Archaeology and Industrial Heritage

169

P r o j e c t s o n g o i n g : r e f l e c t i o n s o n a r c h a e o l o g y a n d i n d u s t r i a l h e r i t a g e i n

t h e I r o n b r i d g e G o r g e

P a u l B e l f o r d The Ironbridge archaeology unit emerged in the 1970s, and has undertaken a wide range of work both within the World Heritage site and elsewhere. After a brief overview of the early origins and history of the unit, this paper reviews the work undertaken when the unit was under the directorship of the author, between May 2000 and August 2010. For most of this period the unit took on external commercial projects as well as undertaking conservation and heritage management roles in the Ironbridge Gorge. Following on from the 1999 CBA Report ‘Archaeology and Conservation in Ironbridge’, this paper sets this work in the broader context of developments in UK archaeology during that period, and considers some of the lessons that have been learnt for the future. Archaeology has always played a central role in the activities of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. Indeed the Museum can fairly claim to have been one of the key institutions in the development of the discipline of ‘industrial archaeology’ – as Michael Darby and Sir Neil Cossons have shown in this volume. However, although many papers have been published on the activities of the archaeology team at Ironbridge over the years, none has looked at the history and development of the unit itself. Many individuals who have worked for the Museum and the Ironbridge Institute have made significant contributions to our understanding of the industrial past, and to the broader study of historical archaeology. The story of archaeology at Ironbridge is quite unique, and there have been many changes to the unit’s role and scope over the years. The period between the conference celebrated by this volume and its publication saw another change in direction, with a renewed emphasis on curatorial functions and the cessation of commercial activities. The time seems right, therefore, to place on record an account of some of the archaeological activities over the previous decade and to set these in the broader context of the development of archaeology at Ironbridge over the last forty years. O R I G I N S O F T H E U N I T Archaeology at Ironbridge was never formally established as such, rather it evolved in the late

1970s out of a series of conservation and restoration activities that were undertaken by the Museum. Its origins therefore stem from two deep roots in the soil of British archaeology. The first is the development of ‘industrial archaeology’, a discipline initially somewhat removed from academic approaches to the archaeology of other periods. With its origins in a technologically-centred interest in the remains of specific industries, ‘industrial archaeology’ failed to develop more socially aware and theoretically informed approaches until the late 1990s. For much of its history the notion of ‘industrial archaeology’ was also closely bound up with the conservation of individual sites and industries. This situation has changed over the last fifteen years, so that ‘industrial archaeology’ is now firmly part of the mainstream of archaeological enquiry and is much the better for it. This is tempered by continued noises off from adherents of the purely empirical approach, who rightly continue to remind all practitioners of the importance of understanding basic industrial processes.1 The second root was the development of ‘rescue archaeology’ more generally in the UK during the 1970s. In this the Ironbridge experience had something in common with the activities of other museums – perhaps most notably the work of the Museum of London’s Department of Urban Archaeology (later MoLAS, and now MoLA). The

F o o t p r i n t s o f I n d u s t r y

170

construction of Telford New Town from the early 1960s, and specifically the creation of the Telford Development Corporation, resulted in widespread landscape change and social upheaval. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust was created in 1967 by the Telford Development Corporation as a key element of the New Town project, and many of its early actions were associated with the conservation of industrial heritage.2 This included some traditional forms of archaeological investigation on sites being demolished or redeveloped, as well as other activities which would now be regarded as part of the archaeological canon – such as oral history, building recording and historical research. Indeed some very important work was undertaken in this regard by people who would later be closely associated with the archaeology team. For example archive research on seventeenth and eighteenth century primary sources was undertaken by extra-mural students from the University of Birmingham under the guidance of Nancy Cox and Barrie Trinder, resulting in the compilation and analysis of wills, probate inventories and other documentation brought together in the Philimore local history volumes Yeomen and Colliers in Telford (1980) and Miners and Mariners of the Severn Gorge (2000).3 On the ground, the initial development of both the Museum and the Ironbridge area generally, was strongly influenced by the agenda of the Telford Development Corporation. This sought the improvement and modernisation of the former East Shropshire Coalfield, often – as Roger White and Harriet Devlin have remarked elsewhere4 – at the expense of what would now be regarded as heritage assets. Thus much early industrial housing within what was later to become the World Heritage Site was cleared. The Ironbridge Gorge was in many ways very lucky, since it had been identified as a ‘high amenity area’ with particular historic interest; buildings, sites, monuments and landscapes outside the Gorge fared less well.5 In 1970 the new Museum Trust acquired the site of the furnace and museum at Coalbrookdale, and in the following year appointed its first Director – Neil (later Sir Neil) Cossons.6 That same year also saw the beginnings of what was then called the ‘open-air museum’ at Blists Hill. This was intended as a place where historic buildings and other structures affected by the creation of Telford could be relocated and re-erected. The first significant new item to be relocated was a pair of nineteenth century blowing engines from the Lilleshall Company blast furnaces.

Fig. 127. Real and reconstructed heritage at Blists Hill. Top: the blast furnaces in the 1970s before restoration (photograph:

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust); Bottom: the Shelton Toll House being rebuilt in 1972-3 after its relocation due to road-

widening (photograph: John Powell). Known as ‘David and Sampson’, they were built in 1851 and relocated to the Blists Hill site in 1971.7 In the following year a Curator of Technology – Stuart Smith – was appointed, and work began on the restoration of existing features within the Blists Hill site, including the Hay Inclined Plane and the Blists Hill Blast Furnaces. By 1973 the Shelton Toll House had been acquired (Fig. 127), and work was sufficiently advanced to open the site to the public. Other buildings continued to be acquired, including in 1978 the Squatter Cottage (followed a year later by its pig sty and privy).8 The philosophy of Blists Hill changed from a Scandinavian model to more of a North American one, and although even then the Director acknowledged that it was ‘ethically a weak link...[which]...will always be regarded critically from a conservation point of view’, its existence could be justified through ‘its immense potential as a vivid communicator of ideas and images’.9 This continues to be the case today. The restoration of the Hay Inclined Plane was completed in 1976, along with its associated canals


