Archaeology and Conservation in Ironbridge

by Richard Hayman, Wendy Horton and Shelley White

The Ironbridge Gorge is the physical embodiment of the profound technological and social changes that underlie the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Ironbridge Gorge Conservation Area, a World Heritage Site since 1986, spans both banks of the River Severn and encompasses the industrial monuments that represent such significant technological developments as the first use of coke for smelting iron ore in 1709 and the construction of the world’s first significant cast-iron bridge in 1779. A major recent repairs project has provided a much needed opportunity to reassess a number of the most important sites and attempt to understand them as integrated elements of a historically complex industrial landscape.

Focusing on six of the key archaeological monuments of the gorge this volume brings together primary historical sources with the results of comprehensive survey of the sites to develop a uniquely pragmatic, yet theoretically informed approach to the study of standing archaeology as part of a conservation project. As well as drawing valuable conclusions in their interpretations of the sites within the wider contexts of both the landscape and the period as a whole, the authors have provided a necessary methodological contribution to the study of the archaeology of the recent past, under the constraints of modern archaeological practice.

Info: 220pp, 172 illustrations
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