Category: industrial archaeology

Industrial Heritage Network Survey of Stationary Steam Engines in Museums

Industrial Heritage Network Survey of Stationary Steam Engines in Museums

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The Industrial Heritage Support project is conducting research on the current state of stationary steam engines on industrial heritage sites and museums in England. In partnership with Keele University we are looking to establish how many sites in England run stationary steam engines, as op[posed to just static exhibits. We are also gathering data on the costs of maintenance, the types of fuel used to run these engines, and the skills required to keep them running.

Many sites have already been contacted individually to discuss how they run their machinery and this has helped to inform a questionaire which is now being emailed (early August 2023) to more than 30 sites. This research is a follow-up to the recent ‘Industrial Heritage and Climate Change’ seminar the project ran in July, where presentations from Claymills, Crofton Beam Engines, and The Arkwright Society showed how eco-fuels and water power are being used on industrial sites. This research will be published at a later date.

If you haven’t received a questionaire but think that your site could help with this research please email: mike.nevell@ironbridge.org.uk

Horizontal steam engine at Cambridge Technology Museum
In-person IHN Meetings for Yorkshire, East Midlands & East of England Now Booking for July

In-person IHN Meetings for Yorkshire, East Midlands & East of England Now Booking for July

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Elsecar, Barnsley

The next three in-person meetings of the Industrial Heritage Networks will be taking place on the 26, 27, & 28 July 2023. These will be for the Yorkshire, East of England, and East Midlands Networks. These free events will be the first in-person meetings for these networks, which were set up during the COVID pandemic.

Like the other seven IHN groups in England, these in-person events are designed to bring together those industrial heritage sites open to the public in each region, and local groups and individuals working or volunteering on industrial archaeology and heritage subjects and sites in the area. The format will be a round-table discussion in the morning with a tour of the site in the afternoon.

Details on how to book on Eventbrite can be found here:

Yorkshire IHN: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/industrial-heritage-network-yorkshire-tickets-669399360507

East of England IHN: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/industrial-heritage-network-east-of-england-tickets-669417976187

East Midlands IHN: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/industrial-heritage-network-east-midlands-tickets-669430985097

Online meetings of each IHN in England will take place over the winter of 2023/4.

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Keele University Join Forces to Research Industrialisation

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and Keele University Join Forces to Research Industrialisation

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Keele University and Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust have joined forces in a new partnership that will develop student opportunities and open doors for new research into 300 years of industrialisation. To find out more, go online and watch a short video, which includes a few words from Nick Booth, IGMT Collections and Learning Director, and Dr Mike Nevell, Industrial Heritage Support Officer for England.

To coincide with the launch, a roundtable discussion will take place on the evening of Monday 3 July to discuss the lessons that our industrial heritage might hold for the world’s transition to a zero-carbon economy. It will be chaired by Professor David Amigoni, Professor of Victorian Literature, Director of the Keele Institute for Social Inclusion and a member of Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trusts Collections and Learning Committee; Abbie King, IGMT’s Chief Operating Officer, will be one of the speakers.

To attend the roundtable discussion online use the link below. Please register no later than 4.00pm on the day of the event. 

Ironbridge, Innovation, and Imagination: Industrial Memory as Global Challenge
Monday 3 July 2023 6.00 – 7.00pm
Online only via Microsoft Teams

http://www.keele.ac.uk/ilas/whatson/

Darby Old Furnace
Heritage Open Days Events Directory 2023 Live

Heritage Open Days Events Directory 2023 Live

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Heritage Open Days has released their events directory for the 2023 festival that will take place from 8-17 September. The events directory will enable interested individuals to search for events nearby during the festival, with more to be added in the run-up to it. In 2022 there were over 100 industrial heritage and archaeology sites open to the public.

2023 industrial heritage sites open to the public include the Armley Mills in Leeds, Finch Foundry in Devon, Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch, the 1900 cable station at Cuckmere Haven in Sussex, Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire, Somerset brick & Tile Museum, Torr Vale Mill in Derbyshire, Thwaite Watermill in Leeds, Wheatley Windmill in Oxfordshire and many more.

You can explore the directory via the link here

General Booking Open for Spring Industrial Heritage Network Meetings

General Booking Open for Spring Industrial Heritage Network Meetings

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For the first time since 2019 the Industrial Heritage Support project (IHSO) will be holding in-person industrial heritage network meetings this summer and autumn. The first of these will be the IHN West Midlands which is scheduled to take place at Blists Hill, Ironbridge, on Wednesday 31st May, 11am to 3pm. The second will be the IHN South East which is scheduled to take part at Amberley Museum, West Sussex on 1st June, 11am to 3pm.

The meetings are open to Industrial Heritage Networks members and to all those interested in supporting and helping the industrial heritage and industrial archaeology sector in England. Each network meeting will be split into two parts. There will be a business meeting from 11am to 1pm looking at volunteer engagement since COVID, followed by a tour of the Blists Hill and Amberley sites, respectively. Each network meeting is free and tea, coffee, and water will be provided. Please bring your own lunch. To book please follow the links below:

Industrial Heritage Network West Midlands Tickets, Wed 31 May 2023 at 11:00 | Eventbrite

Industrial Heritage Network South East Tickets, Thu 1 Jun 2023 at 11:00 | Eventbrite

East of England Region Industrial Archaeology Conference, June 2023

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This year’s East of England Industrial Archaeology Conference will be on the 10th June 2023. EERIAC is held once a year and rotates round the region. 2023 is the turn for Essex, and will be held at Chelmsford Museum. EIAG (Essex Industrial Archaeology Group) is bringing to you EERIAC 2023, focussing on the Industrial Heritage of Chelmsford.