171

Fig. 128. The restoration of the Canal at Coalport during the 1970s (photograph: Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust).

through Blists Hill and at Coalport. This process was carried out very much in the pioneering spirit of much of the early canal restoration movement. Formal archaeological input to project design and management of these and other conservation and restoration projects was still limited, although a number of artefacts began to be recovered. The principal contribution made by archaeological research during this period was in the recording of ‘plateways and working-class housing’; the research agenda continued to be set by historians.10 There was increasing recognition of the need for a distinctively archaeological approach, and in November 1978 the Institute for Industrial Archaeology was launched.11 Initially established in collaboration with Aston University, it subsequently developed in close co-operation with the University of Birmingham, and moved into its premises in the Long Warehouse in 1979. It was the creation of the Institute (later the Ironbridge Institute) that saw the formalisation of an archaeological agenda in the Ironbridge Gorge. It was here that the Ironbridge archaeology unit came to be housed, and where it subsequently remained – despite occasional attempts to relocate it. The first few years in the Long Warehouse saw a dynamic synergy between historians, archaeologists, archivists and curators; a dynamism that was enabled by the lack of precedent, an absence of formal structures and a lack of operational targets. Instead, there was scope for creativity and invention which saw the development of new and exciting approaches. 1 9 8 1 - 1 9 9 2 : A ‘ G O L D E N A G E ’ ? In many ways the spirit of this early period continues to characterise outside perceptions of

archaeology at Ironbridge, and its essence is still evident in the corridors of the Long Warehouse. Within the Museum, this so-called ‘golden age’ is associated with the Directorship of Stuart Smith. Smith, who had been appointed Curator of Technology by Neil Cossons, took over the Directorship on 18th July 1983 when Neil departed for the Science Museum. He is fondly remembered by past and current staff for his intellect, humanity and tolerance. The quantity of work which was undertaken during the 1980s were the consequence of unprecedented and unrepeatable circumstances. Firstly there was the foundation and early development of the Ironbridge Institute, and the associated development of the library and archives. The energy, expertise and enthusiasm of its founders – including Neil Cossons and Barrie Trinder (as Honorary Historian) – were matched by the staff that were taken on at that time. These included John Powell (with strong links to the vibrant and influential Bristol Industrial Archaeology Society), David de Haan (formerly of the Science Museum), Tony Herbert (a key figure in architectural ceramics and conservation) and the late Michael Stratton. At this time the Telford Development Corporation provided funding which enabled the development of new courses and activities, and also supported the library in acquiring many of its collections and in subscriptions to periodicals. The Telford Development Corporation also supported and enabled archaeological fieldwork both within and outside the Ironbridge Gorge, as a consequence of the creation and development of the New Town. However the main driver behind most of the archaeological activities carried out at Ironbridge during the 1980s was the Manpower Services Commission (MSC). This body, created under the 1973 Employment and Training Act, was responsible for delivering the Youth Opportunities Programme (YOP) and other work in the early years of the Thatcher administration. A YOP scheme was set up in 1981 to undertake archaeological work in advance of Museum development. The first qualified archaeologist, John Malam, took up post in this year; his primary responsibility was the archaeological recording of groundworks associated with the construction of the Darby Furnace cover building. The original YOP scheme was replaced in 1982 by a Community Programme scheme with a remit which subsequently ‘evolved to include the archaeology of the Gorge as a whole’.12 The expanded team included David Higgins, Michael Trueman and Amanda Winkworth. On Malam’s departure in 1982


172

David Higgins took over as the director of the unit, with Michael Truman as ‘Senior Supervisor’. Various projects were undertaken throughout the Telford area during this period, including somewhat ad hoc ‘rescue’ excavation of sites in and around the Town Centre development, parts of Dawley and Lightmoor, as well of course as the Ironbridge Gorge. Ten more people joined the archaeology team in 1983 to carry on this work. Relatively large-scale operations took place at Jackfield as part of the first restoration of that site, and also at Coalport and in central Ironbridge itself. This work carried on into 1984; new recruits in that year included Kate Clark. A second Community Programme scheme was established in October 1985 to undertake historic building recording. This building recording team and the original archaeology team were combined in 1986 under a single Community Programme scheme. A report of that year recorded that the scheme had six full time and 14 part-time employees, and noted that ‘this scheme constitutes the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Archaeology Unit’ which was entirely funded by the MSC.13 Much of the early work of the Ironbridge maintenance team was also done by MSC staff, and this period saw the forging of close links between maintenance staff and archaeologists which were sustained into the twenty-first century. One significant development in 1985 was the agreement by the Nuffield Foundation to fund two research fellows – Kate Clark and Judith Alfrey – to undertake a comprehensive survey of the archaeological resource of the Ironbridge Gorge. This ‘Nuffield Survey’ took place over three years, and provided the baseline data from which subsequent research and intervention work was undertaken. Using the 1901 Ordnance Survey mapping as a base, the survey looked at the known history of each individual plot of land, and presented the data thematically. Four volumes were initially projected, but only three were completed: Coalbrookdale, Jackfield and Broseley, Blists Hill and Coalport; the final volume on Ironbridge remained unfinished. Most of the data gathered during the Nuffield project informed Kate Clark and Judith Alfrey’s 1993 book on this Landscape of Industry;14 and the Nuffield survey still forms the basis for much archaeological understanding of the Ironbridge Gorge. Gradually during this period the composition of the archaeology team changed, with some of the early recruits being replaced – new faces included, amongst others, Michael Worthington, Malcolm Hislop and, in 1987, Mark Horton. The same year

