from the coldest winds. The barn contained a horse-powered threshing machine. When not driving the threshing machine, the horse gear could be used to drive a chaff-cutter or corn mill. Within a year Mechi had decided to exchange horse power for steam power.

 

Marconi’s – the world’s first purpose-built radio factory

Guglielmo Marconi established the world’s first wireless factory in a former silk mill in Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898, when he was aged just 23. Chelmsford was chosen because Marconi needed electrical power, and in the 1890s Chelmsford was the place to be for electricity, thanks to the pioneering work of R.E.B. Crompton and Frank Christy.

In June 1912, a replacement 70,000 square foot purpose-built factory was opened in New Street. The factory was completed in an astonishing 17 weeks by a workforce of over 500 people. The factory provided employment for thousands of men and women; although the machine shop remained the preserve of men, women were employed for the more delicate aspects of the production of wireless transmitters.

Women at work in Marconi's New Street factory in Chelmsford

Women at work in Marconi’s New Street factory in Chelmsford

Marconi wireless equipment was used by ships and coastal stations to communicate with one another in Morse code. During the First World War, operators at New Street intercepted German radio transmissions for the British government, and Marconi engineers also developed the technology for ground-to-air communication with aeroplanes. During the Second World War, Marconi’s played a crucial role in the development of radar.

After the First World War, engineers at New Street began to experiment with wireless voice transmissions. The first publicised entertainment broadcast in Britain took place at the factory in June 1920, when Dame Nellie Melba performed. Her singing could have been picked up anywhere across Europe by someone with receiving equipment. By 1931 there was one wireless licence for every three homes in the country.

Shortly after the New Street factory opened, local photographer Fred Spalding took a series of photographs of the new facility. Click here to view more of the photographs from a previous blog post.

 

Check back here tomorrow for more to accompany Michael’s visit to Tilbury.