Talks include Chelmsford’s industries, Marconi, and visits to industrial sites in the Moulsham area, on the Chelmsford’s Industrial Trail. Please bring your own lunch. If you are interested in booking a place contact Jane Giffould via email: jgiffould@aol.com

4th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology

4th East-West Workshop on Industrial Archaeology

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The latest in the Association for Industrial Archaeology’s joint international seminar series takes place online on 27th May. The East-West series of workshops aims to exchange ideas and knowledge among Western and Eastern colleagues to build a more international and diverse industrial archaeology. The activity is organised jointly by the Institute for Cultural Heritage and History of Science & Technology (USTB, China), and the UK Association for Industrial Archaeology together with its Young Members Board.

From underground to outer space, from the 14th to the 21st century, the 4th E-W Workshop on Industrial Archaeology explores the interlinkages of archaeology, technology, science and industry with cases from Australia, Asia, Europe and the Universe! This edition of the workshop revisits the original focus of industrial archaeology on the research and conservation of technology, which is expanded and revised with new geographies, chronologies, methodologies and questions.

The speakers will be:

Alice GORMAN (Flinders University, Australia): Beyond the rocket: the archaeological study of space technology.

Shujing FENG (National Academy of Innovation Strategy & Tsinghua University, China): Wenzhou Alum Mine from the perspective of the archaeology of technology.

Geoffrey WALLIS (GW Conservation/Dorothea Restorations & AIA, UK): Developments in practical engineering conservation. The works of Dorothea Restorations Ltd.

Register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/4th-east-west-workshop-on-industrial-archaeology-tickets-608294634627

Join the Blists Hill 50th Anniversary Celebration Day

Join the Blists Hill 50th Anniversary Celebration Day

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Join the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust as they celebrate Blists Hill Victorian Town’s 50th Birthday with a day of entertainment, activities and lots of fun! The theme for the day is a traditional Mop (or Hiring) Fair.

Beginning back in the 14th century, Mop Fairs were an annual opportunity to match workers to employers, especially in rural areas. Farm workers, labourers, servants and craftsmen would congregate in their Sunday best displaying a symbol of their trade, so a farmer might display a piece of straw, housemaids held brooms or mops, hence the name mop fair. In Shropshire, young women employed to collect ironstone from the waste tips of local clay mines, known as Shroppies, often travelled to London to work from May until September during the fruit and vegetable season in order to earn extra money.

On Saturday 1 April, try your hand at different trades and decide which occupation you may have been employed in if you had lived in 1900 such as:

  • Tile making
  • Laundry
  • China Flower Making
  • Printing
  • Brick Making
  • Blacksmithing
  • Candle Dipping

Throughout the day you will also be able to join in in the parade to mark the departure of the Shroppies and enjoy the music of the Wellington Brass Band. The Town will be dressed for celebration with flags and bunting and the air will be filled with fun and laughter. Visitors will be able to see casting in the Iron Foundry and will have plenty of opportunity to hear about the town’s humble beginnings back in 1973. Activities are included in the admission fee. See: https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/events/

Heritage Open Days 2022 Features Industrial Sites

Heritage Open Days 2022 Features Industrial Sites

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Strutts North Mill, Belper, Derbyshire, which will be open for tours during Heritage Open Days 2022.

It has been confirmed that the 2022 version of Heritage Open Days will run as planned, from the 9th to the 18th of September, despite the Queen’s death on the 8th September. Hundreds of industrial heritage and archaeology sites run by local groups and communities feature on the list of venues open for free to the public.

The theme of ‘Astounding Inventions’ has helped to more than double the number of industrial heritage sites accessible this year, up from 113 in 2021 to 239 in 2022. There were no in-person events in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. The largest group of industrial sites opening relate to transport, with 70 historic aircraft, canal, railway, and road sites available to explore. This includes small scale sites such as the Union Bridge and Warmley Signal Box, as well as many Heritage Railways and transport museums such as Locomotion, in Durham and the Greater Manchester Transport Museum.

The largest category of industrial sites to open their doors remains wind and watermills, as it was in 2021, with 51 sites. Larger industrial museums with entry charges are also offering free events, from the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust to the National Trust properties such as Quarry Bank Textile Mill. There are also private working or small heritage sites accessible, that are seldom open to the public, such as G H Hurt & Son’s Shawl Factory in Nottingham, The Harveys Brewery in Lewes, Sussex, and the RDF radar tower at Harwich in Essex.

For details of where to find venues and their opening times during Britain’s biggest annual heritage festival follow this link: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/

AIA Young Members Board Looking for Next Round of Recruits

AIA Young Members Board Looking for Next Round of Recruits

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In July 2020, the Association for Industrial Archaeology (AIA) established a Young Members Board (YMB) as a sub-committee of the Association, composed of early or mid-career people with an interest in industrial archaeology and heritage. The AIA recognize that the current demographic of both the membership and Council needs refreshing, and believe that by engaging with younger and more diverse people the Association can together better deliver the aim of the AIA to ‘give our past a future’.

The YMB provides an exciting new opportunity for you to work with like-minded people to influence the direction of the Association and industrial archaeology generally, raise your own profile, develop your personal skills and knowledge, build your CV, network with interesting and knowledgeable people, and take on real responsibility. They are now seeking the next round of new members to join the Board and fill vacancies in the YMB. This is a great way to take the Association and Industrial Archaeology forward.

To apply, please submit your CV and a short description of why you would like to join to:

ymbcontact@industrial-archaeology.org