saw the departure of David Higgins, who went on to do great things with clay pipes. Archaeological work at this stage was still largely funded under the MSC programme, and one of the most spectacular projects undertaken by the unit took place in this period – the excavation of the industrial complex at Newdale. No less than 16 people were taken on during the period 1986-88, largely for the Newdale project. The Newdale site was a short-lived Coalbrookdale Company ironworks of the 1750s and 1760s. The excavation and building recording project was directed by Philip Barker and Mark Horton. Philip Barker ran the University of Birmingham extramural training excavation as part of the project, whilst Mark Horton and the Ironbridge team undertook building recording and landscape survey. Indeed the Newdale excavation, which covered 4,500m2, was described at the time as ‘by far the largest controlled area excavation undertaken on a site of this period’15. The project was partly funded by British Coal and English Heritage, and marked the first steps towards developing external sources of funding for archaeological projects. Other non-MSC projects which took place during this period included work at Coalbrookdale in 1987 for the Telford Development Corporation, and further afield for English Heritage: at Longnor (Shropshire) in 1987, the excavation of a Severn trow at Lydney (Gloucestershire) in 1991 and building recording at Broseley in 1992. However such external work remained a very small proportion of the overall workload. There was also time and Museum funding for synthesis and research. A volume describing the coarse earthenwares of the Ironbridge Gorge, using excavated examples, was produced by Alison Jones in 198816; unfortunately the intention to produce a series of similar volumes was never realised. In the same year the former Fletcher Memorial Methodist Chapel at Coalbrookdale was converted into an archaeological store and offices, although the main office remained in the Long Warehouse. The archaeology team undertook a building survey ahead of the conversion and renovation of the Chapel, and the report of this work rather plaintively noted that ‘funding for a new archaeology unit is now vital as the old MSC unit is slowly being closed down’.17 1 9 9 3 - 1 9 9 9 : A R C H A E O L O G Y A N D C O N S E R V A T I O N The early 1990s saw some significant changes in the structure of British archaeology, most notably following the introduction of PPG16 in 1990 which


173

meant that archaeology became a developer-funded part of the planning process. English Heritage introduced its Management of Archaeological Projects (MAP) in 1989, which was revised (MAP2) in 1991. The Museum was also changing. In 1991 Glen Lawes was appointed as Chief Executive, and in March 1992 Stuart Smith stepped down as Director. Kate Clark left in the same year, to be replaced as the director of the archaeology unit by Wendy Horton. From 1990 the Telford Development Corporation began to be wound up, and its assets passed to several bodies. Some properties remained in the portfolio of the Commission for the New Towns (the successor body to the Telford Development Corporation). The Severn Gorge Countryside Trust was established to look after woodland, and the Ironbridge (Telford) Heritage Foundation was created to support the Museum in caring for the many monuments, sites and buildings in its care. The properties taken on by the Heritage Foundation included key sites such as the Coalbrookdale furnace and museums, the Upper Forge, Bedlam Furnaces, and the blast furnaces, inclined plane and tile works at Blists Hill. An endowment provided an income which was intended to support the maintenance of these properties. The transfer of property to the Heritage Foundation was accompanied by a large-scale programme of repair and conservation, which had an archaeological component at its core. With funding from English Heritage, the Severn Gorge Repairs Project provided a core for archaeological activities at Ironbridge from 1993 to 1999. Staffing remained stable for most of this period, with inherited staff such as Michael Worthington and Shelley White joined by new team members including Richard Hayman; additional staff were taken on from time to time to help with external projects. External projects were also developed during this period, and although these remained secondary to the main repairs project at Ironbridge, they did provide an important source of income and variety. As well as work within the Gorge for the new local authority and other bodies, there was also work further afield. This included building recording projects such as the Etruria Flint Mill in 1995 for Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Wolverhampton Infants School in 1997 for the Dudley College of Technology and the Red House Glass Works in Stourbridge in 1998. The team also undertook a certain amount of work in south Wales, including a report on the Cyfarthfa Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil.

The Severn Gorge Repairs Project remained the primary concern of the archaeology team, and this important body of work saw the largely successful integration of archaeology and conservation in dealing with these complex and relatively recent structures. In many cases these monuments were on their second or even third generation of repairs. The archaeological objectives were to firstly produce a record of the structures prior to any conservation work, and secondly to record the repairs as they proceeded. In practice it was not always possible to segregate the two activities, and so ‘much of the building recording was undertaken during the main repairs phase’.18 Similarly the range and scope of pre-conservation archaeological investigations was largely dictated by the needs of engineers and architects, and so it was not always possible to arrive at a good understanding of the archaeological conditions before the conservation work took place. Sites covered included the Upper Works and Upper Forge at Coalbrookdale, the blast furnaces at Bedlam and at Blists Hill, the Blists Hill Brick and Tile Works and the Hay Inclined Plane. The story of this project was published as a CBA Research Report in 1999; the monograph also discussed the success or otherwise of the methodologies that were deployed on the project. During 1999 the surviving team largely disbanded, with the departure of Wendy Horton and Richard Hayman leaving Shelley White to hold the fort as conservation work started on the Iron Bridge and at Jackfield. 2 0 0 0 - 2 0 1 0 : H I S T O R I C A L A R C H A E O L O G Y In April 2000 the present author became the fifth director of IGMTAU, initially on a three-year contract which was tied to major conservation projects at Coalbrookdale and Jackfield. Whilst these formed the backbone of the unit’s activities, it was made clear by Glen Lawes that the unit was to become financially self-sufficient. In fact external commercial projects were to become the most significant part of the unit’s work for most of the first decade of the twenty-first century, resulting in an increase in staff from one to a maximum of twenty at one point, and a concomitant increase in turnover and profitability. Until the end of 2008, all of the costs of the unit – staff, equipment and consumables – were required to be met (and, except for 2008 due to the exceptional global economic circumstances, were met) through income received from projects. Many changes were needed at the outset. Astonishingly in 2000 there was no email; indeed


174

for most of the Museum, paper memos were not replaced by internal email until 2002. Moreover there was no direct outside line to the archaeology office – all calls were routed through the library. In the first few months the unit bought new computers to replace the ageing Apple Macintosh acquired at the outset of the Severn Gorge Repairs Project – and set up an email address and phone lines. As with many developments during this period a certain amount of ingenuity was required to circumvent the Museum’s procedures; fortunately there was considerable autonomy as the main offices were then a mile away in the centre of Ironbridge. Without the assistance of colleagues in the Museum library, the marketing department and at the Ironbridge Institute, the modernisation of the archaeology unit would never have been achieved. As well as these technical improvements, the archaeology unit developed a new series of accounting and auditing procedures and rebranded from ‘IGMTAU’ to ‘Ironbridge Archaeology’. Further changes which took place as money became available from commercial activities included the eventual digitisation of all illustration, new survey and camera equipment and so-on. Inevitably, the self-financing structure in place during those first eight years brought the usual ebbs and flows in terms of staffing and equipment; however it also allowed freedom and autonomy in developing new projects and new directions. Philosophically, the unit also entered a new period, specifically seeking to change the emphasis of its activities from the basic conservation of industrial monuments to a wider understanding of the development of industrial society. This change was driven by the research interests of the staff: not just of the present author as director, but also the enthusiasms and contacts of the many bright and hugely talented staff who came and went during this time. In particular the unit tried to explore elements of the Ironbridge story that were not part of the ‘great man’ history – looking at workers’ housing, landscape archaeology and social history more generally. This echoed the broader changes in the discipline of ‘industrial archaeology’ and the related fields of post-medieval and historical archaeology.19 Conservation projects The scope for this new approach was immediately apparent from the outset. Two major internal projects were undertaken during the early 2000s. In some ways these formed part of the continuing Ironbridge tradition of publicly-funded conservation work – except that these were not

funded directly by central government or one of its qangos, but by a new funding stream which was developed in the later 1990s: the Heritage Lottery Fund. The first of these was at Jackfield, where the Museum was embarking on a radical restoration programme. Although acquired by the Museum in 1982, and partly restored then, large parts of the Jackfield complex had remained in a somewhat decayed state. The complex was built in 1873 as a purpose-built tile factory, with its layout reflecting the processes which took place on site. An earlier potworks was absorbed into the nineteenth century factory. Starting with the north range and the entrance building, the conservation project worked towards the more dilapidated structures at the rear of the site. These included the Mosaic workshop, the Mill Building and the Clay Arcs. These last two required extensive rebuilding, which provided a unique opportunity for archaeological observation and recording. The Mill Building contained much of its original machinery, and excavation of the cellar revealed an important deposit of very early tiles – the designs of many of which were previously unknown. Due to the constraints of the project timetable, much of the physical excavation work was undertaken by Michael Vanns and Tim Jenkins (then curator and assistant curator respectively) with the assistance of the archaeology team.

Fig. 129. Jackfield. One of the 1920s clay storage areas to the rear of the Mill Building revealed in 2006, constructed of

concrete which used tile waster fragments as aggregate, and lined with assorted undecorated glazed ‘seconds’. (photograph:

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust).


175

Fig. 130. Jackfield. Excavation in progress on the potworks kiln in 2007, later incorporated into the tile works, and subsequently demolished. The kiln is now buried under the concrete floor of new-build commercial lettable space, income from which supports the

charitable activities of the Museum (photograph: © Paul Belford).

Fig. 131. Jackfield. Finds associated with the kiln, including biscuit hollowares, saggar and kiln furniture, and slip-decorated glazed earthenwares (photograph by Simon Roper for the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust).


176

Fig. 132. Commercial projects in remote locations. Left: Belowda Engine House, Goonvean, Cornwall. Excavations in progress in 2002, one component in an holistic project which included landscape survey and building recording; the engine house n the picture was demolished with explosives in the following year. Right: Barrow-in-Furness Iron and Steel Works; excavation of one of several

hot-blast stove bases in 2003. See text, page 178 (photographs: © Paul Belford).

Fig. 133. Research project within the Ironbridge Gorge. An overhead view of completed excavations at the Upper Forge site in Coalbrookdale in 2005, part of the CHART project. See text, pages 184-185 and Fig. 144 (photograph: Telford and Wrekin Council).


177

Fig. 134. Coalbrookdale Project, 2001-2003. Top: part of the office complex prior to restoration (the building now houses the

Museum’s accounts and marketing departments); middle: removal of asbestos from the covered bays; bottom: a cellar

discovered underneath what is now the education department (photographs: Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust).

Elsewhere on site, the demolition of the later foundry revealed an early kiln from the potworks. Numerous fragments of eighteenth and nineteenth-century slipware were recovered, as well as kiln furniture and saggars (Fig. 131, on page 175). At the same time as the Jackfield project was ongoing, work was taking place at the other end of the Gorge. This was the restoration of parts of the Upper Works complex to provide new office

accommodation for the Museum, and a new attraction – Enginuity. As at Jackfield this was substantially funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the archaeological work included building recording, below-ground investigation and the monitoring of conservation works. The complex largely dated from the 1860s, with additions made around the turn of the twentieth century, and later still through the post-war period. Major discoveries included the realisation that many of the 1860s buildings actually incorporated earlier structures, including parts of an engine house and other power transmission features. Remains of cellars, furnaces, flues, plateways and other features were also encountered and recorded. Smaller conservation projects during this also had an archaeological component – including work on the former Coalbrookdale Institute (now a Youth Hostel), at the Boring Mill in Coalbrookdale, and repair and new building work at Coalport. The archaeology unit also had considerable involvement in developments on Blists Hill. These included the construction of the Goods Shed in 2004, during which the team recorded remains of 1920s furnaces associated with the Brick and Tile works. More substantial works took place ahead of larger-scale redevelopment in 2007-2009. As well as further discoveries associated with the Brick and Tile works (including flues and a chimney base), the project also impacted on structures associated with the Blists Hill Blast Furnaces – most notably providing the opportunity to record the boiler house associated with the south engine house (Fig. 135). Other blast furnace explorations included trenching around the old furnace at Coalbrookdale in advance of improvements in interpretation associated with the 300th anniversary which this volume is commemorating.

Fig. 135. Keith Hinton and Anna Wallis undertaking excavations of the boiler house at Blists Hill Blast Furnaces in

January 2009 (photograph: © Paul Belford).


178

The archaeology team were also involved in conservation projects in the Gorge that were undertaken by Telford and Wrekin Council. Of these, one of the largest was inherited from the Telford Development Corporation. Among the assets of the former Corporation inherited by the Commission for the New Towns (later English Partnerships) were the dams, pools, sluices and culverts of the Coalbrookdale Watercourses. The transfer of these watercourses to the local authority was accompanied by a £2.2m restoration and conservation project. This was undertaken between 2000 and 2006, very much in the spirit of earlier work such as the Severn Gorge Repairs Project. Ironbridge Archaeology undertook historical and archaeological investigation as part of the project; archaeological work was closely integrated into the engineering programme, and the results of excavation and research were able to inform conservation. The results suggested that the basic layout of the original sixteenth and seventeenth century system is preserved; moreover much of the original fabric also survives.20 On a smaller scale, stability works in the Gorge also produced interesting results – such as the recording of wharf structures and a watermill at Lloyds Head.21

Fig. 136. Coalbrookdale Watercourses project. Repair work in progress at the Upper Forge sluices. Adavance archaeological excavation had determined the original form and extent of the overflow arrangements, and the excavation data informed the

design and reconstruction (photograph © Paul Belford).

Commercial activities The unit already had a long tradition of undertaking commercial projects, both in collaboration with the Ironbridge Institute and latterly under its own name.22 However this became the most important feature of its activities between 2000 and 2008. There isn’t space here to describe more than a very small selection of these projects, however the list of ‘grey literature’ produced by the unit is provided in the Appendix to this volume, and gives an idea of the range and scope of activities. This period was characterised by the ambitious development of a national portfolio of external projects, and at times the unit became somewhat overstretched. In Cornwall, Ironbridge Archaeology undertook a major project between 2001 and 2004 at Goonvean China Clay mine (Fig. 132, on page 176). This involved the recording by Shelley White, Simon Roper, Alexandra Norman and Anna Deeks of two engine houses (one of which was later spectacularly blown up as part of the expansion of the mine) as well as extensive historical research, open-area excavation and landscape survey.23 At the same time the team began the excavation of the former Barrow Iron and Steel Works in Cumbria. The Barrow project started with an evaluation undertaken by Simon Roper, Austin Ainsworth and others; here the team found the remains of concrete engine-houses, hot-blast stoves and a complex system of gigantic subterranean flues. The evaluation was followed by a watching brief on the kilometre-long site which lasted about six months, for which it was necessary to rent a flat in Barrow for Austin to live in. Towards the end of the watching brief the unit undertook an excavation of a 5,000m3 area of hot-blast stoves (Fig. 132, on page 176). The field team were joined for some of this time by a group of students from the University of Bristol as part of an ad hoc placement scheme. The Barrow experience brought with it the realisation that managing large-scale projects at opposite ends of the country was too much of a stretch for a small unit. There was simply not enough of a financial surplus from such projects to enable the expansion of staffing and facilities to the next level. It was never possible to sustain momentum between projects to keep the unit operating with fifteen or twenty staff – and the size of the Coalbrookdale office, which at best could only accommodate about half a dozen staff, was another constraint.


179

After 2004, more distant projects were always undertaken on a smaller scale. The present author and Simon Roper continued to be deployed in Cumbria from time to time: looking at post-medieval emparkment, the charcoal blast furnace at Backbarrow, an experimental blast furnace at Wilson House and indeed the whole town of Whitehaven. These last two projects were undertaken with Cranstone Consultants. Other more remote fieldwork included Shelley White and Alexandra Norman recording a very early iron-framed textile mill in Derbyshire, Simon looking at coke ovens in Lancashire and some mining features in Cornwall, and the present author exploring mining landscapes in West Devon and Pembrokeshire and a gunpowder factory in Kent. These more glamorous long-range projects only formed a small proportion of the unit’s work during this period. Most of the ‘bread and butter’ jobs came from the west midlands region, and in particular Staffordshire, Birmingham and the Black Country. One early foray into the Black Country was an expedition to the Soho Foundry in 2000-2001 – a joint project with Birmingham Archaeology which was sadly curtailed when the roof of the building collapsed without warning. Other building recording projects in the region included the Wolverhampton Low Level station, canal wharfs and chain-making workshops in the Black Country, the Hawkesbury Junction engine house at Coventry, the Glenfield Railway Tunnel in Leicester, and former hospital premises in Stoke-on-Trent and at the Royal Hospital at Wolverhampton. Further afield, the present author investigated a Welsh-language printing works in Denbigh in 2002, still with its original type foundry and Heidelberg printing machines. One of the more interesting projects was the cataloguing and removal of the contents of the Newman Brothers’ coffin fittings factory for the Birmingham Conservation Trust in 2006-2007, supervised by Simon Roper (Fig. 137). This project brought with it many of the same ethical and practical issues described elsewhere in this volume by William Mitchell, who was himself briefly involved with the Newman Brothers project. As Mike Nevell has reminded us in this volume, textile mills are a particularly iconic industrial building type. As well as the Derbyshire example noted above, the team worked on two very important sites during this period. One project that showed great potential, but was subject to numerous changes of plan and direction, was that at Ditherington Flax Mill in Shrewsbury. Here – at the ‘world’s first iron-framed building’ – the team was involved for most of the early 2000s in recording parts of the complex in advance of, and during,

repair and stabilisation works. It was discovered that in fact the allegedly fireproof building contained a great deal of timber in its construction. Sophie’s experience at Ditherington – as well as her deep familiarity with the Jackfield complex – stood her in good stead when she supervised another major textile mill project, this time at Tean Hall Mill in Staffordshire. This began in 2006 as a request to undertake an analysis of the power transmission system, but evolved into a substantial record of the entire mill and its associated buildings.24 The project included the recording of graffiti and oral history. Sadly this project was also one of the death-blows to the commercial side of the unit’s activities, as the developer went into receivership in 2008, still owing a five-figure sum for the work. As a result this important study remains unpublished.

Fig. 137. Building recording projects. Top: Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton; middle: Newman Brothers’ coffin works;

bottom: Tean Hall Mill (photographs © Paul Belford).


180

Fig. 138. Tean Hall Mill: the main mill range (photograph © Paul Belford).

On a more positive note, two large excavation projects took place back-to-back between 2004 and 2007 for the same client who was unstintingly supportive of our work. The first of these was at Edgbaston on the site of the former corn mill. This project was supervised by William Mitchell and involved Emma Dwyer and Cassandra Newland amongst others – both of whom joined the unit after their post-graduate studies at the University of Bristol. An area of approximately 4,000m2 was excavated, revealing a complex sequence of post-medieval developments both to the water-power

system and to the mill buildings themselves. Bone button-making was one of the many activities which characterised the later history of the site, the full story of which was published by William in the Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society in 2007.25 The other substantial excavation project during this period was at Wednesbury Forge, which had been established in the sixteenth century. A desk-based study by the present author and Suzanne Reeve in 2001 identified the potential for major deposits


181

Fig. 139. Tean Hall Mill. Top: general view of the exterior, with the main mill range to the right; middle: early twentieth century fire evacuation sign in the scraping room; bottom: ledgers and other paperwork discovered during archaeological work on site.

(photographs © Paul Belford and Sophie Watson).


182

Fig. 140. Wednesbury Forge. One of the thirteen phase plans drawn by Sophie Watson for the final report. This shows the penultimate early twentieth century phase, the swansong of the use of water power on the site being marked by the installation of two turbines in the former wheelpits. The complexity of the site is well illustrated here, with other water-power features in blue, flues and

furnaces in orange, steam engine and grinding wheels in purple, workshop and domestic buildings in green and grey.

Fig. 141. Wednesbury Forge. Left: team photo taken in summer 2006 in the eighteenth and nineteenth century sluices; centre: poster advertising Wednesbury-made products for the south American market, recovered during the demolition of twentieth century forge

buildings in 2006; right: excavation in spring 2007 revealing the remains of sixteenth and seventeenth century timber tailraces (photographs © Paul Belford).


183

associated with the Forge, which at that time was still in operation making garden tools.26 However, the complexities of land-ownership and funding arrangements meant that the next stage of the project did not take place until 2004-2005, when William Mitchell, Simon Roper and Sophie Watson excavated a series of trial trenches across the site and discovered that many early features survived. As a result an open-area excavation was agreed as archaeological mitigation, and this massive project (over 12,000m3) took place intermittently during 2006 and 2007. The project found remains associated with all periods of the forge – from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries – and included oral history and process recording as well as documentary research and excavation. No less than six water-wheel installations and their associated tailraces were found, including the sixteenth century timber-framed originals, as well as impressive eighteenth and nineteenth century sluices, wheelpits, culverts, flues and furnaces, hammer bases, buildings, railway lines, yard surfaces and workers’ and managers’ housing. The recovery of so much information is a testimony to the calibre of the team – supervised by William Mitchell with the support of Sophie Watson – who worked in often very challenging conditions, including the disastrous floods in the summer of 2007. A full account of the project was published in Post-Medieval Archaeology in 2010.27 Landmark excavations such as these were always the exception to the general workload of watching briefs and evaluations which sometimes produced

Fig. 142. Dave Lane, from the Museum’s maintenance department, at Wednesbury taking dendrochronological samples. The close relationship between archaeology and

maintenance teams was an asset (photograph © Paul Belford).

Fig. 143. Edgbaston Mill. Cassandra Newland and Emma Dwyer recording the remains of the eighteenth century mill

buildings (photograph © Paul Belford). very limited material, but which nevertheless involved all staff in often quite difficult conditions. Sometimes these were caused by the weather, but sometimes more complex adversities intervened in the smooth running of the project. Many of these seemed to happen to Simon Roper. At an evaluation of workers’ housing in Bilston, his portaloo was set ablaze by local youths. He was once stopped on the motorway in Lancashire in the famous Ironbridge van by Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise and accused (wrongly) of using red diesel. He also suffered a car crash en route to Cornwall, fortunately emerging unscathed. William Mitchell was once the victim of his own enthusiastic machine excavations when he destroyed the sewage pipe of nearby offices at Wednesbury, and the Ironbridge maintenance team had to be dispatched to save the day. There is not the space here to describe all of these interesting projects and many of their anecdotes are probably unprintable. However it is appropriate to mention the support that the unit enjoyed during this period from the various curatorial archaeologists in the region and elsewhere. The unit’s work in this period was also supported by English Heritage who provided opportunities to undertake watching briefs and other interventions at local sites such as Buildwas, Wroxeter and Lilleshall. We also enjoyed a particularly interesting project for the National Trust at Attingham which was brought about by their archaeologist Jeremy Milln – an investigation of the ice house which turned into a larger project looking at an earlier


184

forge, and was published by Simon Roper in the Transactions of the Shropshire Historical and Archaeological Society in 2005.28 Research projects The period from 2001 to 2007 was a high-point for the unit in devising, developing and delivering non-commercial research projects in Ironbridge and elsewhere. These were undertaken in conjuction with several higher education institutions. One of the main rationales for developing these projects was to try and explore the often unrecognised social history of the area. Peter King in this volume has noted some of the constraints on understanding imposed by the ‘official’ interpretations of the Museum, and it was partly with the intention of revisiting some of these interpretations that the present author developed several collaborative projects. Foremost amongst these was the Coalbrookdale Historical Archaeology Research and Training programme (CHART). This was inaugurated in 2001, although (as with many aspects of the unit’s operation during this period) it emerged as an ad hoc response to a particular crisis and only later developed a more sophisticated set of objectives.

In the early summer of 2001 the country was in the grip of foot-and-mouth disease, and severe restrictions were placed on access to the countryside. As the crisis wore on it became clear that many of the sites earmarked by the University of Birmingham for training projects would not be accessible. Roger White, then newly appointed as Director of the Ironbridge Institute, worked with the present author in developing a training excavation for undergraduates in that year. The result was a five-year international programme of research and training which involved over 100 postgraduate and undergraduate students, and developed close links with the University of Bristol and Wilfred Laurier University Ontario. Initially the project examined a number of sites, including the ‘Tobacco House’ and the Arboretum in Coalbrookdale, the tile works at Jackfield and lime quarrying and burning sites in Benthall woods. However the main focus was in excavation at the Upper Forge. This multi-period site was the location of the first steel furnaces in England, built by Sir Basil Brooke from c.1615. These had gone out of use in the later seventeenth century and the building partly reconstructed as a malthouse in the 1720s.

Fig. 144. The CHART programme. Excavation of the first steel furnace in England in progress, with Kate Page-Smith and Emma Dwyer cleaning the ashpit and flue in the background. See also Fig. 133 on page 176 (photograph © Paul Belford).


185

Gradually a number of tenement dwellings and other structures were added to the malthouse building, and, when it went out of use in the 1840s it in turn was converted to a row of back-to-back houses. The houses were demolished in the 1960s. The excavations found the remains of the two steel furnaces, and also explored the remains of the malthouse and the tenements (see also Fig. 133 on page 176). This project was particularly successful in identifying and examining new aspects of the archaeological story of the Ironbridge Gorge.29 A related research project was the Upper Coalbrookdale Landscape Project, which sought to reconcile the well-known pictorial evidence for the eighteenth century landscape with the archaeological and landscape evidence. This formed an adjunct to the CHART programme, and was developed following the SPMA Estate Landscapes conference in 2003. After preliminary research in 2004, fieldwork was undertaken in 2005, largely under the supervision of Kate Page-Smith who was then completing her MA in Landscape Archaeology at the University of Bristol. This involved the excavation of various features in the Arboretum, revealing in the process the remains of the eighteenth century formal garden and associated summer cottage. Public archaeology One other important strand of the archaeology unit’s work in this period was the development of public archaeology and outreach programmes. This began with an archaeology dig in 2000 for the ‘childrens university’, a programme of workshops arranged by Telford and Wrekin Council. The childrens university programme continued into 2004, by which time the unit had undertaken a wide range of small-scale excavations around Blists Hill. The last year of this project also used the CHART site at the Upper Forge. The Upper Forge site in fact generated an overwhelming public response – both from general visitors and from former residents of the tenement houses. The site was opened to the public for the CBA’s National Archaeology Days in 2005, with a wide range of other activities as well as the opportunity to participate in the dig. National Archaeology Days had previously taken place at Blists Hill; but from 2006 until 2009 the unit also developed a series of excavations around the area of the old furnace at Coalbrookdale. In 2009 the trenches excavated in the Arboretum were reopened as an exercise in community archaeology with local residents. Probably one of the most exciting public archaeology events was a ‘community’ excavation

Fig. 145. Public archaeology. Top: Bessie Williams and Betty Duddell visiting the Upper Forge excavations in 2002

(photograph © Paul Belford); upper middle: William Mitchell leading National Archaeology Day in 2007 (photograph:

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust); lower middle: the Ironbridge van before excavation in 2006 (photograph © Paul Belford);

bottom: community archaeology at Hinkshay in 2010 (photograph: Telford and Wrekin Council).


186

undertaken on behalf of Telford and Wrekin Council in collaboration with Nexus Heritage. This took place outside the Ironbridge Gorge, at Hinkshay, and generated an enthusiastic public response. T H E F U T U R E Archaeology at Ironbridge is so embedded that even the very act of archaeology itself is now becoming archaeology. Recording earlier trenches and repairs to monuments is commonplace. More unusually, the former archaeology Ford Transit van became the subject of a widely-reported ‘excavation’ by the University of Bristol. The future of archaeology at Ironbridge will inevitably be very different from what has gone before, but will be able to draw on the very rich legacy of the last forty years’ work. When the present author took up his post in April 2000, some archaeological colleagues remarked that ‘it had all been done’ at Ironbridge. Certainly the ghosts of incumbents past haunt archaeologists at Ironbridge: the walls and furnishings of that shabby but cosy office have absorbed the enthusiastic chirpiness of David Higgins, the robust Australian vigour of Kate Clark, the dry pointedness of Wendy Horton and the occasionally hysterical enthusiasm of the present author. In many ways the undertaking of archaeology at Ironbridge has always been different to archaeology elsewhere. In a rather old-fashioned way, even in the 1970s, it was concerned as much with the conservation of a monumental past as with critically investigating past culture. Indeed ghosts of this approach still haunt the Ironbridge Gorge, where one of the roles of archaeology has often been to act as the uncritical handmaiden to the top-down historical story developed in the 1960s and 1970s. However, as the foregoing account has hopefully shown, the archaeological story of Ironbridge – and its relationship with the wider world – is a constantly evolving narrative. Ghosts past do not proscribe future directions, but they may well inform and assist them. It was definitely not ‘all done’ ten years ago, any more than it was ‘all done’ when Kate Clark left in 1992, and it is certainly very far from being ‘all done’ now. No longer reliant on the vagaries of commercial archaeology, and with proper funding and support, archaeology at Ironbridge can develop some very interesting new directions. In particular, there is real potential for closer and very fruitful co-operation with the Ironbridge Institute, and the delivery of new research and conservation programmes

focussed on the landscape, monuments and buildings of the World Heritage Site. The ability of this most intensely-studied of landscapes to reveal new understandings and interpretations is undiminished. Several lines of enquiry suggest themselves: the use of LiDAR to inform landscape approaches, the impending restoration of Carpenters’ Row to improve understanding of workers’ lives in the nineteenth century, developing new theoretical understandings of the more recent past, and the ongoing catalogue of the minutiae of everyday life which emerge from often minor conservation and repair works. The existing archaeological collection is an important resource: regionally, nationally and internationally. That resource is not just the many boxes of pot-sherds and rusty iron in the stores of the North Lights building, it is also the monuments, buildings and surrounding landscape of the World Heritage Site. The potential is immense. One thing is certain though: just as the ghosts of archaeologists past haunt the corridors of the Long Warehouse, so the spirit of Ironbridge will infect and ultimately possess the soul of any archaeologist who works there. The future direction of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum is clear: to provide a visitor experience which creates sustainable revenue to support and develop the academic and curatorial work of the Museum. Hopefully the archaeologists of the future can harness the resulting opportunities, and can continue to transform our understanding of the industrial past. A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S The work of the archaeology unit over the years has only been possible with the support and assistance of many people. A full list of all of the unit staff over the last thirty years is given below, but in addition the following current and former Museum staff who have helped the author in the last ten years: Karen Armstrong, Mark Ashby, John Challen, Michael Darby, David de Haan, Ruth Denison, Janet Doody, Bob Giles, Diane Gittins, Paul Gossage, Melanie Haywood, Sophie Heath, Tim Jenkins, Ken Jones, Simon Kenyon-Slaney, Dave Lane, Glen Lawes, Richard Mills, Kirsty Nichol, John Powell, Joanne Smith, Barbara Taylor, Michael Vanns, Kurt Vincent, Margaret Vincent, Mel Weatherley, Gillian Whitham and Mick Whitehead. In addition the often considerable support of former colleagues in the Ironbridge Institute has also been very welcome namely: Emma Bass, Marion Blockley, Harriet Devlin, Janice Fletcher, Tony Herbert and (alphabetically last but absolutely by no means least) Roger White.


187

I R O N B R I D G E A R C H A E O L O G Y S T A F F 1 9 8 1 - 2 0 1 0 Names in bold are directors of the unit; dates are often approximate, and apologies are offered for any omissions. Marie Adams (1986-1988) Austin Ainsworth (2002-2003) Richard Beale (1983-1986) Paul Belford (2000-2010) Elizabeth Bishop (2005-2007) Charles Boyce (1983-1985) Andrew Brown (1987-1988) Melanie Brown (1992) Charles Cable (1987) Kate Clark (1983-1992) Trevor Coates (1987) Paul Collins (1993-2002) Giles Dawkes (1995-1997) Anna Deeks (2001-2003) Emma Dwyer (2004-2007) Helen Edwards (1984-1988) Richard Elliot (2006-2008) Joannah Elsworth (1992) Heatheranne Farley (1983-1985) Anthony Hanna (2000-2002) Richard Hayman (1994-1999) Martin Harrison-Putnam (1991-1993) David Higgins (1982-1987) Keith Hinton (2006-2009) Malcolm Hislop (1987-1988) Christine Holden (1988) Mark Horton (1987-1992) Wendy Horton (1992-1999) Susan Isaac (c.1984) Raphael Isserlin (1983-1987) Jo Jackson (1992) Kate Jarrett (1992) Tim Jenkins (2004-2005) Alison Jones (1985-1987) Hakim el Kraar (1991) Patrick Law (1983-1985) Mary MacLeod (1987-1992) John Malam (1981-1982) Gerry Mico (1992) William Mitchell (2003-2008)

Matthew Morgan (2005-2006) Neil Moorcraft (2001-2003) Ian Morris (1993) Jeff Morris (1994-1995) Richard K. Morriss (1987-1990) Cassandra Newland (2004-2006) Alexandra Norman (2000-2003) Kate Page-Smith (2005) Timothy Pearce (1986) Martin Plimmer (1986-1987) Jonathan Prince (2006) Suzanne Reeve (2001-2004) Shaun Richardson (1993-1994) Jeremy Rogers (2005-2006) Simon Roper (2002-2008) Mark Rowland-Jones (1985-1988) John Ryan (1987) Mark Sherratt (1993-1997) Peter Shingler (1986-1987) A. Simpson (1983-1985) David Smith (1993) Nicola Smith (1991) Paul Smith (c.1984) Phil Smith (2000) K. Stone (1983-1985) Deborah Taylor (1992) Julian Temple (1983-1985) Richard Terry (1986-1988) Hilary Thompson (1983-1988) Victoria Tranter (1987-1988) Michael Trueman (1982-1988) Thomas Vaughan (1996-1997) Mark Vernon-Smith (1992) Anna Wallis (2006-2009) Sophie Watson (2003-2008) John White (1991) Karen White (1992) Shelley White (1991-2006) Mark Whittingslow (1983-1988) Alan Williams (1990-1991) Alex Wilkinson (2006-2007) Amanda Winkworth (1983) Andrew Worthington (1992) Michael Worthington (1985-1992) Philip Yorke (1986-1988)

NOTES 1 This debate has now run its course and here is not the place to describe it. The empiricist viewpoint was represented in the 2000s primarily by Ron Fitzgerald and Roger Holden, whilst a socially-aware and theoretically-informed argument has been advanced by (amongst others) Mike Nevell, Marilyn Palmer and James Symonds. A more cautious, and perhaps ultimately more appropriate ‘middle way’ has been expounded by – amongst others – David Cranstone and David Gwyn. See: Belford 2009, 179-194; Cranstone 2004; Cranstone 2009; Fitzgerald 2007a, 51-55; Fitzgerald 2007b, 115-118; Gwyn 2009, 83-84; Holden 2004, 113-127; Nevell 2005a, 87-95; Nevell 2005b, 177-204; Nevell 2006, 3-16; Palmer 2005, 9-17; Palmer 2010, 5-20; Riley 2005, 41-47 and Symonds 2005, 33-58. 2 De Soissons 1991, 64-69. 3 Trinder and Cox 1980; Trinder and Cox 2000.


188

4 White and Devlin 2007, 48. 5 The relationship between the New Town and the historic environment assets in its care is explored more comprehensively in Belford forthcoming. 6 Cossons 1979, 180. 7 Once installed on their new concrete base, and roofed with a modern steel shed, they were promptly Scheduled as an Ancient Monument (SAM 301) – a status which continues to raise issues for their conservation and management. 8 John Powell, pers. comm. 9 Cossons 1979, 184-185. 10 Trinder 1986, 6. 11 Cossons 1979, 186. 12 Truman 1986, 7. 13 Truman 1986, 7. 14 Clark and Alfrey 1993. 15 Cable et al. 1987, 1. 16 Jones 1988. 17 Brown 1988, 1. 18 Hayman et al. 1999, 5. 19 For a wider discussion of this, see Belford 2009, Cranstone 2009 and Belford 2010b. 20 Belford 2007a. 21 Belford and Wallis 2008a, b. 22 Commercial projects here are defined as projects undertaken under the aegis of PPG16 (replaced in March 2010 by PPS5), in other words as part of development control under the planning process. Other ‘commmercial’ activities included running externally-funded conservation projects, and public archaeology events and training digs, which are described respectively above and below. 23 White 2003; Roper 2005a. 24 Watson 2006; Belford and Watson 2008. 25 Mitchell 2007. 26 Belford and Reeve 2001. 27 Belford 2010a. 28 Roper 2005b. 29 Belford 2003, Belford and Ross 2004, Belford and Ross 2007, Belford 2007a, Belford 2008.

Documents

Archaeology and Industrial Heritage